Ásatrú Alliance
Encyclopedia
Ásatrú
is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
group, succeeding Stephen McNallen
Stephen McNallen
Stephen A. McNallen is an influential Germanic Neopagan leader and writer. Born in Breckenridge, Texas, McNallen has been heavily involved in Ásatrú since the 1970s.-Life:...
's Asatru Free Assembly (AFA) in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray (a.k.a. Valgard Murray) of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen
Else Christensen
Else Christensen , also known as the “Folk Mother”, was a pioneering Danish figure in the emergence of Asatru and Odinism in the post-World War II era....
's Odinist Fellowship
Odinist Fellowship
The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...
. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth
The Troth
The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...
. The Ásatrú Alliance was for the most part a reconstituted AFA, dominated by prior AFA members, and acting as a distributor of, previously, AFA publications.
McNallen's group was revived (as Asatru Folk Assembly
Asatru Folk Assembly
The Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, an organization of Germanic neopaganism, is the US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. Gardell classifies the AFA as folkish....
, AFA) in 1994, and the two organizations have existed in parallel since, temporarily united within the International Asatru-Odinic Alliance (1997–2002). Gardell (2003) classifies the AA as folkish
Folkish
Folkish may refer to:*Folk culture, in the sense "of the common people; traditional, sophisticated, yet unconventional"*Völkisch movement of German ethnic nationalism*Neo-völkisch, an ethnocentric current in Germanic neopaganism-See also:...
. The AA defines Ásatrú as "the ethnic religion of the Northern European peoples".
The Ásatrú Alliance is recognized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization, or church. The AA was formed on June 19, 1988 by seven kindreds, which were members of the disbanded Ásatrú Free Assembly, who ratified on this day a set of by-laws to preserve and promote the beliefs of Ásatrú in the United States of America.
The Ásatrú Alliance promotes the native culture of the Northern European peoples. The organization denounces racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
.
The AA is currently headed by a board of directors composed of representatives appointed by their kindreds, to speak on their behalf for any AA business.
The AA held its 28th annual Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
gathering in July 2008. Kaplan (1996) estimates the AA has between 500 and 1,000 members.
As a definition of Asatru, AA cites a 1995 essay by McNallen on "what is Asatru", which concludes by summarizing the main goals as the practice of "courage, honor, the importance of the family and ancestral bonds, strength, freedom, the preservation of our kind, and joyful, vigorous life."