Shop or Temple - Witch is it?

June 18, 2008

Author: Alex Scapens

Source: Stockport Express

http://www.stockportexpress.co.uk/news/s/1054460_shop_or_temple__witch_is_it

A BID to set up the UK’s first official Wiccan temple in Reddish is living on a prayer after the Government refused to recognise the building as a genuine place of worship.

Sandra Davis, high priestess at the Crystal Cauldron, on Gorton Road, is appealing the decision she claims is discriminatory.

She applied to have her business - a shop and meeting room - recognised as a temple but this week the General Register Office, part of the Home Office, refused.

A rejection letter, which has left the congregation outraged, stated that Wicca, a form of Paganism, is incompatible with the ancient Places of Worship Act 1855.