ABC informs us about a religious hate group allowed to meet in “Church identified as hate group gets permit in Minnesota“. The Nordic Heritage Church, called Asatru Folk Assembly, received permission to meet in an abandoned church from their local city council. The city attorney advised the council that refusing to allow them to meet could violate religious rights. With cameras off and no names, the majority of the council voted to allow them to meet.
Opinion on Nordic Heritage Church
I have never heard of the Nordic Heritage Church or Asatru Folk Assembly, so I did a little more digging. Southern Poverty Law Center lists this group as a hate group. In a public hearing, the group admitted to denying entrance to non-white people to their group. The leader Allen Turnage said “I think the best analogy is that we view our gods as our ancestors. If we have a family reunion, it’s only our family.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group as an organization that “has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” According to this definition, I don’t agree that the Nordic Heritage Church is a hate group. They act like an exclusive club, a racist club. I don’t know all the details, but I don’t see any mention of them attacking or maligning another group. Merely they have an over inflated view of themselves.
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