Episcopalians pull 'Druid' rite from site: Material was copyright-protected

An Episcopal Church official pulled a liturgical script devoted to “Mother God” and “Queen of Heaven” from the denomination’s women’s resources Web site one day after an evangelical critique on the Internet identified the prayers as virtually identical to the rite of a self-described Druid group.

Margaret Rose, director of the Office of Women’s Ministries, said on October 27 that contrary to Christianity Today’s Weblog article, “Episcopal Church Officially Promotes Idol Worship,” the examples collected by the ministry office “are not approved liturgies of the Episcopal Church.” The liturgies are “intended to spark dialogue, study, conversation . . . for people’s interest and enlightenment,” Rose said.

“We regret we did not realize that the material was copyright-protected,” she said, referring to the liturgy on the Tuatha de Brighid Web site. “Proper notifications were not included by mistake and so the page has been withdrawn from our Web site.”