We are appalled that in the year 2023, Pagans have to go on the record to condemn human sacrifice. It is condemned. Resoundingly condemned. Hasn’t been done in thousands of years and no one is yearning for the halcyon days of human sacrifice. It was wrong then, it is wrong now, it will remain wrong.

But, somehow, here we are again.

In this year, with the events at Charlottesville and January 6th burned in our country’s memory, we would still have to come out once again and say that white nationalism in all its forms is wrong. It is genocidal. It is the very ideology that motivated the Holocaust and to this day provides the animating force behind many of the terror attacks we see on the news–from the massacre of children at Utøya, the merciless killing of Muslims in Christchurch,  Sikhs in Oak Creek, Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue and African-American Christians in Charleston. And that’s to say nothing of the hundreds of anti-semitic, racist, Islamophobic, transphobic, homophobic and xenophobic threats, grave desecrations, vandalisms and arsons that take place every single year.

And yet, here we are again.

We are here because after a horrific murder in 2017, the defendant’s attorneys in that murder came up with the idea that the victims were “sacrificed” in some kind of Odinist ritual. The details are so macabre as to seem like a work of pure fiction. But that is the defense as it stands. And it is yet to be seen whether or not this motion has any merits in a court of law. A judge will hear this motion and make a ruling on it. It will be in the official court records of the case.

That’s only the immediate reason why we are here.

We need to ask ourselves why we, Heathens in 2023, keep being here.

At the same time as to us the headlines appear absurd, there is a part of all of us in the back of our minds where we think “could it possibly be true?”

The notion that some “Odinites” murdered two girls in cold blood and used their bodies in some sort of white nationalist ritual seems to most of us to be ridiculous. And yet, there’s the headline.

Yes, it’s a product of sensationalism.

Yes, it is going to spread because of a media that is ignorant about our real religion and our real faith.

And yes, it could very well be the product of a fevered imagination and a defense desperate to save their client and come up with any other suspect.

But how did we get here? Why do we keep ending up here? 

There might not be a single Heathen inmate who reads this. They might not get the opportunity to access inclusive Heathen sites because of restrictions but we want to send this message to them regardless.

Whether or not this defense turns out to be true, you need to understand that these white nationalist groups do not care about you. To them, you’re a criminal to be used as cannon fodder. You’re there to do dirty work. You’re there to intimidate. You’re there to instill fear.

At best, to them, you’re a soldier in want of a battlefield.

Those who twist Heathenry towards hate don’t see you as a father who wants to get back to his kids. They don’t see you as the daughter who wants to get clean so she can start a business and make her mother proud.

They don’t see you.  That should be obvious by now.

But here we are again.

This isn’t the first time Pagans around the world have had to weather a storm generated by sensational headlines. While some (like the Satanic Panic of the 80’s) were surely a bugbear created by a desperate media, the headlines about white nationalist groups claiming Paganism is a seemingly endless drum beat.

It feels hopeless. Everything they do to destroy communities makes the front page. The humble work we do to help communities barely makes the variety section. But there is hope in this: there is hope in our collective feeling “that’s enough.”

Earlier this month a coalition of UK Pagans stood up to Folkish organizing. They stood up to the bullying, the cries of censorship, and they said “that’s enough.” No more. No further. And thousands of Pagans worldwide joined them. Worldwide unity of purpose to draw the line simply and clearly and say, altogether:

That’s enough.

Never again. Never again a Holocaust. Never again another white supremacist massacre. Never again another attack on the peace of a community by Folkish organizing. Never again another sensational headline made plausible by white nationalist rhetoric in our spaces.

Let’s never be here again.

We want to end here on what you can do. You, the Heathen who is tired of seeing this and who wants to make a difference. You can. You can do it today, in fact.

In-Reach Programs are in desperate need of volunteers for everything from answering the letters we get, the emails from overwhelmed chaplains who just want to do their best to serve the people in their care, and the in-person visitations to help conduct rituals, connect people to the outside world and give a sense of stability and comfort to inmates who want to do the right thing and want a Heathenry free from white nationalism

If you feel so motivated but don’t know where to start please contact The Troth’s In-Reach Coordinator on the Contact Page.