Odinist Wins Landmark Trial:
From: Robin Jackson (Information Officer, Odinist Fellowship)

You will be interested in this ground-breaking judicial decision, giving
legal recognition to the Odinist religion in English law, as more fully
detailed in the attached Round Robin. For the first time ever, a judicial
declaration has stipulated that a pagan religion, namely Odinism, is to be
accorded recognition, as a religion, for legal purposes. The legal
precedent, established by this case, will help to protect the rights, not
only of Odinists, but of all pagans, in the workplace. The Odinist
Fellowship is proud of having achieved this breakthrough for the wider pagan
community.
Thanks be to the gods and goddesses!

7 April 2006

Round Robin 2006 / 2 - WE’VE WON!

Dear Fellow Odinists,

Today I have received some good news, which I have been waiting for with
anticipation. I have held up this issue of this Round Robin, so as to make
the announcement without delay. It concerns the tribunal case of an Odinist,
sacked by his employer for expressing his religious faith in the workplace.
The case has enormous implications for all pagans, especially as a legal
judgment had to be reached as to whether Odinism, and by implication other
pagan religions, should be accorded recognition under anti-discrimination
legislation. We are delighted, therefore, to be able to declare the result,
which our barrister summed up so succinctly and simply with the words,
"We've won!"

The case of Royal Mail Group PLC versus Donald Holden, which was heard in
the Manchester Industrial Tribunal on 9 and 10 March, pitted a large,
wealthy corporation, with a multi-million pound turnover, against a sole
individual, Donald Holden, whose only resources were his honest integrity
and his dogged determination to stand up for his rights. Donald is a member
of the Odinist Fellowship, and we were able to put him in touch with a
first-class barrister, Adrian Davies, an observer member of the Fellowship,
who, I have to say, made mincemeat of the Royal Mail's witnesses in court.
I, myself, was present on both days of the two-day hearing, and presented
evidence as a witness on Donald's behalf.

Whilst listening to the tribunal proceedings, I could not help thinking of
Franz Kafka's disturbing, German-language novel, "The Trial", in which the
hero gets embroiled in a surreal nightmare of paranoia-inducing, legal
proceedings and insane bureaucracy. But by comparison with Kafka's
narrative, it is the Holden case, which reads like far-fetched, surrealist
fiction. Yet, sadly, the sorry society, in which we live, produces such
travesties week in, week out.

What are the facts of this case? Many of you will be surprised, as I was, to
learn that, increasingly, employers with a large proportion of Muslim staff
are being obliged to set aside rooms in the workplace for Muslim prayers,
and to allow their employees to take time away from their duties to engage
in these prayers. At the Mail Centre where Donald worked, there was just
such a room, which was designated as a "Multicultural Room". That is
important, because never, at any time, did the Royal Mail claim that the
Room was solely for Muslim use, or that non-Muslims might not use it for
their own purposes.

And the simple point, that Donald was evidently trying to make is that he
too, as an Odinist, and as a non-Muslim, had the right of access to the
facilities, which, in theory, the management had set aside for all staff,
but which, in practice, were being used as an exclusive Muslim Club Room.
Donald had the audacity to enter the Room, as if he had an equal right to it
as any other employee, in order to spend a few moments in silent prayer; and
just as the Muslim employees used the Room to store their Korans and prayer
calendars, Donald, himself, presumed to have the right to leave his sheets
of paper, containing the text of our introductory booklet, "All About
Odinism", downloaded from the internet, and some images of Odin, in the
Room, on a couple of plastic chairs placed next to a sink.

One item of evidence, which I have seen, is a book used to sign in and out
for the key to this Multicultural Room. Donald's visits to the Room were
always of short duration, and mainly took place on a Saturday, when the Mail
Centre was almost empty, and when his security duties obliged him to patrol
the building to check all was in order. I was able to see for myself, that
certain names and signatures, evidently belonging to Muslim employees,
recurred time and time again in the signing-in book, sometimes three or four
times in a single shift, and that the duration of their stay was often half
an hour, or more. Some would call this "skiving". It is true that pious
Muslims are obliged to pray five times a day, and those times are usually
considered to be dawn, morning, noon, evening and nightfall. So it seems
remarkable that some of the Muslim employees were trying to fit them all
into one shift. But the Royal Mail's managers weren't interested in that!
They were more interested in what Donald was getting up to in the Muslim
Club Room – sorry, Multicultural Room!

The man was obviously threatening the cosy arrangement between management,
unions and Muslim leaders, that prevailed at the Mail Centre – and so he had
to be stopped! An anonymous complaint was made – this goes back to October
2004 – to the effect that a muddy footprint had been left on the carpet of
the Multicultural Room. What could this mean? There could only be one
possible interpretation: quite clearly, the culprit had intended it as an
attack on the Muslim religion. And not only was it, self-evidently, an
anti-Muslim footprint, but on closer examination it became obvious that it
must have been made by an anti-Islamic boot; and, no doubt, that
anti-Islamic boot had been wielded by an Islamophobic foot. And who else
could that Islamophobic foot belong to? The principal suspect had to be
Donald Holden, of course!

What could any reasonable manager do in such circumstances? Obviously, there
was only one solution: set up covert spy cameras in the Multicultural Room
to trap the culprit, as he goes about creating criminal damage! So, for five
months, from October 2004 to February 2005, the managers video-recorded
Donald to see if he was causing deliberate damage in the Room. Surprise,
surprise! – the outcome of this five-month surveillance operation – which,
no doubt, cost thousands of pounds to undertake – was that not a single
piece of evidence was uncovered, implicating Donald in damage of any sort.
Nor, indeed, were any more muddy footprints discovered.

One of the curious features of the Holden case is that no one has ever
managed to discover who actually muddied the carpet! Indeed, as the hearing
progressed, it became increasingly doubtful whether anyone had actually seen
any muddy footprint on the carpet, in the first place. None of the Royal
Mail's managers, neither the investigating officer, nor Donald's line
manager, nor the external appeals officer, admitted to having actually seen
any footprint at all. And the only evidence, offered in support of its
existence, was two anonymised statements, purportedly made by Muslim members
of staff. But since these two statements were anonymous, and since those
responsible for making them did not appear in court, and could not therefore
be cross-examined, I began to find myself doubting their existence too. Had
there ever been a muddy footprint? Did the affronted Muslims really exist?
Was the footprint really anti-Islamic? Or was it just an imaginary,
anti-Muslim, muddy footprint? The truth may never be known for certain, but
some might be inclined to call it a "set-up".

Now, of course, Donald was not aware that he was being spied on over a
period of five months, and he was on his own whenever he went into the
Multicultural Room. So, if he had had a mind to tear up a few Korans, scrawl
anti-Muslim slogans on the walls, or leave behind defamatory cartoons of
Mohammed, he could have done so without apparent risk of detection. But
Donald had absolutely no intention of doing anything against the Islamic
religion; he was simply intent on doing something for the Odinist faith, by
staking his claim, as an Odinist, to a share in the use of that small part
of his workplace – to establish his right of way, so to speak. Far from
attempting anything suspicious, he dutifully signed in and out in the book
for the key to the Multicultural Room, and simply went there to spend a few
minutes on his own, as the video-recordings clearly showed.

So, after five months of achieving nothing, what were the managers at the
Mail Centre supposed to do? They realised that a charge of criminal damage
could never be made to stick. But the matter could not be allowed to rest
there, could it? No, it could not, for the video evidence gathered proved
that Donald had been repeatedly leaving his religious literature in the Room
on some plastic chairs near a sink. Doubtless, in some societies in the
world today, that would be sufficient grounds for the culprit to be taken
out, and summarily executed. However, as we, in this country, have not yet
got around to introducing summary executions for insulting Islam, Donald was
called in to be interviewed by an investigating officer, this was on 23
February 2005, subjected to a gruelling inquisition, and summarily suspended
from work on the grounds of "religiously aggravated harassment directed
against the Muslim faith". Donald was never to do a day's work for the Royal
Mail again.

The weakness of the Royal Mail's case against Donald, which became only too
apparent during the course of the tribunal hearing, especially when our
excellent barrister got the opportunity of grilling – and then frying and
roasting – the Royal Mail's managers in cross-examination, is that, at each
stage of the disciplinary proceedings against Donald, the definition of what
action was deemed to constitute the "religiously aggravated harassment"
altered. No two managers could exactly agree on what it was that Donald had
done, which deserved to be called "harassment", but they all agreed that he
was guilty of it, nonetheless.

The investigating officer, who suspended Donald in February 2005, took the
line that it was the religious literature, left by Donald in the Room, that
was offensive to Muslims. This officer, in his interview with Donald,
derided and belittled Donald's Odinist faith, trying to make him admit that
he was not a true believer, and then asserting that Odinism was not a real
religion at all. To support this, he had obtained a written statement from
one of the Royal Mail's legal officers, stating: "We do not believe that
Odinism could ever be recognised as a religion in a democratic society" The
investigating officer, who had done some cursory research on the internet,
quizzed Donald about aspects of the religion, and whenever Donald failed to
give a ready answer, then tried to make it appear as if he was insincere in
his religious persuasion. He described the literature Donald had left in the
Room, i.e. the text of our "All About Odinism" booklet, as "offensive", and
he called the pictures of Odin, also left there, "disturbing"and "alarming".
When asked what he had been doing in the Room, Donald answered that he had
been praying, though he had obviously not been kneeling or kow-towing while
doing so, but this explanation was treated with derision. Despite a
considerable amount of pressure put on him to admit that he was not truly an
Odinist believer, or that Odinism is not a genuine religion, or that he was
not really praying, Donald remained utterly steadfast, and refused to give
in to any of these impudent and insulting assertions. The result was that
Donald was summarily suspended from work, on full pay, pending further
disciplinary investigations.

I must also add, that this investigating officer admitted, in writing, that
he was responsible for confiscating Donald's papers, including the two
images of Allfather Odin – papers, which were, after all, Donald's private
property – and then destroying them! Why did he have to do that? I made it
clear to the tribunal, in my submissions, that this spiteful, sacrilegious
act would cause a scandal among all true Odinists.

It was at this time, that Donald first contacted me. I have to admit that,
initially, I could hardly believe that I was hearing the whole story, and so
I insisted on ascertaining the facts, and seeing the supporting
documentation, myself. In all the two dozen years, in which I have worked
for the Odinist movement, I had never encountered a genuine case of
religious discrimination in the workplace. So I was astonished to do so now.
At Donald’s request, I wrote, in my capacity as Director of the Odinist
Fellowship, to the Chairman of the Royal Mail Group, Mr Alan Leighton,
pointing out to him that he must be aware, even if some of his subordinates
were not, that it is illegal to discriminate on grounds of religion in
matters of employment, and has been ever since the introduction of the
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. I asked him to
reconsider his managers' ill-advised decision, so as to prevent the matter
from coming to court.

However, the case was then passed on, from the investigating officer, to
Donald’s own line manager. Perhaps because of my letter to Mr Leighton, –
who knows? – Donald's manager professed himself to be unconcerned by the
content of the literature left in the Room. He had looked at the
investigation afresh, and it was not the Odinist literature or images that
disturbed him, and which he deemed to constitute "religiously aggravated
harassment". No, it was the fact, of which there was undoubted video
evidence, that Donald had walked on the carpet! – and that he had done so
without taking his shoes off! – although his shoes must have been clean,
since he had not left any muddy footprints! Walking on the carpet in the
Multicultural Room, while wearing shoes, was against the rules. More
seriously, it definitely – and without the shadow of a doubt – constituted
"religiously aggravated harassment". What is more, since this action had
been repeated time after time, Donald Holden was clearly a serial
carpet-walker, and totally unfit to remain in the Royal Mail's employ.
"Religiously aggravated harassment" is a criminal offence, and the manager
had seriously considered reporting the matter to the police. He had no
choice, therefore, but to decide on a summary dismissal. A man, who had had
nearly thirty-three years' unblemished service in the Royal Mail, was to
lose his livelihood and his pension rights – and all because he walked on
the carpet! Welcome to the joys of diversity in Multicultural Britain!

Donald appealed against his dismissal. The external appeals officer
confirmed the decision to dismiss, but the grounds of dismissal this time
were not because of the supposedly offensive action of leaving religious
literature in the Multicultural Room, nor because of the harassment implicit
in walking on the carpet, but because – oh, it gets funnier by the minute –
because he moved the plastic chairs! The appeals officer stated, that she
might not have taken such a dim view of Donald Holden's transgression, if it
had not been for the fact that the video evidence showed him unstacking the
two plastic chairs at the rear of the room, and placing one of them near the
sink, where the Muslims used to wash before prayers. The video film showed,
that he did this repeatedly on many of the occasions, when he entered the
Multicultural Room. Indeed, Donald admitted having done so, and that he had
placed his images on the chair, so as to have a better view of them. The
appeals officer therefore, naturally, concluded that it was a case of
harassment. Moreover, it was repeated and deliberate harassment, and
therefore "religiously aggravated harassment". As such, it was just about
the most serious crime in the book. The decision to dismiss was confirmed.

Fortunately, not everyone in the world has gone stark, raving mad. The three
Panel Members of the Manchester Industrial Tribunal, after hearing all the
evidence in the case, formed the judgment that Donald Holden had been
unfairly dismissed, and, although they cannot order his reinstatement, they
can order the Royal Mail to pay a substantial package of compensation. The
pay-out is likely to run to six figures. And rightly so! He has lost his
job, his overtime opportunities, and his retirement prospects. And I know,
that the stress of a long-drawn out case has taken its toll on him and on
his family. Fortunately, Donald has found alternative employment. And
perhaps it will turn out to be a blessing in disguise, as his conditions of
work, alongside such managers, could hardly have been congenial. I am sure
all our members will join me in wishing him and his family all the very best
for the future – and likewise in expressing our appreciation to his
dedicated legal team!

Let us not forget, however, that thanks are also due elsewhere. We have
prayed to the gods, especially to Forseti, the god who presides over cases
of law to ensure justice is achieved. And we have asked others to join with
our prayers, and I am assured that they have done so too. Three weeks ago,
during a rally of Northern members, held on the occasion of the Odinist
Easter at Grindleford, in Derbyshire, we offered a sacrifice for this
particular intention. The sacrifice of the Cup of Remembrance is magically
most effective. The gods heard our pleas, and worked through us to bring
victory in a just cause. Odinism has been vindicated! Thanks and praise be
to Forseti, and to all the gods and goddesses!

One noteworthy feature of this story is that the anti-pagan persecution was
not being directed by Donald"s Muslim colleagues, with whom he had no real
problem at all, but by a clique of managers, all of them white British, who
are dogmatically committed to pursuing their own perverse programme of
"multicultural diversity". These managers were absolutely and unswervingly
convinced that a trivial action, like placing a plastic chair by a sink,
could be viewed as nothing other than a premeditated insult to Islam. Yet
the same managers admitted, in the tribunal, that their knowledge of the
Muslim faith was limited in the extreme. In a previous age, such
hypocritical paragons of political correctitude, would have made exemplary
Puritan witch-finders, or agents of the Holy Inquisition, ferretting out
heretics who had eaten meat in Lent, or crossed themselves the wrong way
round, and casting them on to the burning pyre. The self-styled "politically
correct", with their multi-faith agenda, are truly the witch-finders general
of the modern age.

Let me conclude by quoting the reserved judgment of the tribunal concerning
the recognition of Odinism as a religion. The tribunal had to decide whether
Odinism satisfies the definition of a religion or belief in terms of the
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. This is the first
time ever that this question has been considered in court, and the
tribunal’s judgment establishes a precedent, which can be referred to in any
future law case in which an Odinist – or, by implication, any other pagan –
claims unfair dismissal on religious grounds or religious discrimination in
matters of employment. The reader will, particularly, want to note the
identifying characteristics that the tribunal panel were looking for, in
trying to ascertain, on an objective basis, whether or not Odinism should be
recognised, for legal purposes, as a religion, as these are the features
that a reasonable person would expect any recognisable religion to possess.
Here is what the tribunal declared:-

"The first issue for the Tribunal is whether Odinism satisifies the
definition of a religion or belief in regulation 2(1). Mr Davies contends
that it does. Mr Peacock [barrister representing the Royal Mail] neither
admits nor disputes it".
"The Tribunal finds that Odinism is a religion or belief within regulation
2(1). The Tribunal has considered the literature about Odinism in the Bundle
of Documents (which appears to be principally a hard copy of material from
the website of the Odinist Fellowship) and also the evidence given by Mr
Harrison, the Director of the Odinist Fellowship. The Tribunal finds Odinism
to be a belief systm based on the pre-Christian heathen religion of the
British Isles. It is polytheistic and honours the Odinic pantheon of deities
with particular regard being paid to the deity of Odin or Woden. It has a
concept of the secular and the spiritual worlds and the relationship between
them. It has a broad code of ethics based on what are called the Nine Noble
Virtues. It has rituals and ceremonies including the Cup of Remembrance,
Naming, Pledge of Faith, Wedding and Laying to Rest. It does not have any
sacred texts as such but it pays special heed to works known as the Prose
Edda and the Poetic Edda which it regards as sources of information about
the heathen religion. The Tribunal is not required to make any value
judgment or assessment of Odinism as a belief system but to decide whether
it satisfies the relatively exiguous definition in regulation 2(1) and the
Tribunal is satisfied that it does".

Well, I don’t think you can say fairer than that! Remember the case of Royal
Mail Group PLC v Holden (2006). For all pagans of every kind, this has
established a precedent ensuring your rights in law. Odinism is now, quite
categorically and specifically, covered and protected by anti-discrimination
legislation, in the same way that has been taken for granted by other
religions.

We Odinists have never needed any outside assurance that ours is a true and
genuine religion. That is something we know in our hearts, and something we
are taught by our nation’s history. But many Odinists, nonetheless, have
craved a clear statement by judicial authorities that our holy religion is
and will be recognised in English law. Thank the gods! Now we have it!
With sincere Odinist greetings!

Ralph Harrison
(Director)