Time to reclaim our Religious Heritage
"Christianity for a large part of our history was the whole formal basis of our entire culture, the absolute from which were deduced our moral codes, our laws, and our political systems; it largely informed our art, inspired our literature, animated our music, and sustained our men of science. The void that has been left is so great that few can peer into the dark abyss without vertigo"
Revilo P. Oliver, Christianity and the Survival of the West
Professor Oliver was correct. Very few people can face "the dark abyss" that has been left by the passing of Christianity.
Many Westerners seem to have no soul left in them anymore. They can only recognise themselves in terms of a sterile, materialist attitude to life. The controversial novel, American Psycho, was a symbolic exploration of how that ethos debauches the individual. The self-destructive consumerist ethic can only tend toward a world in which nothing has any intrinsic value, in which great art is impossible, and people are so interchangeable that even "thrill-killing" is as justifiable as any other hobby.
Some Westerners still feel spiritual yearnings, but more often than not they turn, in palpable despair, to foreign religions that are alien to their own cultural and spiritual needs. Most of the rest opt for new pseudo-religions and cults.
A small minority believes that the end of Christianity presents us with wonderful opportunities - spiritual, cultural and artistic ... even scientific. These are the people who dare to "peer into the dark abyss" - and find that beyond the chasm there is a world of brilliant light. Carefully examining all the evidence, they conclude that although Christianity was for many centuries the cultural mortar of Western civilisation, it was, at best, an interruption of Western spiritual progress
They cite the fact that people of European descent have our own religious traditions going back to at least Cro-Magnon times - and possibly far, far earlier. The Christian period probably occupied much less than 4% of our history. It changed us when we adopted it, just as we adapted it to try to make it confirm our old morality. Perhaps this led to an uneasy compromise that was, ultimately, unhealthy for us.
Was Christianity, at bottom, fundamentally incompatible with the values of Europeans? Despite "all our pomp of yesterday" when Christianity was our official faith, were we perhaps nurturing a spiritual sickness that would eventually destroy us?
A small but growing minority believes that the demise of Christianity gives us an opportunity to start again, to return to our own spiritual roots, to reclaim our own religious heritage. These people are "pagans" or "heathens", just as our whole race was "pagan" or "heathen" for at least 96% of its history.
In Australia and New Zealand, the majority of the population comes from the British Isles and other parts of northern Europe bordering the North Sea. The indigenous faith of these people is called Odinism, which is defined in Australian law as "the organic spiritual beliefs and religion of the indigenous peoples of northern Europe as embodied in the Eddas and as they have found expression in the wisdom and in the historic expression of these peoples."
Odinism made some headway in Australia in the 1930s, but went underground from 1942 as a result of state persecution. Finally, in 1972, the Australian Attorney General officially confirmed that there were no constitutional or legal impediments to the practice of Odinism in Australia.
Today, Odinism is thriving as never before, and a new generation of Australians and New Zealanders is discovering that its ancient truths are as relevant today as they were in the springtime of our people. If you dare to "peer into the dark abyss", if your mind is open to future possibilities, if you can seriously consider the idea that were it not for Christianity we would be far more advanced and secure than we are today, then you are already on the path to Odinism.