Ásatrú Alliance
The Asatru Alliance (AA) is a US Ásatrú group, succeeding Stephen McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly (The old AFA) in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray (a.k.a. Valgard Murray) of Arizona, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth. 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.
Background
See Ásatrú in the United States
McNallen formed a new group (as Asatru Folk Assembly, (The new 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. 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.
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 32nd annual Althing gathering in September 2012. 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."
World Tree Publications is the Asatru Alliance's publishing house.
Valgard Murray
Valgard Murray (Michael J. Murray), born in 1950 in Iowa, is the Allsherjargoði of the Ásatrú Alliance of Independent Kindreds, Inc.
He moved to Arizona.
Murray was involved with the American Nazi Party (ANP) into the late 1960s.[1] He was the Arizona organizer of the ANP.[2]
In 1972 Murray worked with Else Christensen to found the Odinist Fellowship, and served as vice president. He was a representative of the AA on the board of the International Ásatrú-Odinic Alliance and also served on the Board of Directors and as General Manager of the Ásatrú Folk Assembly (1984-1987). In 1987 he served as General Manager of the AFA, and in 1986 founded World Tree Publications.[3] In 1987 co-founder the Ásatrú Alliance. In 1997 he was elected Allsherjargoði of the Ásatrú Alliance.[4][5] In 2003 he was allegedly elected as Allsherjargoði of the International Ásatrú-Odinic Alliance. Although he was only the Allsherjargoði of the Asatru Alliance.
In 2009 Murray was criticized heavily[6][7] for the views, and lies,[6] he expressed in his 'Deposition in Eberle vs Wilkinson & the State of Ohio'[8]
In 2013 the Murray commented on the killing of the Colorado Prison Chief Tom Clements as the alleged murderer "practiced a controversial form of religion behind bars" which was Asatru.[9][10]
Murray was interviewed on January 25, 2014 on the Sedona Dreams Show.[11]
References
- ↑ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/1998/winter/the-new-barbarians Archived April 18, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism, page 261
- ↑ http://www.worldtreepublications.org/page1.aspx Archived February 9, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Editor, Author at Sedona Dreams Archived February 24, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ http://www.worldtreepublications.org/page009.aspx Archived May 1, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Heimgest, Presenting the Truth Archived February 3, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Owen, Laurel, 'A Commentary on Valgard Murray’s Deposition' Archived February 3, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Murray, Michael J., 'Deposition in Eberle vs Wilkinson & the State of Ohio'
- ↑ Clements’ Murder Suspect Practiced Controversial Religion In Prison « CBS Denver Archived November 5, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ http://wildhunt.org/tag/asatru-alliance Archived April 2, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ George Whitehurst Berry welcomes Allsherjargoði Valgard Murray to the 1/25/14 Sedona Dreams Show - Sedona Dreams Archived February 24, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
Further reading
- Gardell, Mattias (2003). Gods of the Blood The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4.
- McNallen, Stephen A. (2004). "Three Decades of the Ásatrú Revival in America", Tyr: Myth-Culture-Tradition Volume II. Ultra Publishing, pp. 203–219. ISBN 978-0-9720292-1-6.
- Kaplan, Jeffrey. 1996. "The Reconstruction of the Asatru and Odinist Traditions." In Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft, edited by James R. Lewis, State University of New York Press.
- Chadwick, H. M. The Cult of Othin. Cambridge, 1899.
- Coulter, James Hjuka (2003). Germanic Heathenry A Practical Guide. ISBN 978-1-4107-6585-7.
- Gundarsson, Kveldulf. Our Troth. 2006. ISBN 978-1-4196-3598-4
- Paxson, Diana L. (2006). Essential Asatru Walking the Path of Norse Paganism. Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0-8065-2708-6.
- Puryear, Mark (2006). The Nature of Asatru An Overview of the Ideals and Philosophy of the Indigenous Religion of Northern Europe. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-38964-3.
- Shetler, Greg (2003). Living Asatru. Booksurge Llc. ISBN 978-1-59109-911-6.
External links
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