08 Jun 2005
Folkish Universalist Redux

It seems as though every time a newbie shows up on a Heathen e-list, they immediately perceive a difference that they'd not really thought of before: and they immediately throw out some flame bait that threatens to re-ignite the war over greatest division within modern Heathenry: the Folkish-Universalist split. It happened again this morning - and it's time to set the historical record straight once and for all.

My "Universalist" credentials are pretty impeccable: I am the founding goši of the Kindred of Ravenswood, which has as fully-oathed members several folks of generally non Indo-European backgrounds. That being said, I am fully cognizant of the fact that ancestry is a strong component of the modern Heathen revival, although I personally feel that cultural influences play an equal part, I am more than willing to acknowledge that those who feel genetics are primal are Heathens in fact and deed, are are in no way "racist" for believing this.

The great war got going full tilt in the late 1980's, and resulted in the birth of the organization called at the time the Ring of Troth, shortened to the Troth later because of the obviously inappropriate acronym the former name implied . Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm founded the Ring when they split from the Asatru Free Assembly over the reluctance of some assembly members (and some in the leadership) to admit folks of obviously non Germanic/European backgrounds. There was also, according to Valgard Murray, a strong disagreement over "elitism": the belief in degreed clergy and hierarchal organizational structures versus a looser, more "folk" based autochthonous structure. Valgard came out of the (old) AFA and founded the Asatru Alliance, based strictly on kindreds, with no individual memberships outside of magazine (Vor Tru) subscriptions. The founder of the Asatru Free Assembly, Steve MacNallen, while basically siding with the Folkish faction, essentially left national organized Heathenry for some five years, returning to found the Asatru Folk Assembly in 1993.

The war raged for most of the following decade, with accusations of "racist", "Nazi", "wiccan wanna-be" and "pervert" flying. Thorsson was chased from the leadership of the Ring by accusations of associations with Michael Aquino and the Temple of Set (Chisholm basically left with him), while the Alliance struggled along with a pretty much static membership. Edred went on to found the Rune Gild, trying to avoid the issue entirely. Several organizations tried to bridge the gap, notably Frigga's Web, but none really succeeded.

In the middle of all of this a "third force" emerged: Theodish Belief, which posited itself as "tribal" - not quite Folkish but not quite Universalist either, with a heavy emphasis on social as well as religious reconstruction. Their fence sitting rewarded them almost immediately with a board up the butt, as they were accused of trying to "take over" the Ring of Troth, and ended up off by themselves, not really in either camp. Theodish Belief fractured badly over internal politics, but they have since revived somewhat, and are well represented in the Troth today.

Keep in mind that there were certainly Universalist heathens in the Alliance - kindreds are loathe to have any outside organization tell them who they can or cannot admit, and there was a smattering of Folkish heathens left in the Troth as well.

Sometime in 1999 a group of folks from both camps found themselves on the newsgroup alt.religion.asatru, and discovered that they had more in common than they suspected. Being somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of static on Usenet, they formed a Yahoo group - originally called Asatru-in-Action and now known as Our Meadhall.

The group managed something few online groups have done: they organized a get together - a Moot, in central Missouri in the spring of 2001. I was there. It was the beginning of the reconciliation, and the recognition of common ground on both sides. Folkish Asatrurar are not crypto-Nazi's, any more than Universalists are closet Wiccans. We're all Heathen - we have a difference of opinion over exactly where the "call from the Gods" originates, but that's about it. Otherwise, it's a cross section of an emerging community: there are very politically liberal Folkish Heathens and very politically conservative Universalist ones. There are LGBT folks on both sides of the issue, too. Folks who take a more modern look at reconstruction of our troth, and folks who are more traditional. Theodish folks are in both camps.

What it boils down to is this: the old nature vs. nurture debate. Is our nature (genetics) the primary determining factor in our humanity, or is it our nurture (culture)? Personally, I believe that it's more than a bit of both, and offer this wonderful tome as an argument from the moderate middle. A more expanded version of my personal views can be found here.

If one really believes that Folkish Heathens are, by nature, racist, then one must also believe that Native Americans are racist - they certainly don't like new age white folks appropriating their traditions:

All of mankind once lived and loved within the Tribal unit. All beliefs were probably originally earth oriented, much like American Indian beliefs. If you are not a Native American and you feel a strong attraction to Native American beliefs, most likely you are feeling the desire to reclaim YOUR TRIBE'S unique beliefs. Unfortunately, most of these are unknown today, but still...why not try to seek out, uncover, and re-discover the Ways of YOUR People first?

Orthodox Jews have to be tarred with the racist label as well: you can't really "convert" to Orthodox Jewry:

It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you believe or what you do. A person born to non-Jewish parents who has not undergone the formal process of conversion but who believes everything that Orthodox Jews believe and observes every law and custom of Judaism is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal movements of Judaism, and a person born to a Jewish mother who is an atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox. In this sense, Judaism is more like a nationality than like other religions, and being Jewish is like a citizenship.

Ditto for Orthodox Hinduism:

Before we begin, I think it's necessary to state that in mainstream, that is, orthodox Hinduism, you can't convert. If you're born outside Hinduism, you're screwed, no hope for you. The best you can do is follow the path of dharma as much as possible and hope that in your next life you are born as a Hindu. This is how to become a "real" Hindu.

In fact, about the only recognized religions in Midgard that wouldn't be racist by this criteria are Christianity, Islam and Theravada Buddhism.

The position Heathenry has gradually evolved into is one of truce and acceptance. Those who were there in the first battles have burnt out on the whole concept, recognizing it for the straw man that it truly is. Like the Aesir and the Vanir in the lore, we have exchanged "hostages" - folks with either theological bent hanging out with the opposite camp, and managed to put our commonalities above our petty and personal differences.

So far, it's working pretty well. And if Heathenry is to survive, much less thrive, it's got to keep working.

00:00 /Asatru | 3 comments | permanent link