American town grants permit to whites-only Church, insists it isn’t racist
The city council in the small farming town of Murdock, Minnesota, has granted a conditional use permit to open a whites-only church, NBCNews reports.
The church, Asatru Folk Assembly is making waves in America with opponents already able to collect about 50,000 signatures on an online petition to stop the all-white church from making its home in the farming town of 280 people.
The church’s website, says teachings and membership are for those of strictly European bloodlines.
“We do not need salvation. All we need is the freedom to face our destiny with courage and honor,” the group wrote on its website about their beliefs. “We honor the Gods under the names given to them by our Germanic/Norse ancestors.”
Their forefathers, according to the website, were “Angels and Saxons, Lombards and Heruli, Goths and Vikings, and, as sons and daughters of these people, they are united by ties of blood and culture undimmed by centuries.”
Murdock council members said they do not support the church but were legally obligated to approve the permit, which they did in a 3-1 decision.
“We were highly advised by our attorney to pass this permit for legal reasons to protect the First Amendment rights,” Mayor Craig Kavanagh said. “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.”
City Attorney Don Wilcox said it came down to free speech and freedom of religion.
“I think there’s a great deal of sentiment in the town that they don’t want that group there,” he said. “You can’t just bar people from practicing whatever religion they want or saying anything they want as long as it doesn’t incite violence.”
