Garry showed me your posting today on Asatru and I wanted to say a few things…..

I also believe in God and I have spent the last few years tracing my ancestry as well….some common points.
I have a hard time labeling the ‘brand’ of Christian I am….i.e. Methodist, Baptist…etc…you get the drift. For one thing, each will decide that certain passages in the Bible mean something different….
Anyhow, not too very long ago I was in a church service…a few years ago perhaps…and the Junior Pastor was talking to the membership explaining that the church population was growing and that a new building was being considererd. He then proceeded to display on the big screen an architectural rendering of the building they were leaning towards. It was a monstrocity….ugly to the extreme…a large dome shaped thing the likes of which I have never seen. Then as he was discussing the merits of such a building and what would have to happen to make it a possibility…he accidentally called the congregation a ‘corporation’. Freudian slip? It really put me off to say the least! That may have been the last time I attended….or perhaps the time this same guy told everyone to come up front to ‘prove’ they loved Jesus. I was sitting in the back full of sorrow over the loss of my mother and just wanting to be left alone and maybe hear some words to make me feel better….then he looked right at me, in the eye, and said it again. I walked out.
So, what’s my point? Trust in God is what is important, not trust in organized church groups. I suppose there shouldn’t be a connection between DNA and what religion you are because everyone should find peace and faith within themselves and through contemplation between themselves and who they believe to be their Higher Power. Why can’t all the good religions who believe in love for all humanity and ‘go forth and do no harm’, be correct in some way? America is the melting pot of the world. In the years to come there will such a mix of people nobody will be able to truly say they are a certain ancestry, at least not just one. Our natural environment sustains us, why can’t those dieties the Indians all over the world worshipped also be included? Just call the Higher Power the ‘Great I AM” or something. It’s as if all these religions fight amongst themselves as if there is a limited amount of space in the hereafter! And don’t get me started on the history of the Holy wars or about how some books of the Bible were left out! Or ‘Indulgences’ for that matter….don’t know that one? Look it up….Catholic church needed to raise funds and sold these about late 1400’s, early 1500’s. I just want the fighting over religion to end. I am sickened by one group of people who claim to have a good religion killing another group of people who believe something else…..chaos. Too many innocent lives lost before they have had a chance to grow up and feel certain that they too will go to a hereafter.
I suppose I am a dreamer. I still believe in God…I feel his presence. But for some reason, I get the impression He really doesn’t care what name we use as long as we respect Him and stop hurting each other.
I find your research on Asatru to be interesting. I have never heard of it before.
Aunt Nancy

Thanks for dropping by the Asatru Folk Assembly site!

It’s always cool to run into another Army vet (Or are you still active?). The Asatru Folk Assembly is working on a “faith book” for service members – I was finishing up the proofing last night – and we hope to have it out within a couple of weeks.

I spent four years active, and another decade in the ARNG, with an Infantry MOS.

Best regards,

Steve McNallen
Director, AFA