Why is Asatru considered racist by some?

My post content

It is an easy question to answer and at the same time it is very difficult. Like a lot of Abrahamic and Pagan faiths, Asatru (Or Heathenry or Norse Pagan. I’ll use Asatru to keep it simple and to accomplish another goal.*) There is MUCH more underneath the thin veneer of a name. The term Asatru, as we’ve talked about before is not that old. Figure circa 1968-1970 (ish). Whereas the practice has had ebbs and lows since the late 17th century. The biggest revival besides today come in Europe around the late 19th century.

But I digress. The question stands. Why is Asatru considered racist?

Short answer. The “Squeaky wheel gets the grease.” The Asatru Folk Assembly is the primary driving force for what is “Folkish Asatru”. I will not disparage the AFA here, while my feelings on National Organizations are the same. Be the AA, The AFA, The Troth, TAC or whatever has popped up. I do not like them and feel they serve no great use. I’ve held that philosophy for decades. We can debate that later.
If you go to Google and look up the AFA, you get a FACEFULL of Anti AFA rhetoric. Some are true, some are AI generated bullsh....stuff. That means it is an AI is just scanning pages looking for racist content and no deep reading, no digestion of the facts . And some is what I like to call MUS. Made up Sh...Stuff But over all, while they do not publicize the word, It is well known that the majority is 100% racist in word, at times in deed, it has shown it. 40 years ago the AFA declaration of purpose was much different than today. In the late 1980’s and the predecessor to the modern AFA said nothing about it being “only for white people”. Today it is very different.

II. The preservation of the Ethnic European Folk and their continued evolution

If the Ethnic European Folk cease to exist, Ásatrú would likewise no longer exist. Let us be clear: by Ethnic European Folk, we mean white people. It is our collective will that we not only survive, but thrive, and continue our evolution in the direction of the Infinite. All native religions spring from the unique collective soul of a particular race. Religions are not arbitrary or accidental; body, mind and spirit are all shaped by the evolutionary history of the group and are thus interrelated. Asatru is not just what we believe, it is what we are. Therefore, the survival and welfare of the Ethnic European Folk as a cultural and biological group is a religious imperative for the AFA AFA Decleration of purpose.

While the AFA only holds a small percentage of the total amount of Asatru folk in the US, it is the loudest of organizations. IE the Squeaky Wheel. The Asatru Alliance (today to a MUCH lesser extent), used to be pretty racist. But things have changed, the original leader Valgard Murray in his final days on Midgard and a large portion of the new leadership has worked to put those days behind it. But memory remains.

Preamble to the By-Laws of the Asatru Alliance. Current as of 2025

The Asatru Alliance promotes the native culture of the Northern European peoples. However, we do not practice, preach, or promote hatred, bigotry, or racism. We believe that Northern Europeans can believe and promote their own culture and heritage in a positive manner, this is expressed through our native religion. Asatru.

The Asatru Alliance is apolitical and does not promote or condone any political activities of the left or right within our religion, any manifestations of external political activity is outlawed by the By Laws of the Asatru Alliance.

Simply speaking, we have banded to actively promote the ancient culture and religion of Asatru, as practiced by our ancient Northern European Ancestors, that, and nothing more.

The Asatru Allaince by laws.

Presented above are two organizations that used to be very “folkish” and racist. Today on the surface at least one has become more public about it. The other is trying to correct it. The term “Folkish” has multiple meanings.

The Oxford Dictionary describes folkish as:” characteristic of ordinary people or traditional culture.”

In Asatru, many have attributed it to mean “Thinly veiled racism” preferring to associate with only “folks like them” IE Similar race political/religious ideals.

So, what can WE do about it? That’s the easy part. Just be normal good people. Live our lives, worship our gods, goddesses and ancestors. I am not here to tell you how to think or decide on your path. I will tell you my own UPG. (Unverified Personal Gnosis). We as humans cannot decide on who can or cannot be Asatru. That is something that us totally up to the Æsir, Vanir and your ancestors to a lesser extent. We as people I feel, do not have “all the information” to make a decision of that magnitude. We can and do (hopefully) have the knowledge and wisdom to make decisions on who will a “good fit” in our halls and kindred’s. But temper those to not make them according to race, color or sexual preference. Sure, we can point to historical documentation that says, all were not treated equally. There were very few people of African or any person of color in tribes and villages of Northern Europe in the 5th century. Women while having a much higher standing than they did in other parts of Europe still were not equal to their male counterparts. Gay or transsexual ( Yes it did happen then ) Where not always welcomed into the tribe. Seiðr. While portrayed in the TV show Vikings, is pretty bad, they were respected, they were not always welcomed into daily life. There are exceptions to those above listed items. My views on this is. We grew. We grew up. We grew wiser. We grew more tolerant of others. And I feel that the gods teach us that.

Havamal 54 Jackson Crawford Translation.

You should only be a little wise

Never too wise.

The happiest people

Throughout their lives,

Are those that know just enough.

Havamal 55 Jackson Crawford Translation

You should only be a little wise

Never too wise.

A wise man's heart

is seldom glad,

If he is too wise.

My take on this as it pertains to this paper. Having enough wisdom to be happy and productive. Leave the items out of your control to the gods. We have enough to do and worry about rather than “Is this XXXXX (insert preferred non or pronoun here) person good enough to be Asatru”? Seriously there are bigger problems that needs attention vs the color of skin, the ancestry or what is or is not between a person's legs...

Write your text heAfterword.

Y’all may have seen an asterisk in the first paragraph. It is about the word Asatru. In the last 10 –15 years the word Asatru has picked up a lot of negative press. One of the reasons more and more people call themselves Heathen or Norse Pagan. I still use the term Asatru to describe myself and faith. Sometimes Heathen works well and Norse Pagan almost never. Why? Because that is who I am. I am Asatru. I am Tru to the Æsir. And most importantly I fight to bring back the good name it once had. The same with some of our symbols and runes. They were perverted by madmen in the 1930’s. The Schutzstaffel or SS. Stole the “s” rune as their insignia. ᛋ is the Sun Rune or by it’s name Sowilo. But madmen perverted it. Othala also known as ēðel . it means Homeland, Home and Heritage. But the Nazis perverted. The Othala rune was the badge of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office (Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt) which was responsible for ensuring the racial purity of the SS. Modern “Nazitru” use it today.

If we display it today, we are automatically considered racist by some groups. Where in fact it just means Home to most of us. And it does not matter if it i displayed with the serifs (wings) that the Nazis attached to it or the more normal version. And the one that causes the most pain for millions. The Swastika. For thousands of years prior to Nazi Germany it was a symbol across the world. Across thousands of cultures. From the ancient Hindu to Native Americans. It was a symbol of good luck or spirituality and Peace. In Sanskrit it means “Conducive to well-being”. With the ancient northern Europeans from pre-Viking age to as late is the early 20th century it was a powerful symbol of good luck, prosperity, and protection, representing Thor's hammer, the sun, or even the continuity of the cosmos

Today we do not DARE display it. Most of us, me included, do it not out of fear, but out of respect for those that were harmed under it. But this is one of the things I do try to bring to light and help to bring change. Will it happen in my lifetime? No, most certainly not. But it does not change my world view on those items or terms. We can sit by and do nothing. Or we can try to make small changes. I did and still do. I joined a wonderful organization here in South Carolina called PAL. The Pagan Alliance of the Low Country. Mainly to meet new people when we first moved here. But also, to show folks that were uneducated or had bad ideas of Asatru. To live by example to others about being Asatru.