In Britain: Can Religious Belief Be Invoked To Refuse To Trim Trees?

Claims for religiously-motivated exemptions from general regulations take many forms. This report comes from yesterday's London Daily Mail via Beliefnet. In Gosport, Hampshire in England, rules under Britain's Anti-Social Behaviour Act give local authorities the power to order homeowners to trim back trees and hedges over 6 and one-half feet tall if they obstruct a view or block out light. Trina Horey is refusing her neighbor's demand that she cut back her 15 foot-high conifer trees, citing religious beliefs. She says she cannot trim the conifers without getting the trees' permission first. "As a pagan, I don't believe in harming living trees. We have to ask its permission to prune a tree and we never rip it out from the root."