Some Thoughts on a Heathen Political Landscape
Richard T. Hughes, Professor of Religion at Messiah College and author of Christian America and the Kingdom of God writing for the CNN BeliefBlog, argues that “If those Christians lived as they are taught to live by the teacher they claim to follow, the American public square would be a very different kind of place.”
It is difficult to find room for disagreement with Professor Hughes’ assertion. After all, as he says, “based on their words and behavior, we may safely conclude that many of the Christians who dominate America’s public square routinely reject the teachings of Jesus, in spite of their claims to the contrary.”
There are a few short rules to follow, and he provides examples of the way in which they are ignored.
Jesus tells his followers to tell the truth.
Jesus tells his followers to make peace.
Jesus tells his followers to turn the other cheek.
Jesus tells his followers to bless those who persecute them and pray for those who misuse them.
Jesus tells his followers to extend justice, especially to the poor and the dispossessed.
Jesus tells his followers to serve as bridge-builders and agents of reconciliation.
And Jesus tells his followers to love one another, even their enemies.
This put me to wondering what all this would mean to a Heathen like myself. Now granted, making such a comparison is not easy. Heathenism is not revealed religion. Our gods did not come forth and dictate to us a list of rules to be followed. The closest thing we have are the “Sayings of Hár” – the Hávamál – sage words of advice offered by none other than Óðinn.
Of course, we also have our prized sagas, and a few other writings, and out of these a distillation has come usually known as the Nine Noble Virtues.
The problem will always be, for Pagans of any stripe, that as Bart Ehrman says of Mediterranean paganism, ”What mattered were traditionally sanctioned acts of worship, not beliefs.”[1]
With that proviso in mind, we might consider what the American political landscape would look like it if were people by Pagans – Heathens specifically.
In the 1970s the Odinic Right introduced the Nine Noble Virtues:
- To maintain candour and fidelity in love and devotion to the tried friend: though he strike me I will do him no scathe.
- Never to make wrongsome oath: for great and grim is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth.
- To deal not hardly with the humble and the lowly.
- To remember the respect that is due to great age.
- To suffer no evil to go unremedied and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Folk and Family: my foes I will fight in the field, nor will I stay to be burnt in my house.
- To succour the friendless but to put no faith in the pledged word of a stranger people.
- If I hear the fool’s word of a drunken man I will strive not: for many a grief and the very death groweth from out such things.
- To give kind heed to dead people: straw dead, sea dead or sword dead.
- To abide by the enactments of lawful authority and to bear with courage the decrees of the Norns.
The Ásatrú Folk Assembly (AFA) offers a slightly different version:
- Strength is better than weakness
- Courage is better than cowardice
- Joy is better than guilt
- Honour is better than dishonour
- Freedom is better than slavery
- Kinship is better than alienation
- Realism is better than dogmatism
- Vigor is better than lifelessness
- Ancestry is better than universalism
Now it is clear that the Norse wisdom offered here is more about family and kinship than kings and rulers and electorates. But there is wisdom still for people like Sarah Palin:
To be bright of brain let no man boast
But take good heed of his tongue:
The sage and silent come seldom to grief
As they fare among the folk in the hall.
A key lesson to be learned here is that what is given should be returned in equal measure, as in the old oaths of fealty. As the Hávamál has it, “pay back gift for gift.” Depending on your translation this means “laughter for laughter” or “mocking with mockery,” and “fraud with falsehood.” In other words, do NOT turn the other cheek and do not hesitate to give back what is returned.
The presidential and vice-presidential debates would have gone far differently in a Heathen context, as the Republican candidates rolled out their spin and stuck to it in the face of every fact revealed. And Barack Obama and Joe Biden remained courteous throughout.
Imagine those debates with two Heathen candidates in place of Obama and Biden.
If you act like a witless oaf, there should be no hesitation among listeners to remain polite or to hold their tongues in return. Do not turn the other cheek but give in equal measure.
Professor Hughes observes that “When Christians so widely and publicly embrace such blatant distortions of the Christian religion, they abandon one of the roles they might have played in America’s public square: fostering civility and dialogue and building lasting bridges of reconciliation.”
Should a Heathen politician act like a Christian when entering politics? It might garner more votes, seeming to be like everyone else, but the focus on honor, on realism over dogmatism, or as I’ve always put it, “good old fashioned Scandinavian pragmatism” the political landscape might be a refreshing place.
[1] Ehrman, Lost Christianities, 92.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson is the author of A Heathen’s Day, which since 2005 has addressed the life and thoughts of a modern day Heathen. He is also the founder of the Mos Maiorum Foundation (www.mosmaiorum.org) which is dedicated to the study and support of Paganism as ethnic religion and writes for PoliticusUSA (www.politicususa.com) 
It’s good to see you back online! How are you faring?
Erik, thanks. I’ve been publishing a few pieces on Politicususa.com but I don’t think that qualifies as being back. I’m trying to gte into gear again but it’s been slow going.
I’m doing much better. Cardiac rehab is helping a lot and constant adjustments to my meds. No real setbacks, just slow, plodding progress!
I hope to start posting regularly to Heathens Day again.
I’m glad to see some signs of life here again. You’re one of my fav heathen blogs and pretty much the only one who makes sense.
Cheers to your slow but sure recovery !
Ian, thank you, that’s nice to hear. I’m glad to put some life back into things. It’s been too long. Now that the chemicals have worn off the brain is coming back to life
I am pleased to add my “welcome back” to those already expressed. It is good to see you blogging again, here and elsewhere.
Not being a Heathen myself, I wonder if I might ask if the maxim “pay back gift for gift” would have application to the social and economic views of Palin & Co. It certainly seems to me to be at odds with the idea that the people who are privileged and/or wealthy owe nothing to the society in which they live (and, indeed, that “there is no such thing as society”). Or am I off-base here?
Glad to see you back in action!
Thank you, Makarios.
It’s kind of interesting how Palin & Co. view their obligations. One of the things Professor Hughes takes them to task for is their social consciousness. Jesus stood up for the poor. He was one himself. It seems to me that if anything historical can be known about Jesus it is that. As Hughes says, they don’t seem to follow the teachings of their teacher.
In Norse society ethics derived from man and men (not fear of an afterlife) maintained them. Norse society functioned by use of shame and reward to maintain social order. There were always witnesses; oaths were taken publicly and woe to the oath-taker who broke his oath. For all the talk of “community” and “family” by these conservative Christians, Norse society was even more strongly oriented towards family and community, and these anti-social views of the Tea Partiers I do not think would survive long in a Heathen context.
Even in oligarchical Iceland a man could switch his allegiance from gothi to gothi (essentially voting as he wished with his “feet”) and there was always the communal assembly, or thing, where each man had a vote.
I agree with your thoughts on gifting – it was important in Norse society. The rich had obligations to the community just as did everyone else, just as did leaders. And Norse leaders were free with their money – it really did trickle down and the more successful a leader was the more trickling down there was. This nonsense that the community exists to serve the needs of the rich doesn’t rest comfortably in a Heathen context.
Thanks, Uncajoe! I hope to build up some momentum now
Hail and welcome back!
We’ve missed you…..but of course, your health and recovery is more important than keeping us entertained and informed!
Glad to see you again (so to speak!)…lol
…By the way, the phrase: “pay back gift for gift” somehow reminds me of the old biblical “eye for an eye” senario.
I agree with gift for gift…..a modern interpretaion in some respects could be, “give as good as you get”. I expect it is also embroiled in the exchanging of ‘gifts’ in host & guest law; when invited into someones home.
As for the ‘eye for an eye’ bit, it reminds me of a Mahatma Ghandi (mis?)quote: “An eye for an eye only makes for a world full of blind men!”
A great man indeed.
Stu, thanks. It’s good to be back and I look forward to re-acquainting myself with you all.
I agree with what you say about “gift for gift” being equivalent to “give as good as you get.”
I think the whole “eye for an eye” thing gets a bad rap. The idea was that punishment should be reasonable and fit the crime. The idea was not brutality but fairness.
And I think that’s at the heart of “gift for gift” as well. Return what is given. I like Ghandi; he was a wise man but I can’t help but wonder if he didn’t understand it in the same way.
Welcome back and continued healing!
Perhaps it’s just me, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but there seems to be a great deal of difference between the Odinic Right and the AFA’s perceptions of the Noble Virtues.
As far as Christianity’s influence on politics, we all feel it though it doesn’t seem that all Christians are even on board with what the small radical portion have done to our political scene. Do we thank Anita Bryant for what has happened to our current political scene? Anything can be justified when using a book as self-contradictory as the Christian Bible.
So glad I did not give up looking for a new post from your mind, Hrafnkell!
So glad you are recovering with your thoughts as bright as ever.
Pom, I agree with your sentiment. AFA’s writings just do not seem to capture the original intent.
Oh, you would cite Anita Bryant… I remember quite vividly that faded beauty queen’s presence in the body politic in Florida almost forty years ago. I was mortified then, because I was new to this country which I admired, and which I only later realized had its dogmatic shadows. Those shadows have deepened within the Fundamentalist/Christianist/Racist communities… frighteningly so…
My values then, as now, relate back to the old saxon/prussian credo:
Liebe, Treue, Ehre… Love, Troth, Honor…
This is a duty I cannot escape, nor would I want to.
Thanks, Pom. Yes, there is quite a bit of difference and Northvegr Foundation has an even wider selection of virtues culled from the literature. It just goes to show, I think, that as it was historically, every Heathen group is a little different. Pagans too (including Heathens) can justify certain perspectives I don’t agree with.
And I agree, not all Christians can be colored with the same brush but then Professor Hughes was pointed his finger at a very “select” few. It’s significant to me that it is a Christian who is doing the pointing; there hasn’t been enough of that recently.
Thanks, Diagonal. I agree with that old Saxon/Prussian credo as well and I hope those dogmatic theocratic shadows will pass. We have seen the extent I think of the WASP backlash against progress and they are and will remain a minority, so as I’ve written in Politicus I don’t see them advancing their extremist causes much in November, if at all. Glad to have you in this country, by the way!
Hey Hraf,
I find it quite telling that the most vitriolic comments to Dr. Hughes’ essay are those coming from the so-called “Christians”.
Makes me all the more glad I left that abusive relationship years ago.
Hey
I’m not really surprised they’d be offended by Dr. Hughes. Sad to say, I’d be surprised if they weren’t.
Like you, I’m glad I left that group. “Abusive relationship” says it all.