ETHNIC RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS HATRED
These various Odin groups make a distinction between a universal religion and an ethnic or "folkish" faith. All of the major world religions are considered universal because they are meant for all people. The ethnic religion is understood as existing only for a racial or cultural group. In this context Christianity is seen as the great enemy of the white Northern peoples since they were converted by its missionaries to an alien religion not in keeping with the soul of the Northern European. Picture by Stephen Larson
Michael Moynihan in his book, "Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground", subtly implies that the many church burnings in Norway by either band members or fans of black metal was a subconscious explosion of the white youths need to return to the old heathen religions. He documents how many of these members turned from satanic rock to the Norse or Odin religious symbols in their music and religious outlook. One explanation that Moynihan offers is Jungian and builds on a theory of racial archetypes within the cultural subconscious.6 So along side the racial problem in these groups is the glaring problem of religious hatred.
There are several degrees of extremism among such pagan groups on the Internet. The most extreme and the racist ones are The Pagan Front and The Heathen Front. Another grouping made up of such groups as Asatru Free Assembly, Asatru Folk Assembly and Odinic Rite, do not consider themselves racist and have nothing to do with Hitler or Nazism. (Interestingly, the latter groups see Hitler and Nazism as manifestly Christian, and therefore atrocious, while Pagan Front and Heathen Front see Hitler and Nazism as anti-Christian and therefore an admirable and helpful part of their movement. They all quote Hitler to prove their point!)
While Steve McNallen of Asatru Folk Assembly claims not to be racist, some of his articles promote racism. In an article entitled "Wotan vs. Tezcatlipoca," McNallen attempts to show that a kind of spiritual ethnic war is developing in California between the gods of the Hispanic culture and the European culture.
He sees the old Aztec and Mayan gods pushing for territory in California and writes, "If California and the American Southwest are to be cultural battlegrounds, who better to lead the European-American counterattack against Tonatzin and Tezcatlipoca than our own Gods of the North." While not suggesting violence as the answer, he sees cultural interests such as language and festivals as indicators of aggression rather than celebrations of ethnic diversity in a democracy. 8
The Heathen Front, unlike the Pagan Front, does not major in Black Metal music. Not unlike Nazi culture, they value ethnic folk music and the classical music of Richard Wagner.7 However, the founder of the Norwegian Heathen Front, musician Varg Vikernes, is a young man serving a prison term in Norway for murder and church burnings. Before his imprisonment he was a part of the Black Metal and Satanic Music scene in Norway. He is also one of the more important subjects in Moynihan's book "Lords of Chaos".
Moynihan explains that Vikernes is an embarrassment to the neo-heathen groups because of his "extreme and bloody interpretation of indigenous Norse religion." Moynihan also writes, "when contemporary figures sought to revive the old religion of Northern Europe, they had not intended to bring back uncontrollable barbarism and lawlessness with it."9
Several other interests connect these groups to the pagan worldview and to grass roots movements in general. One interest is the tribal unit versus globalism. Since the tribe is seen as the most important unit of society in the Odin communities, neither nation states, world organizations, nor any form of global movement are accepted as helpful to the white European soul. Another interest is the environment. They affirm environmental concerns and have statements at their websites about environmental issues as they see them.
The Heathen Front offers an essay on Savitri Devi. She was a vegetarian and advocate for animal rights. Her book, "Impeachment of Man", is an attack on Christianity, Judaism and Islam and a plea for the rights of animals. A European, she lived in India during World War II, aligning herself with the Nazi Party and the radical India Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She later developed connections to George Lincoln Rockwell the founder of the American Nazi Party. 10
The Heathen Front also states:
"Judeo-christian [sic] morals prevent mother Jord from doing her work, so we are keeping people alive that were sacrificed by nature to save those fit for survival. More people means [sic] more pollution, and today we have reached too high a level of population/pollution. The earth can no longer re-generate. Slowly we are killing everyone to help just a few. If you look upon this matter with a clear vision, rather than one blurred with Judeo-Christian or humanist values, you will understand this fully as well."11
The religious hatred of these various groups is one of the more troubling aspects of the movement. On Pagan Front's website various band's sites are promoted. One site has two crosses inverted with Christ still hanging there as an entryway. Varg Vikernes in an article denouncing "Christian Identity," (a racist movement claiming to be Christian), calls Christianity the "most extreme Jewish consequence."
Later in the article, he states, "It were [sic] Christians who condemned everything Aryan to Hell forever! It was Christianity who made our Aryan race coward and degenerate! Christianity has been the origin of everything evil in Europe since it arrived here!"12 In an article about ecology, the writer states, "Judeo-Christianity is the irreligious masquerading as the religious. It is a life hating death cult, that hates the earth with its races, its tribes and its wide biological variety - its underlying holiness."13
A BIBLICAL RESPONSE: GOD'S BLESSING FROM TRIBE TO MESSIAH TO THE NATIONS
Humanly speaking, the Judeo-Christian world will cringe at this hatefulness, and rightfully so. Yet, prayerfully, there is another picture of the individuals in these groups. Born into a Western "Christian" culture where most people are biblically illiterate and where materialistic secularism has almost totally engulfed society, they generally know nothing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They equate "Christian" with the emptiness of secular society. Racists neo-pagans experience a society filled with barren hype, little meaning and violence. They believe that within their pagan racial beliefs they have returned home: to nature and to the tribe.
But such groups have the foundation for meaning inverted. It begins not with humanity, not with the alleged racial archetypes of human consciousness, but with the compassionate Father, the true Creator of all. And while the story of redemption, which gives meaning, begins with a small Near Eastern tribe, it is proclaimed and pushed forward toward all humanity; it is expanded as God speaks through the voice of the prophets of that tribe.
God's promises came to Abraham the father of that tribe, "and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Gen. 12:3b). God chose that small family to bring a blessing on all the peoples of earth. The Hebrew prophets reminded the nation, who grew from that particular family, of God's desire for redemption and blessings on all people. Israel will be "a light of the nations." God's house, "will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." God will bring the foreigner, those who are not Israel, "and make them joyful in My house of prayer" (Isa. 49:6b; 56:7).
God would do this through the coming Messiah who would be a light to the Gentiles: "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them" (Isa. 9:2 with Luke 2:32). Finally, because of the Messiah's death on a cross and His resurrection, the beautiful song of the elders can be sung:
"by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God and they will reign on earth" (Rev. 5:9, 10b).
God starts with the small, the particular, and the isolated. He moves to embrace all in His redemption. The men and women who find inspiration in an empty snowy wood, lofty mountain peaks, tales of brave warriors and mythic sagas, will in the end find only emptiness and horror if they miss the God who created not only the snowy woods, but also all the tribes of the earth.
Moynihan's remark about "uncontrollable barbarism and lawlessness" being an unintentional result of a revival of Northern European Paganism, is simply one case in point. Jesus Christ is the only revelation of God; any other leads to destruction. Unredeemed humanity moves toward the horror and corruption of nightmares. All that is good and promising, "the weight of glory" as C.S. Lewis called it, comes from Jesus Christ.
NOTES
6 Michael Moynihan, Didrik Soderlind, Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, (Vince, California: Feral House 1998). Michael Moynihan is himself a member of "the Tribe of the Wulfings,"(see "Lords of Chaos: A Review by Hnikar) Hnikar, (Eric Wood), has left the Asatru Folk Assembly and has removed all of his articles from the internet but the papers are on file at Naming The Grace. Moynihan has a band called Blood Axis. He belongs to those groups that disavow racism but who hold a potential for racism.
7 What is AHF? Frequently Asked Questions, On file.
8 Stephen A. McNallen, Asatru Folk Assembly, "Wotan vs. Tezcatlipoca: The Spiritual War For California and The Southwest,
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