The Rational Heathen

I’m probably going to be stepping into something rather unpleasant, but here goes.

One of the headaches Heathenism has is the racism that is often disguised as Odinism and Folkishness.  In an attempt to find a religion that is northern based, some people believe — wrongly, I might add — that heathens are racist. Therefore, these people jump heartily into Heathenism thinking that all people who belong to Heathenism are racist.

That just isn’t so.  There are many good people who follow the gods. Some aren’t white.  The gods, I believe, are colorblind. The reason is obvious. No matter what people and the government state in terms of race, there aren’t any separate races when it comes to humans.  We’re the same under the skin.

There is NO SUCH THING as Race

Race is a construct. You can’t take a look at someone’s DNA and say, “wow, that person is white” [or black or Hispanic or Asian or whatever.] There is ethnicity, but not race.  Ethnicity is where a certain social group of humans have a historical and cultural tradition that is often aligned with geography.  It includes being nationalistic.  So, if your ancestors came from Sweden, my guess is that you might have some influences from Sweden, even if you live in America and your family has lived in America for several generations. Maybe you’re a fan of pickled herring and Swedish pancakes because that’s what you grew up with.  (Or maybe you just like beer and pizza.) Anyway, whatever you like and dislike may have been due to the ethnic influences you grew up with. Obviously, if you didn’t grow up eating pickled herring, maybe you might find it weird or nasty.  And you might look at your ancestors as being odd for eating it.

When People Change Ethnicity

I have seen where ethnicity changes a person even though they were adopted into that ethnic group.  One friend of mine was adopted from Asia and his parents were British, but they lived in America.  (Got that?)  My friend has Asian features but is highly influenced by British, and ultimately American, cultures. This guy has virtually no cultural association with his former country (to be honest, I don’t remember what it was.) If you were to drop him into that country, he couldn’t speak the language and would find it as foreign as I probably would. Another friend of mine had come from a Welsh family but was adopted by a Swedish woman.  His ethnicity was clearly Swedish even though at one time he was considered Welsh.

Guess Who Is Pure Homo Sapiens?

We are all Homo Sapiens. Some of us have Neanderthal and Denisovian genes running around in our DNA, but we make up the same species. If you want to talk about pure Homo Sapiens, the people who come from Africa, who haven’t mingled with people with Europe or Asian ancestry, are probably the most pure. Something to think about if you’re a bigoted, narrow-minded white supremacist.

So, if we’re a mix of various hominids, we’re all mutts, and talking skin color, differing features, and whatnot, is patently absurd. The fact that every single one of us has mitochondria from one woman and the fact that human beings nearly went extinct not once, but at least twice proves that we’re all a bunch of inbred gorilla cousins, and that when you look at someone “not of your race,” you’re actually looking at yourself with some ridiculously minor genetic variations.  Science doesn’t lie.

The problem is that when racist people start following our gods, it taints the rest of us because the media is quick to paint everyone with a broad brush. It’s not fair, but that is how life is. And, as I’ve pointed out in the past, life isn’t fair.  So get over it.

If you’re one of those people who use Asatru, Heathenism, Odinism, or Folkishness to justify your racism, stop.  The gods really don’t care what the color of your skin is, whether you’re from the northern latitudes, or whether you’re some bullshit made up “master race.”  If anything, they’re probably annoyed at your behavior.