6.23.2008
You Can't Ban Odinism In Prison
The Indiana federal district court has conclusively ruled that prisons can't ban a faith because of hypothetical problems. In this instance, Odinism and the various white supremacist groups that infiltrate and exploit the faith.
"...an Indiana federal district court has ruled that the Indiana Department of Correction's policy banning all group worship for Odinists violates RLUIPA. In Hummel v. Donahue, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47534 (SD IN, June 19, 2008), the court held that while the interest in maintaining safety and security is compelling, prison officials must do more than speculate that a religious practice will lead to problems. Here officials were concerned that white supremacists would claim to practice Odinism, but presented no concrete evidence to support this. Secondly, there were less restrictive alternatives than totally banning group worship. These included pre-approved scripts for worship services, increased training for correctional officers, pre-approved volunteers from outside to lead services, and research into solutions found by other prison systems."
As the court hinted, one very easy way to stem the tide of racist Odinist groups is to invite more Pagan/Heathen chaplains in. Currently, the prison system is completely skewed towards Christian modes of belief, and as a result non-Christian prisoners are treated to widespread discrimination and hostility. However, some prison systems are slowly coming to the realization that allowing Pagan chaplains in can help reduce recidivism and create a healthier support network for Pagan inmates susceptible to the overtures of racist gangs masquerading as religion.
"Bolstered by President Bush's recent signing of the Second Chance Act, which promises more money for faith-based programs to help rehabilitate prisoners, corrections officials and religious volunteers are testing the largely unproven theory that faith can not only salvage criminals, but — in the long run — make the rest of us safer, too ... In Colorado, a volunteer network of chaplains offers 216 programs and the Department of Corrections recognizes 36 faiths ... those traditions range from Asatru, a polytheistic Norse religion, to Native American rituals to nature-based Wicca ... Credible research on the effectiveness of faith-based programs remains sparse and inconclusive. But corrections experts and volunteers agree that such efforts, coupled with education, counseling and other therapies, could be part of the solution."
Pagan-friendly corrections departments in places like Colorado and Washington are leading the way into the future. A future where Christianity isn't the only religious remedy for the troubled and violent soul. A future that Indiana will now be forced to at least partially embrace in the next sixty days. Let's hope they embrace the change mandated by the courts, and adopt some of the more progressive methods of quelling racist strains of Pagan religion. No doubt the Odinist/Asatru community in Indiana would look forward to more openness and cooperation from prison officials.
Labels: Asatru, Chaplaincy, Heathen, law, litigation, Odinism, Paganism, Prison, racism
6.11.2008
Racism, Odinism, and Custody Battles
The Winnipeg Free Press reports on a woman working to get custody of her two children back after her daughter arrived at school with a swastika drawn on her arm. The woman, an Odinist, claims to be "tolerant of all people" despite the fact that she is married to an admitted white supremacist, and admits to being a "white nationalist" who wears swastika-etched jewelry
"The day her seven-year-old daughter went to school in March with a swastika drawn on her arm, her mother said she tried to wash it off with nail polish remover but the marking stayed put. Her daughter forgot her sweater a mother gave her to cover her arm. When her mother arrived to collect her child from school, police were waiting for her. "The only thing that matters to me is my children. It's not about politics, it's not about anything else... it's about what's best for them ... I've never forced my beliefs on my children." The woman's seven-year-old daughter and two-year-old son were seized by Manitoba Child and Family Services this spring due to concerns their father -- an admitted white supremacist -- was filling their minds with hate and marking one child's body with racist graffiti. The children are now staying with relatives.."
One could reasonably argue that if her children have "pro-Hitler" markings on their bodies then she has done a poor job of "not forcing" the beliefs of the parents onto the children. Further, while the lines between being a merely "folkish" Germanic Heathen, and being a racist white supremacist Odinist may seem blurry and vague to some unfamiliar to the religious culture, it seems rather obvious that a line was crossed from mere Eurocentricity into neo-Nazi gutter-philosophy. Harboring a stay-at-home husband who she classifies as "flamboyantly bigoted", and allowing Nazi-related markings to be made on her children (self-directed or not), speaks of a fundamental failure to insulate her children from toxic racism.
Now split from her husband after reading the Child and Family Service reports, the woman still entertains notions that the pro-Hitler markings were entirely self-directed, and refuses to admit any failings as a parent.
"The mother, who refused to comment on where the swastika marking came from, suggested her daughter may be responsible for other pro-Hitler markings CFS said they found on her body. "It's entirely possible she could have drawn it on herself," she said"
In this case, the references to "Odinism" by the mother and the press seem to be a red herring. This isn't about religious discrimination, this is about her children being raised by a toxic racist with a criminal record who either drew or encouraged the children to draw pro-Hitler markings on their bodies. Removing them from his presence and placing them with relatives seems prudent. What do you think? Where is the line between intellectual freedom and abusive indoctrination drawn? What would you have done if you were CFS official responding to a concerned teacher's report?
* I realize that there are some who want to reclaim the swastika from its racist/fascist connotations, but you can't un-ring a bell. So long as the memory of Hitler, and idiots who seek to glorify him, persist, the immediate connotations of the symbol will be with racism and fascism.
Labels: Asatru, Canada, Children, custody case, Heathen, Odinism, Paganism, racism
12.20.2007
Taking a Green Bay break.
While the situation in Green Bay continues to roil, I thought I would clear the pallette and write about something else for a change (don't worry, I'll get back to it soon, in the meantime why not check out the discussion on this issue at Get Religion). For instance, an Asatru inmate has filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Corrections for allegedly denying him his right to practice his faith.
"Michael Polk, who is serving time for aggravated assault and robbery, filed the lawsuit against corrections officials in federal court, accusing them of denying him several religious items that he claims are necessary to practice the Asatru religion, which worships ancient Nordic gods like Odin, Thor, Tyr and Heimdal ... In his lawsuit, Polk said he asked the prison chaplain for the items and was denied them. Corrections officials noted that he checked the box marked "None/Atheist" when he entered the prison. After he appealed, corrections officials allowed Polk to have a wooden Thor's Hammer pendant. The other items were denied because of security reasons."
A couple questions arise, first off, did Polk have no choice but to check "none" since there was no box for Asatru? Secondly, while his list of required items seems a bit long (a Thor's Hammer, a prayer cloth, a Mead Horn used for drinking Wassail, a drum made of wood and boar skin, a rune staff and a (cardboard) sword) are other (more mainstream) faiths allowed similarly long lists of religiously-themed items? Information concerning these details would help greatly in finding out if Polk's case is merely frivolous or if the prison is truly limiting his religious freedom.
Sadly, instead of answering these questions, the Deseret Morning News decided to talk about vampires instead.
"In Utah, several inmates have filed lawsuits over religion. In 2002, the Utah Court of Appeals denied one inmate's claims that the prison violated his religious rights by refusing to allow him to drink blood or partake in a sacrament with a 'vampiress.'"
Not to question the sanctity of religious vampirism, but the reporter seems to have classified this as a "oddball" story instead of a religion story. As such, we get no follow-up and some unrelated trivia. There is a rich history of legal cases involving Asatru, and it's a shame they couldn't have been explored here.
Labels: Asatru, Heathen, journalism, Prison, Religious Freedom
12.09.2007
Pagan Holy Site Threatened
Hrafnkell at A Heathen's Day passes on the word that a historic place of pre-Christian worship in Russia is in danger of destruction. The site in question is the Mountain Vottovaara (located in Russian-controlled Karelia), a place sacred to the indigenous Sami people (part of the Finno-Ugric linguistic family) of Northern Europe that contains approximately 1600 sacred stones called 'seids'. Now a planned mining operation near Vottovaara is putting the historic site in jeopardy.
A view of Vottovaara's seid formations.
"The old Pagan cult place in the Republic of Karelia (part of the Russian Federation) is in danger. Vottovaara was only "discovered" in 1978, and it consists of about 1500 sacred seita rocks, peculiar kind of rocks that were used as sacred sacrifical sites by the pre-Christian Finnic peoples. It is widely assumed that Vottovaara mountain was a sacred place for the Pagans living in the area. Vottovaara is sometimes even titled as the "Northern Stonehenge". Unfortunately, the government of the Republic of Karelia is now planning to start mining operations at the mountain, very close to seita rock formations. The use of explosives at the mine puts these sacred formations in real danger."
The Finnish Pagan organization Taivaannaula is organizing a petition to try and halt mining development so close to this sacred and historic site. So far they have very few signatures. While I don't normally endorse petition-drives, I think this is a worthy cause and I encourage anyone concerned about this situation to add their voices in protest of this action. For some lovely pictures of the site, check out this page.
Labels: Finland, Heathen, Paganism, Russia, seid, Taivaannaula, Vottovaara
11.10.2007
Covering Asatru
The Fox affiliate in Chicago has done a short segment on the Asatru faith. The result ends up saying a lot about how journalists often decide what the story is going to be before they do the reporting.
"Ancient Viking Religion Finds New Worshipers - Including White Supremacists. Thousands of followers claim Asatru is a real religion. They swear it's changed their lives for the better. But it's also a faith that's been linked to violence and hate crimes. Mark Saxenmeyer shows us just who's worshipping 'the race religion."
That blurb and the accompanying video segment show the inherent bias held by the reporter and his editors. Asatru is defined as "race religion" even though that isn't a universally held view within Asatru, and white supremacy takes up fully half of the report even though such movements are only found at the extreme fringes of the faith (and, as the report concedes, are denounced by all the major Asatru organizations).
You can't have a "fair and balanced" view of a faith when you cut from an interview with a local Asatruar to newsreel footage of marching Nazis. In fact the report states that Nazis practiced a "variation" of Asatru, even though such a claim is completely anachronistic and hugely contentious. Perhaps the reporter wanted to do a sensationalist piece about new racist movements and was disappointed to discover that they were appropriating and distorting a larger faith grouping.
This may seem like a small thing, but it is news stories like this that can directly lead to growing FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) concerning Asatru and Germanic Heathenry. It can lead to innocent symbols being banned as "offensive", and can cause problems for Heathens if a hysterical co-worker or family member suddenly thinks they may be a white supremacist. There is a way to responsibly report on racist movements that appropriate modern Pagan symbols, but conflating these small and isolated groups with our mainstream is irresponsible.
ADDENDUM: For a more positive story involving Asatru, The Northern Path reports on a Asatru man who helped save the life of a woman who had crashed her car.
"Siple, who was walking his Airedale terrier Dusty when he found Scott lying next to her car on the beach, said he was praying to Njord, the god of the sea, while awaiting rescuers. "I was just praying to him, 'hold the tide back a little bit longer so we can get Diane out of here,'" Siple said Friday."
Expect to hear more from Siple, he has been approached by The Today Show and Dateline.
11.07.2007
Offensive Runes?
Word has been spreading like wildfire through Heathen/Asatru Internet communities that the MySpace social networking site is now considering the display of runic symbols to be offensive and against the company's terms of service.
"So this image is offensive, according to myspace. So its ok to have pornographic images and default pics of guys holding guns and masks? Please feel free to use this image in protest of these ridiculous regulations and REPOST so all can see this!!! Keep messaging myspace also; to show them we are still fighting the religion option..."
Old English Futhorc runes.
From what I have been able to figure out, the outcry started when a MySpace petition profile (now switched to a closed/private profile) to expand the religious labels for Pagan MySpacers beyond "Wiccan" or "Other" had its profile image removed by administrators due to its "offensive" nature. Since then there have been claims that other Heathen/Asatru profiles also had their runic symbols taken down.
"Recent whispers through out the Myspace Asatruar community, as of today, have several pictures removed from peoples profile where upon Runic symbols are present. Apparently it is now against the TOS here to use Runes to decorate the pages. I do rather suspect that this is due to those that use our symbols for hate agendas. With that said perhaps Myspace TOS staff need to educated themselves instead of pilfering intolerance based on ignorance!"
It is unclear at this point if this was a move solely on the part of MySpace administrators, or a response to individual user complaints (any MySpace user can report "offensive" content with the click of a button). The petition site has put its offending image back up (though, as I mentioned before, the page is now listed as "private"), and it remains to be seen if this was an isolated incident or if MySpace is now conflating the use of runes by some racist groups with the more benign uses by the larger Asatru/Heathen community. We will have to wait and see what develops in the near future.
9.06.2007
Where Asatru is Going
Astrid at The Northern Path brings to my attention a series of podcasts interviewing representatives of national Heathen organizations. The program "Ravencast" has just posted an interview with Heimgest of the Odinic Rite.
"In our continuation of organizational interviews we were very pleased to speak with Heimgest of the Odinic Rite. During the interview Heimgest touches on many subjects such as prison ministry work, environmental activism, and programs for children."
Previous interviews included Patricia Lafayllve of The Troth, and Stephen McNallen of the Asatru Folk Assembly. Next month they plan to interview a representative from the Asatru Alliance.
This sounds like an excellent way to see where Asatru as a whole is going, and how different Heathen organizations envision the future. Kudos to "Ravencast" for this excellent service to Asatru and the wider Pagan/Heathen community.
