Reading through posts on Asatru blogs and lists, I often see derogatory comments made about the Christian faith and its followers. This is understandable. Organized Christianity ruthlessly suppressed all the native religions of Europe, including the Germanic religion we today call Asatru. The several thousand Saxon leaders slaughtered by Charlemagne for their refusal submit to the cross were only a very small fraction of our martyrs; Europe succumbed to Christianity after a sputtering war of resistance lasting centuries. It is possible that every man and woman of European descent has direct ancestors who died in defense of our native faith.
So what are we to do with this history, now that a thousand years or so has passed? The scene is complicated by the fact that (1) Asatru is an ancestral religion and (2) most of our recent ancestors have been Christian. True, most of our line is thoroughly heathen - Europe as a whole has been under the sway of Christianity for only between one and two percent of the time that modern humans have lived on the continent - but things are no longer simple.
Here's my take on it: I went through a stridently anti-Christian phase in the years immediately after I decided to follow Asatru. I was young and brash and angry because I had been cheated of my heritage. Now, I am older and somewhat less brash. I still feel the loss of our traditional culture, and I still honor the martyrs of our faith who fell before the steel and fire of Christians. I certainly believe that Christianity is a faulty faith, a foreign imposition on European soil, a way that has done us great damage...But you know, I find it hard to blame the Catholic or Baptist down the street for what Charlemagne did.
In short, I am still in opposition to Christianity as a religion, but I am not against Christians as people simply because of the faith they profess. And to be honest, many of them live our virtues better than some of us do.
Most especially, I am not interested in "Christian bashing." I don't automatically assume all Christians are bigots or fools - because they're not. My parents were Christians, and my grandparents, and so on for many generations. I honor my Christian ancestors just as I do my pre-Christian forebears, because blood is thicker than water - and, specifically, thicker than the water of the baptismal font.
Our task in regard to Christianity is simple: We are, in some sense, in competition with it for the soul of our people. Reasoned criticism of Christianity is one thing; ad hominem attacks are another. The former helps us accomplish our mission, but the latter hurts our efforts. If we are negative and angry, people who might otherwise regard us well, or even join us, will not hear our message. Hostility stops communication. We must conduct ourselves in a way that reflects well on our beliefs, and that suggests a maturity and confidence leading us to treat others with the respect due them.
Hail our holy Gods and Goddesses! Hail the ancestors, and hail the generations yet to come!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
10 comments:
I think that anger and frustration over lost heritage leads many of us to a certain blindness that is universal to any fundamentalism. Once I stopped generalizing about Christianity, I was able to discover how much native European religion was incorporated into Christianity - old holidays masked by saints days, Christmas, etc.
Steve I have a question. I honor all of our Gods but I do have a patron and it is Loki. It is and that is that. He chose me. I have ran into some Odinist recently and they have a problem with this. What say you?
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I feel much the same rage at Christianity that many of our Asatru Kin do, to the point that when we've had sermoning evangelicals at my school I have jumped up next to them and started discussing matters of religion and faith (these were open air forums, not lectures). While I don't know how effective that is in reaching other students, although I do tend to get positive reviews from them, I have always tried to avoid bashing the person professing Christianity while still taking the religion to task. That being said, as a young Norseman I'm ever eager to take the field of battle against the Eastern Christ.
@Randyweaver, you're right, a lot of the old pagan/heathen attitudes survived buried in Christianity when it took over, just as a lot of christian attitudes remained when atheism/progressive movement/etc took over. The gods are taken away, but the attitudes remain.
@Saint, good on you for being with the trickster. Too often he gets bashed unjustly. I'd say don't worry about the Odinist folks, there are many traditions among our people, none are better or worse, they're probably just hung up on his bad rep that the church gave him. Teach them the truth of your patron and I'm sure you will both get along fine.
Sorry if I stole some thunder, Mr. M.
very mature. we need to be able to converse with our own people. my family is Christian - I have nothing against them. they need to hear what i have to say.
Thank you Mr.McNallen.
That is why people like yourself and Edred Thorsson are in the forefront of modern Heathen thought.
It really makes me more than proud to belong to AFA.
I don't think showing anger or aggression towards christians is at all productive and have always judged a person by their actions rather than what religion they follow, that being said I have never quite understood why so many people whose ancestry can be traced back to Europe follow an essentially Middle Eastern religion. This would be akin to adhering to the religious beliefs of your country’s native peoples. In my country these people are known as “Johnny-come-lately’s”
Hatred towards others because of race, religion or what not really does nothing but hold back the spirituality and souls of our kinfolk. The intolerance shown by Christians back then towards those of our faith should not be replicated in any shape or form in our faith. We mustn't stoop to their level, but rather rise above the murky depths of hatred and intolerance. To hate is easier than to tolerate. To tolerate is to be strong and that's something our ancestors would be proud to see in us.
@CJM79, would those be the same ancestors that were tortured and murdered? Or perhaps our Godkin, who were slandered and attacked?
You speak of tolerance, but were is the justice in letting those who attacked, murdered, tortured, and suppressed the old ways walk away with no retribution, but rather be allowed to walk away while we "respect" them in the name of tolerance?
I kind of find bashing of any religion useless and judgmental...lol
I am a more strongly focused person in Christianity, but there was a time where I became part of the Asatru religion... But even during that time, I didn't really abandon Christianity.
In the end, I came to my own resolution: I'll just respect and acknowledge that perhaps every religion can be true, since after all, we are just human--the higher understandings of any type of god(s) goes further beyond our own knowledge. So who are we, mankind, to think we know all?
We have no right to judge one another, and if someone does, it's just better to learn from their own mistake and take the role of a leader--there will always be firm believers of a certain religion who oppose greatly on others, but heed warning:
All this will do is create hate, which may even lead to dire consequences.
And for the Christians who have taken drastic measures to the point of insulting and excluding welcome to other non-believers, I apologize for them. I have utmost belief that they do not even follow the Christian morals--because specifically, our teachings state to love one another, love all, even our enemies. Radicals have forgotten this statement, which brings shame to Christianity. So I apologize on their behalf. Please don’t come to hate Christians, or any other religions.
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