Politics and heathenry

As a minority religion, Asatru has the unenviable burden of proving itself normal, yet there are many asatru organizations that choose to put a political agenda as part of their official website. One troubling example of this is a group in the UK, that has a series of statements regarding their political viewpoint that paints asatruar as paranoid and against government.  This coupled with statements that individual asatruar make publicly can combine to paint the whole of asatru in a negative light.

the questions this raises for me are:

How do we advocate for our rights without becoming politicized as a religious group, How do we distance ourselves from those that are fringe elements without completely ostracizing them from mainstream asatru society, and how do we undo the damage that the misconceptions cause?

Freedom of religion and Asatru

There are many viewpoints regarding whether or not Asatru is under attack, with varying degrees of validity. my view is, in a general sense that there is a growing movement within fundamentalist belief that feels that their religious views are the only truth, and should be the law, that we, as "non-believers," are part of what they target.

The question is, how do we protect our rights in the face of those who would deny that our religion is even a valid religious expression?

I think that networking with others of a similar viewpoint is a good start, but it isn't enough. We need to gain respectability within mainstream society, we need to be seen as "normal."  I say tis because of what history has to teach about how discrimination works. In every case where a minority segment of a population has been mistreated, the excuse that allows the mistreatment has universally been "but they are different."  This is why otherwise decent germans allowed the persecution of Jews, Rom, The handicapped, Homosexuals, dissidents, and german heathens. This is why Jim Crow laws were tolerated, because Blacks were "different." The list of examples goes on, and can fill up many books.


I think that there are many ways we can achieve this goal of being viewed as normal. We can: start a volunteer orginisation similar to the red cross, where we aid our communities in time of disaster; get involved in local politics; or otherwise get involved in the community. We can also make sure to respond to news reporting that paints us in an unfavorable light, especially if the reporting is biased.

By establishing that Asatruar are normal, productive members of society, it will make it much harder for the hatemongers to convince society as a whole that we are 'different,' and therefore acceptable to abuse.

The nature of frith

Often the concept of frith is described as peace, which in it's most literal translation to English is correct, but at a fundamental level is incomplete.

Frith is also a matter of kin-bond, and carries with it a matter of duty. This duty is not so much a matter of responsibility as it is a matter of reciprocity. This is the heart of "gift demands gift," both in the sense that you are expected to give in return, but also in that you are expected to be considerate when giving, lest you give too much.

Another aspect of this reciprocity is mutual emotional support. it is too easy to forget that we are mortal, and have mortal failings. We create frith-bonds as a means of either overcoming these failings, or for support while they are overcome.

Ultimately, the nature of Frith is sharing. Sharing burdens, sucesses, and experiences.

Hopefully this is just the beginning.

As I am the Skald for my kindred, there are a few responsibilities placed on my shoulders. One of those is gathering knowledge to be shared the the kindred. Another is to help to build ties with other Asatruar, so that the folk may grow strong through our association with each other.

To this end i have created this blog, so that it might act as an electronic meeting-place, so that distant folk may converse and share equally. This is not to replace real interactions in any way, but is intended to be another tool to connect the folk together.

That having been said, Please comment on subjects that you would like to discuss, and topics will flow. Thanks to all who choose to participate.