ExtremismWhite supremacists in U.S. inspired by ancient Nordic religion
Inspired by an ancient heathen religion, known most commonly as Odinism, White supremacists carry out terrorist attacks on American soil. In at least six cases since 2001, professed Odinists have been declared guilty of plotting – or pulling off – domestic terrorism attacks. Today’s Odinists claim it is the only pure religion for white people, one not “mongrelized” by the Jewish prophet Jesus – thus making Odinism a perfect fit for a strain of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in America. “Now is a great time for Odinism because it fits into this historical narrative about European cultural greatness and a connection between whiteness and nationality,” says one expert.
Inspired by an ancient heathen religion, known most commonly as Odinism, White supremacists carry out terrorist attacks on American soil. In at least six cases since 2001, professed Odinists have been declared guilty of plotting – or pulling off – domestic terrorism attacks, Reveal News reports.
Today’s racist Odinists claim it is the only pure religion for white people, one not “mongrelized” by the Jewish prophet Jesus – thus making Odinism a perfect fit for a strain of white supremacists and neo-Nazis who think Christianity has been defiled by outsiders and weakened by passivity, as has been the case with many other institutions. Odinists see themselves as warriors, set to reclaim America for the white race and fight against a Jewish-inspired white genocide which is impoverishing the greatest country on earth.
“Now is a great time for Odinism because it fits into this historical narrative about European cultural greatness and a connection between whiteness and nationality,” said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Odinism is currently undergoing a revival, he says.
Odinists are worshippers of ancient Norse gods like Thor and Odin. Thor’s hammer pendants are worn around their necks as a group identity, and they meet for rituals in the woods, where they drink mead from a communal horn, read ancient poetry, and occasionally slaughter animals in sacrifice to the gods. Odinism advocates revenge and rewards warriors for fighting and dying for their noble cause. These theme and practice are more appealing than Christian values to many white supremacists who were once Christians.
“Turning the other cheek and it’s all going to be OK, that isn’t the answer a lot of people who are turning to Odinism are looking for,” said Daniel Burnside, a white supremacist Odinist from Potter County, Pennsylvania, who is raising his seven children in the religion. “They’re looking for the idea of, do you want to be the nail, or do you want to be the hammer?”
Odinism was once promoted as the only cure for America’s “spiritual sickness” by Else Christensen, a Danish immigrant and one of the devotees that spread Odinism in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. She traveled America, setting up Odinist groups in prisons, preaching that restoration of national and racial pride is the only hope for America to be strong again.
