http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/finally-its-official-and-druids-get-a-tax-break-2361730.html

Finally, it’s official, and Druids get a tax break

By Martin Beckford in London
Saturday October 02 2010

Druidry has been recognised as an official religion in Britain for the first time, thousands of years after its adherents first worshipped there.

The Druid Network has been given charitable status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the quango that decides what counts as a genuine faith.

It guarantees the modern group, set up in 2003, valuable tax breaks but also grants the ancient religion equal status to more mainstream denominations.

This could mean that Druids, the priestly caste in Celtic societies across Europe, are categorised separately in official surveys of religious believers.

Phil Ryder, chair of trustees for The Druid Network, said it had taken four years to be recognised. “It was a long and at times frustrating process.”

It will be intresting to see how this effects the different order of druidry over there.