by Heimgest CG

Originally published in OR Briefing 63 April 1987

ODINISTS are aware of the terrible consequences paid by our folk for allowing the unnatural cult of Christianity to usurp their natural religion. Perhaps we should forgive our ancestors for their naivety in succumbing so easily to this sickly creed. In a recent issue of ORB a member pointed out how our forefathers’ undisciplined response aided the christian missionaries in subverting our people. But we must not ourselves therefore make mistakes by adopting negative attitudes and thought towards other religions and to Christianity in particular.

Now that Christianity is crumbling it is sometimes tempting for us to gloat about its imminent demise. But we ourselves have little to gloat about. Sure, more and more of our folk are neglecting Christianity but how many of them are actually being restored to their North European gods? Not nearly as many of them as are drifting aimlessly into materialism.

Odinism is growing and so is paganism in general. Some of us may have reached a point when we think that anything called pagan is good and anything christian must be bad. It is understandable that many of us should loathe the cult of Christ. But if we are not very careful there is a danger that we will become negative, merely an anti-christian movement rather than a movement in support of our own gods. Even if we were not obsessed with the negative too much ‘anti’ talk would label us with that tag.

Just because something is pagan in a general sense does not necessarily mean that it must be of benefit to us. For instance, Hinduism is an organic religion. But given the choice how many of us would prefer to live in a town where the majority is Hindu to a place peopled by English men and women who still professed even a nominal Christianity?

As the christian faith recedes and paganism starts to rise all manner of cranks, and some degenerates, are busily proclaiming their own brands of paganism. We have all heard of pagans who preach the joys of perversions such as child sex, homosexuality, abortion, genocide and drug abuse. We certainly would never dream of identifying ourselves with such people merely because they call themselves pagans. We do not want the junkies and the dross or those who hail their alien gods. Just because someone claims to be pagan or non-christian does not make him automatically acceptable to us.

We know that many of the practices associated with Christianity are in fact heathen. We also know that what the Christians couldn’t destroy they just took over, including some of their best-known ceremonies. And many of their churches are of course on the sites of Odinist temples. Let us remember too that Christian clergymen blessed the soldiers arms before calling upon their god to give victory. That is a clear reminder of our ancestors calling upon Odin for victory.

The soldiers and the discoverers among our people who were nominal Christians were all displaying the noble heathen values that many Christians strive for. So if we simply go along hating everything Christians do or do not do we are in reality condemning things and activities that we should admire and, indeed, emulate. Oh yes, we would soon attract all the thrill-seekers and the mentally disturbed if we did nothing else than spout anti-Christian slogans and ran around cemeteries in the moonlight all naked and doped up. But we must oppose such people as we must oppose any enemies of our people. Christianity succeeded in the short term because it attracted (whether forcibly or not) the ordinary family group.

The Christians substituted Christ for Balder. In other ways too people would have noticed little change except for the names of the gods. Christianity may be thought a hideous thing but most of its early followers were simple, decent individuals. But now that at last the Christian clerics have begun to come out in their true colours they are rapidly losing the support of the peoples of the Northern lands who instinctively know that they can no longer go along with its sickly ideas and activities any more than most of them are unwilling to tolerate the ‘paganism’ of the junkie class. So we Odinists must not let unthinking bigotry blind us to whatever is good in Christianity.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, for instance, have excellent schemes to help the unemployed and the sick members of their communities. Although I have no time at all for their faith I must admit that their kinship feeling is enviable and whilst I do not like to see our country swamped with Asian hordes in many cases their family loyalty is greater than our own.  At present Odinism does not have the numbers or the resources to do a great deal by way of social service of this kind. But what we can and must do is to create bands of comrades who will survive this era of decay and hold the sacred heritage and ways of our people, to hand them on to our successors. It will certainly not be a rapid process so those who expect a sudden mass restoration of our folk are likely to be disillusioned.

Only by remembering and by living according to the Odinist Charges will we, with Odin’s help, be victorious. There is much to be done and if we are to succeed we cannot afford the idle luxury of gloating and, just as important, we must not fall into the trap of negative thinking.

Heimgest, CG