Beard-loving pagans join the Army at a rate of knots
Numbers have more than doubled in four years as ban on soldiers’ facial hair is lifted after 100 years
PAGANISM is the fastest growing religious group in the Armed Forces, The Telegraph can disclose.
Followers of the pagan faiths, who typically sport beards as a lifestyle choice, numbered 660 at the start of the year across the services, up 144 per cent from 270 in April 2020.
In addition to the pagans, there are currently around 50 self-declared Heathens, Wiccans, Druidists and Odinists – all of which are nature-revering religions associated with paganism – across the Armed Forces and reserves.
Earlier this month, the head of the Army overturned a 100-year ban on facial hair to allow soldiers to grow beards, an announcement welcomed by pagan leaders.
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information requests, show that growth in paganism has been highest in the regular Army, with numbers increasing from 190 to 500 over the past four years. Meanwhile, the number of self-declared pagans has more than doubled from 40 to 90 in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, and increased from 40 to 70 in the RAF.
In recent years, paganism has become the fifth most celebrated religion among UK service personnel, after Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
There are now three times more pagans in the Armed Forces than there are Sikhs. If the number continue to rise at the same rate, they will soon outnumber Muslims as well.
The number of Buddhists and Hindus serving in the regular services have risen by 1.8 per cent and 8.6 per cent over the past four years, while the Muslim total has increased by more than a quarter from 610 to 770.
But these increases are dwarfed by the 144 per cent rise in the number of pagans in the Armed Forces over the same period.
Arthur Pendragon, a senior druid and pagan priest from Salisbury, said he welcomed the ban on beards being lifted for soldiers. Mr Pendragon, who served in the British Army for six years, said: “I am pleased to hear about it because I like a beard and I would have liked to have worn one when I was in the army. I welcome it because it means freedom of choice.”
Manny Tejeda y Moreno, the editor of the pagan news site The Wild Hunt, explained that there are “elements of living the faith that do have to do with facial hair”.
Earlier this month, the King, who is Commander in Chief, signed off on the decision to allow officers and soldiers to wear beards. The move brings the Army into line with the RAF and Royal Navy.
A government spokesman said: “Our Armed Forces are made up of personnel from a vast range of backgrounds.”