Minnesota Town Approves 'Whites Only' 'Church'

A small town in Minnesota has approved the “whites-only” Asatru Folk Assembly to open up a church in their community, gaining national headlines and accusations that they’re all a bunch of small-town racists after the council voted 3-1 to allow the group to move in.

Lest anyone think this is the stereotypical Church that men like Kyle J. Howard, Jemar Tisby, and now even Beth Moore for that matter, think is the norm in the Christian community – just a bunch of Black-Lives-Matter-hating white supremacists who have the decency to at least be honest about what they believe – it’s a bit of a misnomer.

Rather the group follows the religion of Asatru, which is an “expression of the native, pre-Christian spirituality of Europe.” It mixes Norse mythology with hedonism, is tirelessly committed to “the survival of the white race” and its teachings and membership are for those of “strictly European bloodlines.”

The group has less than 500 members worldwide and they are a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious group, which makes denying them problematic. So far 125,000 Minnesotans have signed a petition asking for them to be refused.

The town’s council members have said that they don’t support the church, but have no legal basis to deny them the permit, with Mayor Craig Kavanagh saying in a statement:

We were highly advised by our attorney to pass this permit for legal reasons to protect the First Amendment rights. 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.