Editing Heathenry in the United States (section)

==Politics and controversies==
Ásatrú organizations have memberships which span the entire political and spiritual spectrum. There is a history of political controversy within organized US Ásatrú, mostly surrounding the question of how to deal with such adherents as place themselves in a context of the [[far right]] and [[white supremacy]], notably resulting in the fragmentation of the ''Asatru Free Assembly'' in 1986.

Externally, political activity on the part of Ásatrú organizations has surrounded campaigns against alleged [[Religious discrimination against Neopagans|religious discrimination]], such as the call for the introduction of an Ásatrú "emblem of  belief"  by the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]] to parallel the Wiccan pentacle granted to the widow of [[Patrick Stewart (soldier)|Patrick Stewart]] in 2006. In May 2013, the "[[Mjölnir|Hammer of Thor]]" was added to the list of [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs emblems for headstones and markers]].<ref>{{cite web|title=National Cemetery Administration: Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers|url=http://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp|publisher=U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs|access-date=12 May 2013|quote=55 – Hammer of Thor}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Elysia|title=Hammer of Thor now VA accepted symbol of faith|url=http://www.llewellyn.com/blog/2013/05/hammer-of-thor-now-va-accepted-symbol-of-faith/|publisher=Llewellyn|access-date=12 May 2013}}</ref> It was reported in early 2019 that a Heathenry service was held on the U.S. Navy's [[USS John C. Stennis]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.navytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2019/01/07/heathens-hold-religious-services-rooted-in-norse-paganism-aboard-aircraft-carrier/|date=7 January 2019|title=Heathens hold religious services rooted in Norse paganism aboard aircraft carrier}}</ref>

===Folkish Ásatrú, Universalism and racialism===
{{Further|Heathenry (new religious movement)#Racial issues}}

Historically, the main dispute between the national organizations has generally centered on the interpretation of "Nordic heritage" as either something cultural, or as something genetic or racial. In the internal discourse within American Ásatrú, this cultural/racial divide has long been known as "universalist" vs. "folkish" Ásatrú.{{sfn|Strmiska|Sigurvinsson|2005|p=134f}}

[[The Troth]] takes the "universalist" position, claiming ''Ásatrú'' as a synonym for "Northern European Heathenry" taken to comprise "many variations, names, and practices, including [[Theodism]], Irminism, Odinism, and Anglo-Saxon Heathenry". The [[Asatru Folk Assembly]] takes the folkish position, claiming that Ásatrú and the Germanic beliefs are ancestral in nature, and as an indigenous religion of the European Folk should only be accessed by the descendants of Europe. In the [[Neopaganism in the United Kingdom|UK]], Germanic Neopaganism is more commonly known as [[Odinism]] or as ''Heathenry''.  This is mostly a matter of terminology, and US Ásatrú may be equated with UK Odinism for practical purposes, as is evident in the short-lived [[International Asatru-Odinic Alliance]] of folkish Ásatrú/Odinist groups.

Some groups identifying as  Ásatrú have been associated with [[national socialist]] and [[white nationalist]] movements.{{sfn|Gardell|2003|pp=269–283}} [[Wotansvolk]], for example, is an explicitly racial form.

More recently, however, many Ásatrú groups have been taking a harder stance against these elements of their community. [http://declaration127.com/ Declaration 127], so named for the corresponding stanza of the [[Hávamál]]: "When you see misdeeds, speak out against them, and give your enemies no frið” is a collective statement denouncing and testifying disassociation with the [[Asatru Folk Assembly]] for alleged racial and sexually-discriminatory practices and beliefs signed by over 150 Ásatrú religious organizations from over 15 different nations mainly represented on [[Facebook]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

===Discrimination charges===
{{Further|Religious discrimination against Neopagans}}
Inmates of the "Intensive Management Unit" at [[Washington State Penitentiary]] who are adherents of Ásatrú in 2001 were deprived of their [[Mjölnir|Thor's Hammer]] medallions.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.prisonerlife.com/articles/articleID=3.cfm| title = Walla Walla's Suppression of Religious Freedom}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2007}}
In 2007, a federal judge confirmed that Ásatrú adherents in US prisons have the right to possess a Thor's Hammer pendant. An inmate sued the Virginia Department of Corrections after he was denied it while members of other religions were allowed their medallions.<ref>[http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18629 First Amendment Center: Va. inmate can challenge denial of Thor's Hammer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030054005/http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18629 |date=2010-10-30 }}</ref>

In the ''Georgacarakos v. Watts'' case Peter N. Georgacarakos filed a pro se civil-rights complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado against 19 prison officials for "interference with the free exercise of his Ásatrú religion" and "discrimination on the basis of his being Ásatrú".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2005/08/05-1180.htm|title = 05-1180 -- Georgacarakos v. Watts -- 08/18/2005}}</ref>