Lauren Pineda
A nightmare has truly begun in a small town in Minnesota, as the Murdock City Council voted in favor to allow a White supremacist congregation to officially reside in an abandoned Lutheran church. The Asatru Folk Assembly is officially designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, but that wasn’t enough to prevent them from getting a conditional use permit to use the former Lutheran church building as a “hof” or place of worship.
Videos by Rare
This building will serve as the religious group’s third hof, with property already owned in North Carolina and California. It was approved in a 3-1 vote by members of the Murdock City Council on a Wednesday night, who voted in a public hearing of their council meeting via Zoom call, but with their cameras turned off “to keep the controversial voice vote anonymous,” according to The Star Tribune.
The religious organization is recognized as a White supremacist group because it practices a version of paganism that recognizes, “pre-Christian, European spirituality,” as told on its website. The group’s statement of ethics proclaims, “We in Asatru support strong, healthy White family relationships.”
Asatru Folk Assembly Explains Not Allowing POCs To Worship In Their Communities (Minute 21:30)
Council members had previously explained before the meeting that although they stand against what this group stands for, they feared voting against the measure would lead to a religious freedom lawsuit. Mayor Craig Kavanagh explained, “We as leaders of the city of Murdock want people to know that we condemn racism in all forms.”
Community leaders and others within expressed their outrage, leading to forming the Murdock Area Alliance Against Hate, already holding several protests. The group has also organized a community education drive against the AFA. Co-founder Victoria Guillemard said, “If the AFA approaches people and tries to do any recruiting, people are prepared and are aware of what kind of group they are.”
Nevertheless, City Attorney Don Wilcox explained that he found no evidence that the AFA’s use of the building would actually violate the city’s conditional use permit standards. He made a point to highlight how the group has improved a building in need of repairs. The council approval was backed by the statement that, “establishment, maintenance or operation of the conditional use will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, morals or comfort. The concerns raised by the public did not relate directly to the use by AFA of the property. Rather they related to the presence of AFA in the community regardless of location.”
Murdock City Council Hears AFA Representative
Another interesting criticism of the decision is how the virtual meeting was conducted. There was no active video feed, and according to several public viewers commenting in the chat feed, the audio was not only available on only a black screen, but there was no indication of who was actually speaking. It was said by the viewers that no one could hear who was speaking or voting very well.
