white nationalist
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...
international
ﾃ《atrﾃｺ
Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a Modern paganism, modern pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the ea ...
organization, founded by Stephen A. McNallen in 1994. Many of the assembly's doctrines, heavily criticized by most heathens, are based on
ethnicity
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
, an approach it calls " folkish". Once headquartered in
Grass Valley, California
Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...
,Gardell 261 with chapters worldwide, the AFA is recognized as a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
religious organization.
As of April 2025, the AFA had approximately 730 members.
History
The AFA's roots are in the Viking Brotherhood, founded by McNallen in 1972. McNallen was one of the earliest advocates in the United States of reconstructing
Germanic Paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological dating, chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the Bri ...
. The Viking Brotherhood evolved into the Asatru Free Assembly in 1974, and was disbanded in 1986, splitting into two successor organizations, the "folkish"
ﾃ《atrﾃｺ Alliance
The ﾃ《atrﾃｺ Alliance (AA) is an American Heathen group founded in 1988 by Michael J. Murray (a.k.a. Valgard Murray) of Arizona, a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The establishment of the Alliance, as well as the ...
Troth
Troth may refer to:
* An alternate form of truth, especially in the medieval sense
*Troth (surname)
* Troth Yeddha', a landform in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska
* The Troth
The Troth, formerly the Ring of Troth, is an American-based i ...
. In 1986, the Asatru Free Assembly ceased operations, due to burnout and disputes about polygamous relationships within the membership. According to accounts by McNallen, it was not due to racial politics, but because administration was time-consuming and the membership rejected a request seeking pay for religious work.
McNallen founded the Asatru Folk Assembly in 1995 as the successor organization to the Asatru Free Assembly. The defunct Asatru Free Assembly and Asatru Folk Assembly are sometimes called the "old AFA" and "new AFA", respectively. From 1997 to 2002, the AFA was a member of the International Asatru-Odinic Alliance.
McNallen believes in an "integral link between ancestry and religion, between biology and spirituality"; according to Jeffrey Kaplan, the organization was founded in part to counteract rumored "universalist" tendencies he discerned in
Ring of Troth
The Troth, formerly the Ring of Troth, is an United States, American-based international Germanic Neopaganism, heathen organization.
In 1999, the AFA attempted to acquire land in the
northern California
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
, intending to create a communal project with room for agriculture and religious worship. But it never held legal title to the land. Upon promises that the land would be donated, some AFA members built a simple hof there, after which the land's owner chose not to donate it.
In the late 1990s, the AFA got involved in a protracted fight over the remains of the
Kennewick Man
Kennewick Man or Ancient One was a Native American man who lived during the early Holocene, whose skeletal remains were found in 1996 washed out on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Radiocarbon tests show the man lived a ...
: members claimed that these were the remains of a European ancestor; they were allowed to approach, but not touch, the coffin holding the Kennewick Man. Later testing showed that Kennewick Man is "very closely related to the Colville" tribe in northeast Washington.
In May 2017, Facebook deleted the AFA's primary social media outlet, citing
hate speech
Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...
as the reason. In 2018, the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...
Army National Guard
The Army National Guard (ARNG) is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Army. It is simultaneously part of two differen ...
left the military under uncertain terms related to their involvement as leaders of "Ravensblood Kindred", a white nationalist religious group that shared ties with the AFA. Both had previously attended a rally by
Richard B. Spencer
Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist. Spencer claimed to have coined the term "alt-right" and was the most prominent advocate of the alt-right movement fr ...
. One was on active duty in Afghanistan and one worked as a jailer for the
Haralson County
Haralson County is a county in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,919,US 2020 Census Bureau report, Haralson County, Georgia up from 28,780 in 2010. The county seat is Buchanan. Th ...
but was not terminated from his position. One member, East, now holds a leadership position at the Njordshof hof.
On August 10, 2024, Zachary Babitz, a member of the Asatru Folk Assembly, was arrested in
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doﾃｱa Ana County, New Mexico, Doﾃｱa Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...
for allegedly committing several violent crimes, including murder, carjacking, and robbery, throughout
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
earlier that month. The group previously described Babitz, who had "
1488
__NOTOC__
Year 1488 ( MCDLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* January 8 – The Royal Netherlands Navy is formed, by the decree of Maximillian of Austria.
* February 3 ...
" tattooed on his hand, as 窶徼he newest apprentice Folkbuilder for the ﾃ妬nshof District窶.
Activity
Since 2013, the AFA has owned rights to many of the books of "Edred Thorsson" (a pen name of
Stephen Flowers
Stephen Edred Flowers, commonly known as Stephen E. Flowers or his pen name Edred Thorsson, is an American runologist, university lecturer, and proponent of occultism, especially of Neo-Germanic paganism and Odinism. He helped establish the Ge ...
).
In August 2015, the AFA acquired a former
Grange Hall
The National Grange, also known as The Grange and officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and pol ...
in
Challenge窶釘rownsville, California
Challenge窶釘rownsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yuba County, California, United States. The population was 1,161 according to the 2020 Census.
Despite strong opposition from local community members, Asatru Folk Assembly, a white s ...
, about 40 miles from Grass Valley, where the group was founded. The hall was built in 1938, and was purchased to be used as a hof and community center under the name Newgrange Hall Asatru Hof. It was previously the Youth Center of the Mountaintop Christian Academy of California, and at another time the Marge Moore Youth Center. This first hof has since been named Odinshof, in dedication to the god
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
.
In April 2020, the AFA acquired a former church in
Linden, North Carolina
Linden is a town in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 130 at the 2010 census, and the mayor was Frances Collier.
History
Ellerslie, Ivy Burne, and the Dr. Wayman C. Melvin House are listed on the National Re ...
, which has been turned into a heathen hof serving AFA members in the
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...
. This second hof is named Thorshof, in dedication to the god
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding ﾃｦsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
.
In June 2020, the AFA purchased a former Lutheran church in Murdock, Minnesota, to be used as gathering place for AFA members of the
Northern Great Plains
The Great Plains is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include the mixed ...
. In December 2020, the Murdock City Council gave the AFA conditional approval to use the church. More than 120,000 Minnesotans have signed a petition to stop the group's use of the building. This third hof is named Baldrshof, in dedication to the god
Baldr
Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Vﾃ｡li. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in ...
.
In 2022, the AFA purchased a former church in
White Springs, Florida
White Springs is a town in North Florida, United States, on the Suwannee River. It was developed as a tourist attraction for its mineral spring water baths. The population was 740 at the 2020 census. Home of the annual Florida Folk Festival, it ...
, to serve as a hof for AFA members in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
. The AFA operates a monthly food pantry for the local community there. This fourth hof has been named Njordshof, in dedication to the god
Njﾃｶrﾃｰr
In Norse mythology, Njﾃｶrﾃｰr (Old Norse: ) is a god among the Vanir. Njﾃｶrﾃｰr, father of the deities Freyr and Freyja by Sister-wife of Njﾃｶrﾃｰr, his unnamed sister, was in an ill-fated marriage with the goddess Skaﾃｰi, lives in Nﾃｳatﾃｺn (myth ...
.
Opposition
As a result of the discriminatory activities of the AFA, numerous Heathen and neo-pagan organizations sought to produce a document refuting these beliefs and the characterization that they represented these faiths. The product was Declaration 127, which specifically condemns the AFA. This declaration has been criticized for its specific focus on the AFA, and efforts have been made to expand it. One alternative to Declaration 127 is the "Declaration of Deeds", a much wider-ranging statement against discrimination and hate in Heathenism.
See also
*
Far-right politics
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
*
List of white nationalist organizations
The following is the list of well-known white nationalist organizations, groups and related media.
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people; some white nationalists adv ...