Members of the public have started a petition decrying the approval of a “whites-only” church in the small town of Murdock, Minnesota, NBC News reports. Asatru Folk Assembly has been granted conditional use of the premise to practice its “pre-Christian religion” which has roots in northern Europe, and they’ve made it clear that when it opens, only white people will be allowed in. Understandably, this has prompted outrage not only from local residents but from people of all faiths from around the country.
- The permit was only granted this month. However, it didn’t take long for residents to start fighting back. More than 127,000 people have currently signed an online petition calling for the approval to be rescinded and blasting the council who allowed it for its overt racism.
- The group only purchased the church earlier this year. As per the Change.org petition description penned by Eridan Ampora, “On December 11, 2020, the Murdock City Council decided that it would be okay for a group called the Asatru Folk Assembly to create an all-white church. The Asatru Folk Assembly is identified as a Neo-völkisch hate group, which means they have the same ideation as Nazis. The group bought the once Lutheran church back in June 2020 and was just now okayed to occupy the church. The group wants to create an all-white church; I shouldn’t have to explain why that’s bad. Please share and sign this petition as well as sending it to Minnesota’s government and the Murdock city council. we NEED to stop this.”
- Murdock residents are not okay with this, for the most part. As longtime resident Peter Kennedy said, “I think they thought they could fly under the radar in a small town like this, but we’d like to keep the pressure on them. Racism is not welcome here.”
- However, the group does have some supporters. While it seems pretty obvious that having a racist hate group congregating in your town, some people who live in Murdock think it’s no big deal. “I find it hypocritical, for lack of a better term, of my community to show much hate towards something they don’t understand. I for one don’t see a problem with it,” wrote Jesse James, a Murdock resident of 26 years, on Facebook. “I do not wish to follow in this pagan religion, however, I feel it’s important to recognize and support each other’s beliefs.”
- Murdock City Council said they had no choice but to approve it. “We were highly advised by our attorney to pass this permit for legal reasons to protect the First Amendment rights,” Mayor Craig Kavanagh said. “We knew that if this was going to be denied, we were going to have a legal battle on our hands that could be pretty expensive.”
