Thread on Asatru

[The Grand Nudger]

Because geography and time are the only things separating one ethnicity from another.

[kılıç_mehmet]

Because geography and time are the only things separating one ethnicity from another.

On the contrary, locations are defined by the ethnic groups that live on them.

[The Grand Nudger]

I'm sure that a great deal is defined by ethnicity in your mind. That much has never been in doubt.

[jonb]

Hey folks,

As some of you might know I am Asatru/Norse heathen.

OK, you claim in the existence of Norse god's and I suppose you claim to be in touch with them in some way. There is an easy way to prove it just tell me in which direction Tyr is. I think I can point in to where he is, but that is through study, not the interaction of the gods. Find anyone who knows in your religion, an equal knowledge to mine over that point.

Asatru is a recently invented religion it has no connection to the original faith, so it does not know the original practices of the North Europeans, unless by study. As far as I know no god has spoken to an Asatruist, so their only knowledge of original practices is through published works, unless a god told them.

[The Grand Nudger]

Bwahahahaha, reading through the thread you linked I come acrossthis



Thank you sir, for the breath of fresh air. Loki, btw, easily my favorite fairy tale creature.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Hey folks,

As some of you might know I am Asatru/Norse heathen.
Over on "thethinkingatheist.com" I have made a thread about my religion and believes.

http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/forum/...k-a-Viking

I thought some of you might find it interesting.

Cheers

Umm, you DO know this is atheist forum?

From whence did you get the quaint notion that people here would care about your personal superstitions?

So far,all I've seem is criticism and ridicule,which I think is entirely appropriate.

[The Grand Nudger]

Oh idk Pad, a large amount of the current pagan culture deals with stereotypes or misconceptions about pagan beliefs. There is a lot of emphasis placed upon correcting these misconceptions in their literature and general PR (the idea being that paganism would be taken more seriously if this were corrected, it seems). The OP may feel that he is somehow engaging himself in the pagan community by offering to discuss his particular brand of paganism here with us. I care, I'm positively thrilled that I get the opportunity to dive into this thread as opposed to the constant christian drone.

Something that springs to mind, btw OP.

"The unwise man thinks all to know,
while he sits in a sheltered nook;
but he knows not one thing, what he shall answer,
if men shall put him to proof."

[jonb]

The trouble is they have jumped in the wrong direction, the christian stuff is wrong so they are going to believe in some other god of their invention.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Oh idk Pad, a large amount of the current pagan culture deals with stereotypes or misconceptions about pagan beliefs.

What misconceptions? Do they or do they not arrive at a new set of religious beliefs?

By definition,it seems to me that all religious beliefs have one thing in common: They are all faith based,rather than evidence based. That makes them superstitions.

[The Grand Nudger]

Largely christian ones Pad, such as the notion of any given Asatruar being a devil worshiper, for example. Not that explaining one's religion to a christian who assumes devil worship is going to change their mind about that...lol. Or, for another example, specifically in the case of Asatru, that they're ethnocentric bigots (or that the religion itself is inherently ethnocentric). This one is pretty hefty, as a couple of Asatru organizations were actually mislabeled as hate groups (most removed from the list but one remains..and probably deserves the classification) due to certain denizens of our federal prison systems use of the term and recon movement.

As far as the particulars of Asatru being identical to any other religion with regards to faith and evidence, yeah, absolutely, it's garbage.