A Brief History of Asatru in the United States: Part 2: American Gods

Part Two: American Gods

In the 1970s there was a revival of the “old ways” in Iceland, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and Australia (All places that people of Germanic ancestry ended up by the 20^th century). The cropped up pretty much independently of one another. This independent development meant that there was no basic structure, outline, or anything for what would become Asatru. From the get-go in the United States Heathenry was giving out mixed signals. There were neo-Nazi groups that built on the old Nazi stereotypes and there were some legitimate Heathens trying to make a difference.

Stephen McNallen

In 1976 the first legitimate Asatru organization emerged; the Asatru Free Assembly founded by Stephen McNallen. The AFA, formally the Viking Brotherhood, sought to make Asatru a legitimate religion. McNallen was not alone, Edred Thorson, James Chisholm, Michael J. Murray, along with all the other old faces in modern Asatru work together to make Asatru a true religion. In 1986 the Asatru Free Assembly split and disbanded. McNallen would later state that the AFA split was not due to racial politics, but because administration was time-consuming and a request seeking pay for religious work was rejected by the membership. However, those close to the situation know otherwise. In the 1970s and 1980s McNallen was vehemently anti-Nazi. That’s right the guy how formed the modern folkish Asatru movement was anti-Nazi. The Viking Brotherhod split because it was a drinking club that appealed to neo-Nazis and the other racists, McNallen left in disgust and founded the Asatru Free Assembly, which also became infiltrated by neo-Nazis. McNallen would go into seclusion (more or less) for the next 10 years.

Out of the Asatru Free Assembly would spawn the Asatru Alliance founded by Michael J. Murray, and The Ring of Troth founded by Edred Thorson and James Chisholm. These were two very different organizations. The Asatru Alliance adopted the folkish view of Asatru. The AA border lined on racist, homophobic, and sexist, staying just shy of outright Nazism. Murry was a member of the American Nazi Party in the late 1960s and involved with Else Christensen, founder of the Odin Fellowship. Christensen believed that Jews control the western socio-political establishment, yep she was a Nazi. Today the Asatru Alliance website states they denounce racism, but its founding members association with the American Nazi Party say otherwise. The Ring of Troth took another approach to Asatru. The Troth believes in a universalist idea that anyone can practice Asatru and Germanic Heathenry is accepted in all its forms, Asatru, Forn Sed, Urglaawe, Theodism, and others. Basically, The Troth is open to all and it open to them on their terms.  Back in 1987 there was a lot of bad blood between the factions, some say there still is. It was pretty tense. I remember a lot of debate and arguing over folkish and universalism. The main argument was that the folkish concept of Asatru being an ancestral religion would lead to neo-Nazism. Back in the late 1980s Neo-Nazi Skinhead were becoming a real problem. I remember when just wearing Mjolnir was synonymous with being a Nazi skin. In the late 1980s and early 1990s we fought the Nazis in the streets, the rock clubs, and anywhere we found them. Literally, we fought them.

Asatru was really starting to make its mark in the early 1990s. The availability of books and information became readily available outside of areas like California. In my small town a New Age book shop opened up in the late 1980s, something that was beginning to happen all around the region. The big thing I noticed was that people were more open about their beliefs. I started to discover that other teenagers I hung out with were Heathens, and not Nazi skinheads. Suddenly in the early 1990s we had a community that held blótas and Heathen gatherings. It was really quite amazing.

McNallen was asked what attracted him to Asatru and his reasons for starting his first organization the Viking Brotherhood, his response was;

“the perception that the God of the Bible was a tyrant and that his followers were willing slaves, and an admiration for the heroism and vitality of the Norsemen as depicted in popular literature.” 

In 1994 McNallen rises from the ashes. After dumping the Asatru Free Assembly due to the conflicts between the Hippies and neo-Nazis. Keeping in mind that McNallen rejected Nazism, expelled neo-Nazis from Asatru organizations, events, and spoke out against them publicly, McNallen formed the Asatru Folk Assembly in 1994. McNallen did not approve of The Troth’s universalist approach to Asatru. He felt universalism, "denied the innate connection of Germanic religions and Germanic people". One might think that McNallen was a racist because he believed that the Germanic religion was for the Germanic people, but this is not so. McNallen does not and never has seen himself as a racist, arguing that "racism" entails expressing a belief in racial superiority, a viewpoint he claims not to hold. He sees himself as a defender of the faith and the people who descended from the Germanic tribes of Europe. McNallen believes that your religion should be tied to your ethnic ancestry, all religions, and he can be very convincing in his argument.

With the new Asatru Folk Assembly, McNallen seemed willing to overlook some of the neo-Nazism within Asatru. He associated with Mike Murry of the Asatru Alliance, who was the neo-Nazi who helped break the old AFA and threatened to kill an Asatru Free Assembly member for being gay. Once McNallen manage to get the the New AFA off the ground he parted ways with the Asatru Alliance and headed off on his own. McNallen was smart, and he did his best to hide his ties with racists, neo-Nazis, and rightwing politics. Throughout the 1990s many in the Asatru community praised McNallen’s success in promoting Asatru as a legitimate religion within the United States. By the end of the 1990s Asatru was headed in this direction. I knew a lot of heathens, the AFA and The Troth were very active, sometimes jut promoting their versions of Asatru, and more and more books on Heathenry were being published by reputable authors.

I honestly believe that Stephan McNallen belied he was doing what was right for the Asatru community, but I think over time the wolf broke its chains and began to devour its master. McNallen always saw Asatru as a European religion, but he carefully crafted a native that white-supremacy and neo-Nazi ideologies were not part of Asatru. Today, that is not the message McNallen is spreading as he advocated that Asatru is a "whites only" religion.

The Troth

By the end of the 1990s I was no longer affiliated with any nationwide Asatru organization. Once again, I was on my own, but I no longer hid my beliefs. About 1998 I rejoined what was now The Troth and remained a member for several years. My problem with these large national organizations was always lack of communication. Basically, you get a magazine and some junk mail. If you want, you can contact your local rep and maybe he can put you in touch with local Heathens. I was by books by both The Troth and the new AFA and reading what I could by McNallen. I have to say I liked the guy. He was very convincing. Back in the 1990s folkish Asatru was not considered a bad thing by most. There was always a fear that folkism could lead to neo-Nazism, but we all thought that we would not let that happen. By 2001 the AFA was off the radar again. McNallen and the leadership of the AFA had overstretched themselves and resources, thus they suspended membership. Bu that didn’t last long. The AFA came bouncing back with McNallen at the helm. They launched YouTube channels, a new website, blog, podcast, online radio, and of course a Facebook page. McNallen made a name for himself in the Asatru community. Let’s face it, those of us who were there and involved in the community took notice of McNallen. We liked most of what he was saying and tha Asatru was getting nationwide attention. McNallen was advocating for all Heathens, not just the AFA, and we liked it. American Heathens were happy to get recognition, and we did not seem to notice the racist undertones within the AFA, but Heathens in Europe were starting to take a closer look.

Around 2009 I was promoting McNallen. I saw his YouTube videos about Asatru, and I was impressed. He is a remarkable orator. I promoted them on Facebook and in my own blog. I had parted ways with The Troth once again and after some consideration I joined the AFA. This was the first time I had been affiliated with the AFA since the 1980s. I saw the difference. Upon joining via the internet, I received emails from my area rep and even phone calls. The connected me with area Heathens and we got together. For the first time ever, I was connecting with area Heathens through a national Asatru organization. After about a year they began courting me to be an AFA rep and hold event in my area. In 2012 I started noticing a politic alignment in some AFA member that I did not like, thus I was a bit reluctant to get too involved with AFA affairs. I was noticing a lot of rightwing political statements on the chat groups and thought I should keep an eye on it. About 2013 Ii parted ways with the AFA once again. McNallen and other in leadership were taking some very public hard-right stances on social and political issues, none of which sat well with me. I part ways with the AFA and never looked back until in 2019 when I discovered that the AFA has turned over and the Nazis won. I was living in a bubble of my own making and the wider Asatru community was off the radar to me. Having known McNallen and his anti-Nazi stance of the past I was shocked, but not surprised. He was soft on racism, but he hated Nazi philosophy.

At this point I walked away from the national organizations once again. I cut all ties with the AFA and every other Asatru group on the internet and social media. We disbanded the Kindred Hall of Hammerhof and severed ties with everyone that had been involved. It would be over a decade before I would have anything to do with Asatru on a social or public level.