UpdatedTue, Dec 22, 2020 at 5:57 pm CT
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The Asatru Folk Assembly, a whites-only church that worships ancient Norse gods, purchased the Calvary Lutheran Church building in Murdock, Minnesota, to use as a regional worship center. (Image via Google Maps)
MURDOCK, MN Officials in a small Minnesota farming town are defending a decision allowing a group that worships ancient Norse gods to open a whites-only church, saying turning down the request would have exposed the city to a costly First Amendment lawsuit.
The city council in Murdock, a 115-mile drive west of Minneapolis, voted 3-1 last week to approve a conditional use permit that allows the Asatru Folk Assembly to use a former Lutheran church as a regional gathering place for followers of the pre-Christianity faith with origins in northern Europe.
White-only religious groups aren t new to America. Trump s helped reinvigorate them.
White-only churches are making more space for white Americans who have lost faith in democracy and replaced it with Trump.
The Asatru Folk Assembly has morphed from a seemingly romantic celebration of Viking myths to an all-white, explicitly racist religious group. Renee Jones Schneider / Star Tribune via AP
Dec. 18, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC / Updated Dec. 18, 2020, 5:42 PM UTC
In 2015, the Asatru Folk Assembly, a religious group devoted to the worship of the Norse pantheon, opened its first physical house of worship in Brownsville, California, calling it Odinshof the Temple of Odin. In a celebratory post on the AFA s Facebook page, Odinshof is revealed to be a red building adorned with Nordic runes and flanked by a celebratory, posing crowd every single one of whom is white, the California sun shining through their sheaves of blond hair.
Minnesota town s residents uniting against church s racist beliefs
There s tension in Murdock following the City Council decision to award a conditional use permit to the Asatru Folk Assembly for the use of a former Lutheran church as its gathering hall. The Murdock Alliance Against Hate opposed the conditional use permit, but will now focus on telling the Asatru Folk Assembly it is not welcome while also working to unite the community against racism, said its organizer. 9:30 am, Dec. 12, 2020 ×
Victoria Guillemard, of Murdock, at an October meeting of the Murdock City Council questioned the Asatru Folk Assembly s representative, Allen Turnage, about the violence that has been perpetuated by members of the Asatru Folk Assembly, which has been accused of being a white supremacist organization.
Minnesota town s residents uniting against church s racist beliefs
There s tension in Murdock following the City Council decision to award a conditional use permit to the Asatru Folk Assembly for the use of a former Lutheran church as its gathering hall. The Murdock Alliance Against Hate opposed the conditional use permit, but will now focus on telling the Asatru Folk Assembly it is not welcome while also working to unite the community against racism, said its organizer. 9:30 am, Dec. 12, 2020 ×
Victoria Guillemard, of Murdock, at an October meeting of the Murdock City Council questioned the Asatru Folk Assembly s representative, Allen Turnage, about the violence that has been perpetuated by members of the Asatru Folk Assembly, which has been accused of being a white supremacist organization.