Witches, druids, shamen and followers of the old gods will be packing a former York church to celebrate the pagan festival of Beltane ... but they're promising to be ever so genteel.

Fears about devil rituals, sacrifices and wild orgies are wide of the mark, they insist.

Members of the York Pagan Union have organised the May 6 event at York Arts Centre to celebrate Beltane, the pagan festival which marks the beginning of summer.

The pagans insist there is nothing sinister about their beliefs.

Pagan Dean Flavell, who is organising the event, said pagans believed in the sacredness of the earth itself, rather than the notion of a God in heaven.

But Dean, 30, a welfare adviser at York Sixth Form College, said they were not devil worshippers.

He said: "The Devil is a Christian idea. We don't believe in the Devil, and we certainly don't sacrifice anything. I'm a vegetarian."

Fly-posters for the event stress 'druids, shamen and witches' are welcome.

But Dean stressed there would be no rituals enacted, and not even any orgies.

Instead, there would be artwork, posters, stalls, a giant banner of The Green Man - and the chance to have a drink and socialise with 'like-minded people'.

Dean said: "It's just a gathering of people who are interested in the same sorts of things."

Canon John Young, York diocesan evangelist, said he imagined there would be some Christians who were 'horrified' at the thought of a former church being used for pagan activities.

But he added: "The building will have been deconsecrated. It is no longer our building to control.

"Christians have always worked for the free expression of religious views even when they are ones with which we might strongly disagree.

"I would also want to say that I think a pagan view of life, while attractive in many ways, fundamentally misses out on the Christian understanding of life, which I feel is much more sustaining and encouraging."

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