Asatru Folk Assembly

The Asatru Folk Assembly or AFA is a US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. It is the successor organization to a group called the Asatru Free Assembly founded by McNallen in 1974 and disbanded in 1986, itself an outgrowth of a group called the Viking Brotherhood founded by McNallen in 1971. The defunct Asatru Free Assembly is sometimes distinguished from the modern Asatru Folk Assembly by the usage of "old AFA" and "new AFA", respectively.

Gardell (2003) classifies the AFA as folkish, yet not openly racist.

The AFA has been recognized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization, or church. It is based in Nevada City, CA.

Goals

The AFA's Declaration of Purpose is:

1. The practice, promotion, development, and dissemination of the religion of Ásatrú.
2. The preservation of the Peoples of the North (typified by the Scandinavian/Germanic and Celtic peoples), and the furtherance of their continued evolution.
3. The issuance of a call to all our brothers and sisters of the People of the North to return to this, their native religion and way of life.
4. The restoration of community, the banishment of alienation, and the establishment of natural and just relations among our people.
5. The promotion of diversity among the peoples and cultures of the Earth, in opposition to global monoculture.
6. The fostering in our people of a deep love of freedom and a hatred of all forms of tyranny.
7. The use of science and technology for the well-being of our people, while protecting and working in harmony with the natural environment in which we live.
8. The exploration of the universe, in keeping with the adventurous imperatives of our kind.
9. The affirmation of the eternal struggle and strife of life, the welcoming of that strife as a challenge, the living of life wholly and with joy, and the facing of eternity with courage.

Kennewick Man

On October 24, 1996 McNallen and the AFA filed suit in U.S. District Court in Portland (Asatru Folk Assembly v. United States) to attempt to stop the US Army Corps of Engineers from turning over the prehistoric remains of the Kennewick man to local native americans. Several prominent scientists and archaeologists also filed suit, to block the reinterment of the remains. Kennewick Man was the oldest intact human fossil ever found in the Pacific Northwest. Genetic tests to identify ties to modern people or tribes were inconclusive due to the deteriorated condition of the remains. McNallen became embroiled in the Kennewick Man issue and appeared in Time Magazine, The Washington Post and on television, arguing that modern adherents of Ásatrú have more in common with the prehistoric Kennewick Man than modern native americans. This claim, as yet, cannot be established without DNA tests on the remains.

After a protracted legal battle, the court ruled that the human remains were not "Native American" within the meaning of NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act). The remains currently are curated at the Burke Museum in Seattle. As a direct result of his portrayal by the media, McNallen later stated that he no longer advocates public Ásatrú rituals or media presence at Ásatrú ceremonies.^[1]

See also

• Germanic neopaganism

Footnotes

References

• Gardell, Matthias (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Duke University Press, pp. 269-283. ISBN 0-8223-3071-7.
• McNallen, Stephen A. (2004). “Three Decades of the Ásatrú Revival in America”, Tyr: Myth-Culture-Tradition Volume II. Ultra Publishing, pp.203-219. ISBN 0-9720292-1-4.

External links

• AFA
• AFA Declaration of Purpose

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