Ulric
06-02-2005, 02:55 PM
A PROJECT OF THE ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY
Issue 68
Mani's Day, May 30, 2005
PRESENTING RELIGION TO THE AMERICAN MASSES - LESSONS FROM THE
OPPOSITION?
Evangelical Christians are using new and daring ways to reach the
American public, and their efforts are proving hugely successful. A
sampling of their techniques can be found in the May 23rd issue of
Business Week. In a special report titled "Earthly Empires: How
evangelical churches are borrowing from the business playbook,"
Business Week shows how Christians are presenting the Gospel in new
and contemprary formats, adding more music t their services, opening
"mall churches," and using other innovations with telling effect.
Some of these methods would be appropriate for Asatru, while others
would violate our core values, but in either case the content is well
worth reading by those of us interested in spreading the Way of our
ancestors. (This article has stimulated creative discussions on the
new Yahoo group for AFA members, by the way.)
While studying the glitzy new Christian approaches, of course, we
should not forget that other, decidedly non-glitzy, religions like
Islam are growing just fine - and that the Hollywood approach may
not prove to have the staying power of these less glamorous methods of
growth.
One humbling but valuable graph in the Business Week article broke
down the American population by religious belief. Evangelical
Christianity is expanding rapidly while the mainline Protestant
churches were shrinking. But the most sobering revelation was that
non-Christian religions - defined as "Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim,
other" - amounted to a whopping five percent of Americans. Asatru?
Well, we didn't quite rate a specific mention.
The lesson is simple: Asatruar are numerically insignificant. We
must face this unpleasant truth, then (1) work to increase our numbers
while (2) trying to gain proportionally more clout for the numbers we
do have.
.and that is exactly what the Asatru Folk Assembly is all about.
POST-CHRISTIAN EUROPE, THE MUSLIM INVASION, AND THE RESPONSE OF
NATIVE EUROPEAN RELIGION
Another interesting trend is the emerging Third World domination of
Christianity. The book Megashift, by Christian author Jim Rutz,
claims that evangelical Christianity is sweeping through Africa,
Southeast Asia, China, and other places outside the Euro-American
sphere. So rapid is this growth - 8 percent per year - that Rutz
predicts that the whole planet will be essentially Christian within a
few decades. If mathematics were the only concern, he reports, the
number of Christians would equal the number of living humans in the
autumn of 2032.
It is not that simple, of course. What Mr. Rutz does not understand
is that Christianity has simply reverted to its original Third World
roots. The European form of Christianity, on its deathbed in
historical terms since Vatican Two, has essentially expired. Its
death leaves behind a religious vacuum that is being filled by
immigrant Muslims, while a distinctly non-European version of
Christianity is running rampant in places like Latin America and
Africa. The important demographic fact in Rutz' dreamworld is not the
admittedly dramatic growth of Christianity outside the West, but the
ongoing population implosion in Europe.
The good news in this scenario is that Europeans are finally shaking
off the hangover caused by massive doses of Middle Eastern
religiosity. What is not good is that it leaves our European kin
agnostic, rootless, and largely without defense against the current
Muslim invasion - an invasion different in style, but identical in
intent and result, from the onslaught of the Middle Ages. Sprung from
the same roots as Christianity and Judaism, Islam now infiltrates our
ancestral homeland from Granada and Marseilles to Stockholm.
This infiltration will turn into a tidal wave if Turkey is admitted to
the European Union. Turkey is not European in race or culture, and
only a tiny slice of the country is on the European continent.
Nevertheless, its acceptance into the EU will happen unless there is
an outpouring of anger from the European people. Every other nation
of the EU has a population that is in freefall, while that of Turkey
continues to climb. With the EU policy of free migration across
national borders within the Union, the result will be inevitable: The
Europe we have known will disappear.
Europe needs a religion to oppose this demographic disaster. A
revived form of militant Christianity, inspired by the Crusades, may
possibly step into this role, but this would be a tragedy. The
Germanic revival would be delayed for years, or even centuries. We
would simply be crushed in the flow of events.
There must be a revival of native European religion to fill the space
once occupied by Christianity. We who follow Germanic religion must
move quickly and forcefully to exploit this historically unique
opportunity. Otherwise, our ancestral homelands will suffer under the
renewed lash of a hostile, alien religion - whether Christian or Muslim.
CLASSIC GUIDED VISUALIZATIONS NOW ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Paths to the Gods, our collection of guided visualizations, has long
been praised for its ability to connect the listener with the gifts of
Thor, Freya, Heimdal, Idun, and Skadi. Now, for the first time, it is
available in CD format. You can order it from the AFA's website,
www.runestone.org, by clicking on our Online Store.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephen A. McNallen, Director
Asatru Folk Assembly
530-272-8142
www.runestone.org
info@runestone.org
* * * *
Followers of Ancient European Religion Welcome Supreme Court Ruling
Nevada City, Calif., May 31, 2005 - Followers of an ancient European
faith with Norse roots today hailed the Supreme Court's unanimous
decision protecting the religious rights of prisoners. (Cutter v.
Wilkinson, No. 03-9877)
The ruling, which upholds the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act, recognizes the rights of prisoners to religious materials
and services regardless of their faith.
"For years, Asatru prisoners have struggled for the right to practice
our religion," said Stephen McNallen, director of the Asatru Folk
Assembly, a national religious organization dedicated to the
pre-Christian faith of Europe. "This decision will make it much harder
for prison administrators to deny them this right."
Asatru-a native pre-Christian European religion originally practiced
by the Anglo-Saxons, the Norse, and the Germanic tribes-has been a
legally recognized religion in the United States since 1972. The
Supreme Court Justices made it clear that little-known religions, or
those with very different beliefs from the mainstream, deserve the
same protection as those with many millions of followers.
McNallen believes that Asatru has a definite place in correctional
institutions. "The native spiritual path of the European peoples
carries incredible rehabilitative, transformative, and healing power
for those who approach it with openness and reverence," he said. "How
can it be in the interest of the state to deny us our spiritual
birthright in such a win-win situation?"
About the Asatru Folk Assembly: The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) was
established in 1994 to practice, promote, and further evolve the
indigenous European faith. The AFA's Director, Stephen A. McNallen,
was a pioneer in the revival of the Asatru religion, helping to bring
it to the United States in the late 1960s.
Issue 68
Mani's Day, May 30, 2005
PRESENTING RELIGION TO THE AMERICAN MASSES - LESSONS FROM THE
OPPOSITION?
Evangelical Christians are using new and daring ways to reach the
American public, and their efforts are proving hugely successful. A
sampling of their techniques can be found in the May 23rd issue of
Business Week. In a special report titled "Earthly Empires: How
evangelical churches are borrowing from the business playbook,"
Business Week shows how Christians are presenting the Gospel in new
and contemprary formats, adding more music t their services, opening
"mall churches," and using other innovations with telling effect.
Some of these methods would be appropriate for Asatru, while others
would violate our core values, but in either case the content is well
worth reading by those of us interested in spreading the Way of our
ancestors. (This article has stimulated creative discussions on the
new Yahoo group for AFA members, by the way.)
While studying the glitzy new Christian approaches, of course, we
should not forget that other, decidedly non-glitzy, religions like
Islam are growing just fine - and that the Hollywood approach may
not prove to have the staying power of these less glamorous methods of
growth.
One humbling but valuable graph in the Business Week article broke
down the American population by religious belief. Evangelical
Christianity is expanding rapidly while the mainline Protestant
churches were shrinking. But the most sobering revelation was that
non-Christian religions - defined as "Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim,
other" - amounted to a whopping five percent of Americans. Asatru?
Well, we didn't quite rate a specific mention.
The lesson is simple: Asatruar are numerically insignificant. We
must face this unpleasant truth, then (1) work to increase our numbers
while (2) trying to gain proportionally more clout for the numbers we
do have.
.and that is exactly what the Asatru Folk Assembly is all about.
POST-CHRISTIAN EUROPE, THE MUSLIM INVASION, AND THE RESPONSE OF
NATIVE EUROPEAN RELIGION
Another interesting trend is the emerging Third World domination of
Christianity. The book Megashift, by Christian author Jim Rutz,
claims that evangelical Christianity is sweeping through Africa,
Southeast Asia, China, and other places outside the Euro-American
sphere. So rapid is this growth - 8 percent per year - that Rutz
predicts that the whole planet will be essentially Christian within a
few decades. If mathematics were the only concern, he reports, the
number of Christians would equal the number of living humans in the
autumn of 2032.
It is not that simple, of course. What Mr. Rutz does not understand
is that Christianity has simply reverted to its original Third World
roots. The European form of Christianity, on its deathbed in
historical terms since Vatican Two, has essentially expired. Its
death leaves behind a religious vacuum that is being filled by
immigrant Muslims, while a distinctly non-European version of
Christianity is running rampant in places like Latin America and
Africa. The important demographic fact in Rutz' dreamworld is not the
admittedly dramatic growth of Christianity outside the West, but the
ongoing population implosion in Europe.
The good news in this scenario is that Europeans are finally shaking
off the hangover caused by massive doses of Middle Eastern
religiosity. What is not good is that it leaves our European kin
agnostic, rootless, and largely without defense against the current
Muslim invasion - an invasion different in style, but identical in
intent and result, from the onslaught of the Middle Ages. Sprung from
the same roots as Christianity and Judaism, Islam now infiltrates our
ancestral homeland from Granada and Marseilles to Stockholm.
This infiltration will turn into a tidal wave if Turkey is admitted to
the European Union. Turkey is not European in race or culture, and
only a tiny slice of the country is on the European continent.
Nevertheless, its acceptance into the EU will happen unless there is
an outpouring of anger from the European people. Every other nation
of the EU has a population that is in freefall, while that of Turkey
continues to climb. With the EU policy of free migration across
national borders within the Union, the result will be inevitable: The
Europe we have known will disappear.
Europe needs a religion to oppose this demographic disaster. A
revived form of militant Christianity, inspired by the Crusades, may
possibly step into this role, but this would be a tragedy. The
Germanic revival would be delayed for years, or even centuries. We
would simply be crushed in the flow of events.
There must be a revival of native European religion to fill the space
once occupied by Christianity. We who follow Germanic religion must
move quickly and forcefully to exploit this historically unique
opportunity. Otherwise, our ancestral homelands will suffer under the
renewed lash of a hostile, alien religion - whether Christian or Muslim.
CLASSIC GUIDED VISUALIZATIONS NOW ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Paths to the Gods, our collection of guided visualizations, has long
been praised for its ability to connect the listener with the gifts of
Thor, Freya, Heimdal, Idun, and Skadi. Now, for the first time, it is
available in CD format. You can order it from the AFA's website,
www.runestone.org, by clicking on our Online Store.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephen A. McNallen, Director
Asatru Folk Assembly
530-272-8142
www.runestone.org
info@runestone.org
* * * *
Followers of Ancient European Religion Welcome Supreme Court Ruling
Nevada City, Calif., May 31, 2005 - Followers of an ancient European
faith with Norse roots today hailed the Supreme Court's unanimous
decision protecting the religious rights of prisoners. (Cutter v.
Wilkinson, No. 03-9877)
The ruling, which upholds the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act, recognizes the rights of prisoners to religious materials
and services regardless of their faith.
"For years, Asatru prisoners have struggled for the right to practice
our religion," said Stephen McNallen, director of the Asatru Folk
Assembly, a national religious organization dedicated to the
pre-Christian faith of Europe. "This decision will make it much harder
for prison administrators to deny them this right."
Asatru-a native pre-Christian European religion originally practiced
by the Anglo-Saxons, the Norse, and the Germanic tribes-has been a
legally recognized religion in the United States since 1972. The
Supreme Court Justices made it clear that little-known religions, or
those with very different beliefs from the mainstream, deserve the
same protection as those with many millions of followers.
McNallen believes that Asatru has a definite place in correctional
institutions. "The native spiritual path of the European peoples
carries incredible rehabilitative, transformative, and healing power
for those who approach it with openness and reverence," he said. "How
can it be in the interest of the state to deny us our spiritual
birthright in such a win-win situation?"
About the Asatru Folk Assembly: The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) was
established in 1994 to practice, promote, and further evolve the
indigenous European faith. The AFA's Director, Stephen A. McNallen,
was a pioneer in the revival of the Asatru religion, helping to bring
it to the United States in the late 1960s.