Continuation of the people in question becomes a religious imperative. Obviously, such a folk-based religion has strong advantages for any group trying to preserve its physical and cultural existence. If there were no Eurofolk, the religion would not exist. Asatru is not just what we believe - it is what we are. Our mythic allegories remind us that we are descended in part from the Gods themselves. Every native population has, or had, such a religion that spoke from its blood, its bone, its brain, its soul.įor the Germanic peoples - whether descended from the tribes of central Europe, or of Scandinavia, or from the Anglo-Saxons - Asatru is such a religion. They posit a time-transcending unity of the Gods, the ancestors, the living kin, and the generations yet to come. They honor their ancestors, and not the ancestors of any other people. They spring from the soul of that people and from no other. Such religions are the distilled experience of a specific biological and cultural group from its very beginning. They are innately tied to a specific people and cannot be transferred to another group without losing their truth, power, and integrity. The other category includes the ones we call pagan, or native, or indigenous religions. The very word 'catholic' means 'universal.' You can be Chinese or Nigerian or anything under the sun and be a full-fledged member of any of these faiths. Consequently, these religions claim the allegiance of all the human race. One kind, like Christianity, Islam, or Scientology, lacks any roots in blood or soil. There are only two kinds of religions in the world. (The primitive and puerile are, unfortunately, out there.) Usually, I call my practice 'a native European religion.' I'm only using 'pagan' in this essay because most of you will be familiar with the word in the context of the Alternative Right and Radical Traditionalism. Generally, I avoid using the word 'pagan' because of the nonsense done by some people under that name. It is not at all what Alain de Benoist, in his excellent On Being a Pagan, called 'primitive' and 'puerile.' The proper name for my faith is 'Asatru,' from the Icelandic meaning roughly 'those true to the Gods.' Some call it Odinist. The paganism I have practiced for some forty years is derived from the beliefs of my (and your) Germanic ancestors.

It is not a hobby, a pastime, or an affectation. It does not mean rituals mixing Isis, Thor, and American Indian beliefs, with a little lesbian-feminist philosophy thrown in for good (or bad) measure. 'Pagan,' as I use the term, does not mean lacking a moral code. I am a pagan because our ancestral religion is needed to help reverse the decline and impending extinction of the European-descended peoples. I am a pagan because the best things in our civilization come from pre-Christian Europe. I am a pagan because it is the only way I can be true to who, and what, I am.

Stephen a mcnallen