Editing Heathenry in the United States (section)

===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}}