Odinism as an official religion

[Liffrea]

Does anyone know if Iceland is the only country where Odinism is an official religion? What is the criteria for being accepted as such? I was also wondering how things change if a religion is recognised as official?

Sorry to pester with all these threads but I'm eager to learn. :)

[Loki's Advocate]

It means that, for one thing, their goings-on receive TAX FREE STATUS. Also, they can receive state funding for the building of houses of worship et cetera.

I once read an article saying that the Norwegians were considering it/had done it, but I can't find it, so only Iceland have actually done it. :D

[Hveðrungur Kveldúlfsson]

It was talked about with Allherjarsgóði, Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (RIP) of the Icelandic orginization "Ásatrúarfélag" who was the man who had Asatru recognized as an Official religion in Iceland in an interview which can be found by clicking here (http://www.odinist.com/othala/showthread.php?t=213)

[Sigurd]

It means that, for one thing, their goings-on receive TAX FREE STATUS. Also, they can receive state funding for the building of houses of worship et cetera.


Also true
the tax exempt status is the reason
why Satanism is a religion in US
an official recognized one
pretty disturbing IMO :rolleyes:

[Liffrea]

What a great guy to get the old ways back into people's conscience like that. Hopefully one day us English can get our beliefs recognised as well.

Are there figures for the number of Odinists by nation? In England the census lumps us as "other".

[Scramaseax]

Also true
the tax exempt status is the reason
why Satanism is a religion in US
an official recognized one
pretty disturbing IMO :rolleyes:

I bet there are people who find Asatru disturbing, I don't see why Satanism shouldn't be recognised if it fulfills the criteria.

[Scramaseax]

Does anyone know if Iceland is the only country where Odinism is an official religion? I was also wondering how things change if a religion is recognised as official?

Foreningen Forn Sed (http://www.forn-sed.no/main/english/information.htm) say they are officially recognised in Norway.

Forn Siðr (http://www.fornsidr.dk/index_uk.html) were recognised in Denmark in 2002. They got mentioned in a few newspapers at the time:


Home to the Vikings of yore, Denmark said Wednesday it will let a group that worships Thor, Odin and other Norse gods conduct legally-recognized marriages.

"To me, it would be wrong if the indigenous religion of this country wasn't recognized," Tove Fergo, the minister for Ecclesiastic Affairs and a Lutheran priest, told The Associated Press.

Under Danish law, the state Evangelical Lutheran Church has sole authority to recognize other religious communities.

The 240-member Forn Sidr, which worships Odin, Thor, Freya and the other members of the Norse pantheon, sought recognition in 1999, said Tissel Jacobsen, the group's president.

Last year, an Ecclesiastic Affairs panel of scholars recommended that Forn Sidr, whose name mean "Old Custom" in old Norse, be approved, but only if their rituals were clearly detailed in its bylaws.

"At a general assembly, we added and described our four annual heathen rituals -- spring and fall equinoxes, and the summer and winter solstices, and our marriage ceremony," Jacobsen told the AP. "We then returned our application and the panel approved it."

Fergo said she would give her final approval "in a few days."

About 1,000 people worship the ancient gods in Denmark, Jacobsen said.

I think Natverket Forn Sed (http://www.fornsed.se/) is also recognised in Sweden. Aside from being tax-exempt, you can conduct legally recognised marriages.

[Scramaseax]

Hopefully one day us English can get our beliefs recognised as well.

Strangely enough it seems Geleafawaer Fyrnsida/Þéodisc Geléafa is alot stronger in the USA than in England.

[Liffrea]

Strangely enough it seems Geleafawaer Fyrnsida/Þéodisc Geléafa is alot stronger in the USA than in England.

That is strange. It could be a past echo of the Church of England, a national religion in its own right. There is also the current political nature of the English government, but I won't go into that. :D

[Sigurd]

I don't think that there are many heathens in Austria either. As in Asatruar. I am actually not sure whether it is an official religion in my home country yet, but I don't think so, and I think that there might be too few in the case of there not being enough.

[Hengest]

There is some recognition in the UK. The OR was the first organisation representing a polytheistic religion in the UK to gain recognition by the Charities Commission, a governmental organisation.

We are also contacted now and again by the UK and Scottish parliaments as part of consultation processes and are currently in discussions with the armed forces about recognition.

Step by step our faith is moving on. It will not happen overnight but the more good people who become active the more we can achieve.

[Liffrea]

How many are in the OR White Horse?

[Scramaseax]

The New Zealand Asatru Fellowship has been recognised as a Charitable Trust since 1995, and Asatru has been legally recognised as a religion in the USA since 1972.

[Sigurd]

Religious Demography Austria

The country has a total area of 32,368 square miles, and its population is an estimated 8.0 million. The largest minority groups are Croatian, Slovene, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Roma. In the past several years, the country has experienced a rise in immigration from countries such as Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has increased the number of Muslims in the country.

According to the 2001 census, the memberships in major religions are as follows: Roman Catholic Church--74.0 percent; Lutheran Church (Augsburger and Helvetic Confessions)–-4.7 percent; Islamic Community–-4.2 percent; Jewish Community--0.1 percent; Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian)–-2.2 percent; other Christian churches–-0.9 percent; other non-Christian religious groups–-0.2 percent. Atheists accounted for 12 percent; 2 percent did not indicate a religious affiliation.

The vast majority of groups termed "sects" by the Government are small organizations with less than 100 members. Among the larger groups are the Church of Scientology, with between 5,000 and 6,000 members, and the Unification Church, with approximately 700 adherents throughout the country. Other groups found in the country include: the Brahma Kumaris, Divine Light Mission, Divine Light Center, Eckankar, Hare Krishna, the Holosophic community, the Osho movement, Sahaja Yoga, Sai Baba, Sri Chinmoy, Transcendental Meditation, Landmark Education, the Center for Experimental Society Formation, Fiat Lux, Universal Life, and The Family.

The provinces of Carinthia and Burgenland have somewhat higher percentages of Protestants than the national average, as the Counter-Reformation was less successful in those areas. The number of Muslims is higher than the national average in Vienna and the province of Vorarlberg, due to the higher number of guestworkers from Turkey in these provinces.

Where is us heathens? :eek:

[Liffrea]

Bloody Jedi knights get more mention in England than us heathens. :(

[Sigurd]

A different sources goes on as follows (sorry had to translate this from German):

Currently 13 religious groups are classified as religious communities, following the Recognition Act 1874: The Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelic/Protestand Church (A.B and H.B.), Islamic Faith Community, the Old Cathlic Church, the Jewish Faith Community, the Orthodox Churches (russian, Greek, Serbian, Rumanina, Bulgaria, the Mormons, the New Apostolic Church, the Syric-Orthodox Church, the Armenian-Apostolic Church, the Methodistic Church in Austria, the Buddhist Community and the Coptic Orthodox Church.

At the time of the passing of the law about the legal personality of communities of religious faiths in the year 1998, in Austria there existed 12 nationally recognised religious communities. The law made it possible for these societies to maintain their status, but simultaneously it mentioned new criteria for other religious Groups that stride for the status of a nationally recognised religious community. One of these criteria is that the group has existed for 20 years when they apply for the status. The group has to have had existed at least 10 of those 20 years as a religious faith community, after the 1998 Act.
Furthermore, the number of members of the group has to be at least 2 per thousand of the population (approx. 16 000 members). Jehova's Witnesses are the only not-recognised religious group which fulfill these criteria. Indeed this would only be the case for 4 of the 13 nationally recognised communities, also.

I think that means that we will never be recognised in Austria! :( :mad: :eek:

[Sigurd]

Bloody Jedi knights get more mention in England than us heathens. :(

I know!
See following:

Jedi Knights achieve official recognition as a religion
By Kieren McCarthy
Published Tuesday 9th October 2001 11:05 GMT
Updated Jedi Knights have gained official recognition as a religion in the UK Census 2001.

Coming very near the bottom of an official list of religions put out by the Statistics Office, Jedi Knight is known by the code 896. Heathen comes in at 897. Followed by Atheist at 898 and lastly None with 899. It's not exactly a ringing endorsement though since the 800s come after every other religion, no matter how obscure, and 700 is used for all "other religions".

We reported in April about a worldwide attempt to get Jedi Knight accepted as a religion. It started out a daft idea but thanks to email and the Internet soon a whole army of budding Luke Skywalkers had joined in.

We spoke to the Home Office - which was not overly entertained especially since the Census is supposed to be deadly serious. However the Home Office would not say what constituted a religion and we subsequently discovered that while you can be heavily fined for putting down false details on a census form, it does not apply to the religion question.

With 95 per cent of census forms now received and scanning, coding and data capture due to be completed by August next year, we should know just how many official Jedi Knights there are in the UK by the end of 2002.

If you want to check out the full list of religions, download the relevant pdf file here and look on page 18. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/09/jedi_knights_achieve_official_recognition/

[Sigurd]

Further about the Austrian situation:

The 10 religious groups that have the status of a religious faith community, are: Jehova's Witnesses, the Ba'hai community, the Baptists, the Evangelic (Protestant) Alliance, the movement for religious renewal, the free community of Chrust ("Pfingstgemeinde"), the "Pfingstkriche Gemeinde Gottes", the chruch of Seventh Day Adventist. the Hindu religious society, the Menonnitic Free Church.

All of these pretty obscure, apart from Hinduism.
And no mention of us! :mad:

Further it is written
To receive the status of a faith community, a group has to prove it has at least 300 members, and show the government written Statutues, in which the aims, rights and responsiblities of the members are described, as well as the conditions of membership, the leaders of the group, and its financial funding.

At least this finally sounds a bit better, I'll probably find at least 300 heathens in Austria, and if it is that case, I can see what we can do. My grandparents know Jorg Haider personally, and as some of you may be aware, his party is currently in the government although they only have 17 of 183 seats. So I could probably personally arrange something about that...

[Sigurd]

Oh yes, and if you want to read about the whole thing, and understand german, go on:

Demokratie und Menschenrechte (http://www.usembassy.at/de/policy/rel_freedom_rep_austria.htm)

[Asbrandsson OR]

Does anyone know if Iceland is the only country where Odinism is an official religion? What is the criteria for being accepted as such? I was also wondering how things change if a religion is recognised as official?

Sorry to pester with all these threads but I'm eager to learn. :)

Hello,

The criteria are not the same in every country. In Alberta I have got our hearth incorporated provincially. So that it can act now as a kind of third party non-entity. It can own land, pay taxes, have a bank account and borrow money.

When we have been running for a minimum of three years and have one hundred members and can show our religious body of writings and practice we can gain statistics Canada status and be able to perform weddings and funerals. We can also apply for charity status which means that we will not pay taxes, but it also means that we can not make public comments on political issues like gay marriage or we will loose that status.

Asbrandsson OR

[Liffrea]

Hello,

The criteria are not the same in every country. In Alberta I have got our hearth incorporated provincially. So that it can act now as a kind of third party non-entity. It can own land, pay taxes, have a bank account and borrow money.

When we have been running for a minimum of three years and have one hundred members and can show our religious body of writings and practice we can gain statistics Canada status and be able to perform weddings and funerals. We can also apply for charity status which means that we will not pay taxes, but it also means that we can not make public comments on political issues like gay marriage or we will loose that status.

Asbrandsson OR

Thanks for that explanation. It is good to have that official recognition. Without it your open to all sorts of abuses.

Must get around to joining OR. :D

[Scramaseax]

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost have been recognised as a religion in Norway since 1996.

[Sigurd]

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost have been recognised as a religion in Norway since 1996.

What doesfellesskapet mean in English?

[Teufelhunden]

What doesfellesskapet mean in English?


I think loosley it means "help there is a hog in my kitchen" but I could be wrong ya ;) know

[Hengest]

Sounds quite like Fellowship.

[Sigurd]

Sounds quite like Fellowship.

I thought so, too, but you can never be to sure about languages that are not your own by birth. Which is why I asked.

[Zelda]

Odinism is recognized in the U.S. by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a religion and by many states corrections departments as well. That, in addition to the tax-exempt status that various Odinist groups can apply for in the U.S. I was pleased, when my son took a "Values and Beliefs" class in public high school, where they studied various religions of the world, that there was a chapter in his textbook (and they spent some time on a unit) on Odinism. Zelda

[Schwarzesonne]

It should be mentioned that in the USA there is no such thing as “an official religion” because of the Separation of Church and State clause in our Constitution. In plain English that means that we don’t have the equivalent to a “Department of Church,” a “Minister of Religion,” or what have you.

In Iceland, for example, a certain percentage of one’s tax money is automatically donated to one’s church. Therefore if Asatuar did not want their tax money to fund the Lutheran Church they needed to get their own status, giving taxpayers the option of checking a box on their tax form that would send $$ to the Felag instead of to the Church. This was established in 1972.

In the USA we don’t do this. We may be recognized by certain government agencies (e.g.: the military or the Department of Corrections), but that’s about as far as our government “official-ness” may go.

BTW, Odinism is legally recognized in Australia too. See http://www.geocities.com/osred/ for more on this.

[beowulf]

I much prefer complete freedom of religion than having one's government "recognize" a faith. I don't need a government to grant a stamp of approval on my troth. I understand that's how it works in Iceland, but to me freedom of religion/creed is one of the most basic and essential liberties for free men everywhere.

[Liffrea]

I much prefer complete freedom of religion than having one's government "recognize" a faith. I don't need a government to grant a stamp of approval on my troth. I understand that's how it works in Iceland, but to me freedom of religion/creed is one of the most basic and essential liberties for free men everywhere.

I agree. But there are benefits to being recognised. If we have no place in law we can be persecuted by the state or any other agency.

[Sigurd]

Does anyone know if Iceland is the only country where Odinism is an official religion? What is the criteria for being accepted as such? I was also wondering how things change if a religion is recognised as official?

Sorry to pester with all these threads but I'm eager to learn. :)


It is not regarded as a religion here in Britain??? :eek:

[Liffrea]

It is not regarded as a religion here in Britain???

How long did it take you with that one?? :p

No it is not, not official anyway. I believe the OR are campaigning to get it onto the 2011 census.

[Schwarzesonne]

No it is not, not official anyway. I believe the OR are campaigning to get it onto the 2011 census.

Forgive my ignorance. But how does one benefit from being recognized as an “official religion” in Britain?

As I believe I said before, we have no equivalent status in the USA.

[Hengest]

No it is not, not official anyway. I believe the OR are campaigning to get it onto the 2011 census.

Not that I am aware of. In the last census members were advised that it might help if we ensured that we all put the same thing but there is no interest from the government in recognising our faith to that extent. The OR even gave up its status as a religious charity (the first ever polytheistic organisation in the UK to be a recognised as such) because of the never ending obstacles put in place by the charities commission.

[Liffrea]

Not that I am aware of. In the last census members were advised that it might help if we ensured that we all put the same thing but there is no interest from the government in recognising our faith to that extent. The OR even gave up its status as a religious charity (the first ever polytheistic organisation in the UK to be a recognised as such) because of the never ending obstacles put in place by the charities commission.

Hmmm The site I read was wrong then. But it is taking the urine when Jedi is on a census but Odinism is not. I am under no illusions about the possibility of Odinism being recognised as an official religion.


Forgive my ignorance. But how does one benefit from being recognized as an “official religion” in Britain?

The main would be that we are not discriminated against on the grounds of faith, or abused because of our religion. As far as I know our marriage rites are not considered legally binding either.

[Hengest]

The main would be that we are not discriminated against on the grounds of faith, or abused because of our religion. As far as I know our marriage rites are not considered legally binding either.

Now that is something that IS being worked on!

[Sigurd]

As a Law student and an Odinist what I find pretty disgusting is the following:

Is it a crime to lampoon religious beliefs verbally or written? - Only Christian beliefs.

So that means if one writes against Asatru as a Christian thats considered within the law, and if I as an Asatru writes against Christianity in some way or another (which I actually am doing as a project...) then according to Scottish Law that is illegal :mad:

[Liffrea]

Now that is something that IS being worked on!

I knew I had it pegged somewhere. :D