FOR some NHS hospital patients it would seem the help of one god is just not enough. Pagan chaplains are, for the first time, to offer counselling and prayers to the sick in Scottish wards.
NHS Tayside has agreed with Scotland's 30,000 Pagans a ground-breaking deal that will allow bedside healing rituals, meditation and special prayers. But some of the more exotic aspects of Paganism - not least the carrying of flaming torches - will have to stay outside.
Pagan patients will also receive advice on getting well soon, including keeping a "healing goddess" next to their bed.
But the move has outraged some Christians, who claim it represents an insult to the nation's religious heritage. One senior member of the Church of the Scotland claimed it proved "the devil had been busy" in Tayside.
Scotland News

I think it�s about time Pagans can have comforting from someone that walks the same path. When I was going through breast cancer, it would have been nice to have someone, instead, I had a person (Christian) telling me that I was going to hell, for what I believed, that my Path was the cause of my illness. Wonderful thing to say when 3 children are sitting there. So I wasn�t too impressed with that. But the Gods watched over me & I have been cancer free for 10 years.

This seems like a good idea to me! My husband is a nurse, though in England not Scotland, and a couple of years ago his nursing update magazine arrived with a leaflet for nurses setting out the basics of the religions they might encounter at work. One of them was paganism and I was very pleased to see it was a fairly accurate short introduction. Lets hope this works out well.

Lady_Samkhat, I consider myself a Christian, but it burns me up when so called Christians have the gall to condemn anyone for what they believe. Then attack someone sick with cancer having the nerve to say that their belief system has caused your illness pisses me off. I'm sorry but that is they very reason Christianity is losing it's true meaning of love one another as yourself God didn't say only when they were a Christian too.

I do hope the hospital doesn't cave to the bible beaters, and hold true to it's choice.
PS - It is good to hear you beat the cancer that is a story in itself.

Slowly things here are starting to change, could be due to my big mouth. I am very open about my path, & one uninformed woman hasn't detered me. I still see her around town, but the funny part is that I work in a grocery store & she comes in my line all the time, telling me that God loves me. So I tell her that the Goddess loves her to. It's amazing how her jaw hits the floor.
I live in a small town so, the Pagan population is very small, I'm the only open Pagan, & there are a couple of others that are hoovering around the doorway, but I'm finding these days people that don't feel comfortable with the religious rescources in the hospital come to see me. Which I don't mind. The problem I had with this "lady", is that she had no consideration for my children, but that is not here nor there. They are all fine, one is wiccan, one christain, & one agnostic. Well 1 out of 3 ain't bad,

Glad to hear that there are positive things happening in England, now if we could just get over here. We have so many advancement in techknowledgy, but when it come to the Spirit, we're still in the dark ages.

I can't speak for the rest of my country, but my little town is slowly changing their veiws, my big mouth again. People are realizing that I'm not some scary thing that is going to eat or worse, corrupt their children. Come on, on a fat day, I'm lucky to weigh 100 lbs, see the size of some of this children these days. Some of the things that they would say about me were just plain stupid. But then I have no time for them, I have better things to do with my life than worry about silly people. :roll: