Free Republic

Stephen McNallen’s path to founding a racist, whites-only church now headquartered in the foothills north of Sacramento started with fantasy novels and, eventually, found a measure of infamy through the discovery of an ancient skeleton McNallen, the 73-year-old founder of the Asatru Folk Assembly, was an avid reader of sword-and-sorcery novels like “Conan the Barbarian” when he was in college in the late 1960s in Wichita Falls, Texas. One summer in a corner of a bookstore, he found something that would put him on the path to creating a U.S.-based church that worships Norse gods such as Thor and Odin...

About 1000 years ago, paganism was practically stamped out in Iceland, while Christianity was ushered in. But Nordic neopaganism, under the name of Ásatrúarfélagið (sometimes called Asatru), has now become the fastest growing belief system in the country. And after years in the making, the believers of this faith are on the brink of worshipping in their first temple. Business Insider Nordic reports the statistics on just how fast Ásatrúarfélagið has grown, “From 570 members in 2002, the ‘association of the faith of the Æsir’ – Ásatrúarfélagið – now numbers 3900 Icelanders, making it the largest non-Christian religion in the...

STAUNTON, Va. — A pagan religion that some experts say can be interpreted as encouraging violence is gaining popularity among prison inmates, one of whom is scheduled to be executed this week for killing a fellow prisoner at the foot of an altar. Michael Lenz is scheduled to die Thursday for the death of Brent Parker, who was stabbed dozens of times at Augusta Correctional Center during a gathering of inmates devoted to Asatru, whose followers worship Norse gods. At his trial, Lenz testified that Parker had not been taking the religion seriously and had to die to protect the...

Copenhagen - Followers of Norse mythology, who worship Viking gods such as Odin and Thor, were on Thursday officially recognised as a religious community in Denmark, the ecclesiastical affairs ministry said. The decision means that the 240 or so members of Forn Sidr, or Ancient Customs, will be allowed to celebrate legal marriages, receive donations and benefit from tax breaks. Forn Sidr initially sought official recognition in 1999, but that request was turned down. A similar organisation in Iceland received official status in 1973, while two other Norse cults in Norway were officially recognised in 1996 and 1999. - Sapa-AFP

<p>"I DON'T BLAME GERMANY for the Holocaust: I blame Christendom for the Holocaust," says Hyam Maccoby of the Leo Baeck Institute for Jewish Studies in London.</p> <p>Maccoby argues that Jews would fare better in a world without Christians. Many Jews quietly agree.</p>