Sexy teenage witches or nature-worshipping environmentalists, not Republican politicians, serve as our popular images of contemporary Pagans. But as fall campaigns for New York City’s City Council heat up, a Republican candidate from Queens has been forced “out of the broom closet.” Given that Republicans are typically linked with conservative Christianity, both the Neopagan community and some Republicans are a bit puzzled by Dan Halloran, who is running on Republican, Libertarian, Conservative, and Independence lines for City Council.
Halloran’s campaign Web site counters the assumption that Neopagans dress and act differently from other Americans. Photos on his official site show a clean-cut and conservatively dressed Halloran speaking out against “Obamacare,” supporting youth baseball programs and the Boy Scouts, and presenting a Police Officer of the Month Award. In contrast, the Queens Tribune story played up his alter identity as Pagan priest by running a photo from his page on the “Paganspace” Web site that shows a blue-robed Halloran kneeling before his ritual tools.
“So, who do you think is going to win that City Council race between ‘Democratic Victor’ Kevin Kim and ‘Pagan Lord’ Dan Halloran?” asked Reid Pillifant in his story in the New York Observer on September 18, 2009. A day earlier, a news story identifying Halloran as a King (priest) of Theodism, a form of Norse Paganism, ran in the Queens Tribune and attracted attention to Halloran’s unorthodox religious identity.
Theodism is a branch of Heathenism (also known as Norse religion and sometimes referred to as Àsatrù), one of the many religious traditions under the broad umbrella of Neopaganism, a religious movement that includes Wicca, Druidism, and other religions that recreate and reconstruct ancient pre-Christian traditions. Halloran’s identity may have surprised some New Yorkers, but local Republican party officials already knew about his involvement with Neopaganism before he was outed in the news.
In the media and in popular imagination, contemporary Pagans are often linked with progressive politics, sexual liberalism, environmentalism, the anti-war movement, gay rights, and other causes associated with the political left. But in fact, Neopagans fall everywhere on the political spectrum, serve in the military and as police officers, and work in other professions that do not seem to fit their countercultural image. For this reason, they appear in news headlines when their presence in certain realms of American life (conservative politics In Halloran’s case) comes as a surprise. In 1999, Congressman Bob Barr’s (R-Texas) highly publicized attempts to oust a Wiccan circle from a military base alerted the news-reading public to the fact that Neopagans were serving throughout the military. More recently in 2006, a group of Wiccans sued the US Department of Veterans Affairs in order to get Wicca’s symbol, the pentacle, listed as an approved symbol for VA memorials. For the past couple of decades, Neopagans have advocated publicly and vocally for religious freedom. Conservative politics is just the latest foray in their ongoing campaign to be taken seriously as full participants in American religious, cultural, and political life.
“I believe in God,” said Halloran in an October 1 story in the Queens Chronicle: “Faith is a cornerstone of my life.” Responding to his critics, he described his Catholic upbringing and avoided discussing his Pagan identity, calling for his opponent “to disavow the Queens Tribune’s attack on religion. I am running a campaign on the issues.” But Halloran has another history that seemingly contrasts to his current political campaign: an earlier stint in the New York Police Department, and his career as an attorney. He received his BA from the City University of New York in History and Anthropology, and conducted archaeological field research in Ireland on the Norman and Viking periods. Like many Neopagans, who tend to read more and have higher levels of education than the average American, Halloran was drawn to the mythology and lore of ancient cultures that exposed him to an entirely different religious world than the one in which he was raised. Halloran’s particular fascination with ancient Germanic culture led him to Heathenism, a branch of contemporary Paganism devoted to the beliefs and practices of Northern European cultures.
Like other Neopagans, Heathens usually interact with a pantheon of deities and celebrate the changing seasons. Many forms of Heathenism are also linked to ethnic European identities and draw from ancient Northern European texts for inspiration. Adherents of Theodism worship deities, the land, and ancestors and value honor, oath-taking, family, and tribe. Common ritual practices in Theodism include feasting, seasonal celebrations, and animal sacrifice; all done as closely as possible to the reconstructed traditions of ancient Normans. If feminist Witchcraft with its emphasis on egalitarianism and individual spirituality is at one end of the Neopagan spectrum, then Theodism’s hierarchy and tribalism is at the other. According to the Pagan Census (2003), conducted by sociologist Helen Berger and her colleagues, followers of Norse religion tend to be slightly less politically liberal and slightly less supportive of women’s issues than the general Neopagan population.
On Neopagan blogs, Halloran’s political identity and representation of his faith have been debated since he made the headlines. Some praised him for running as a Pagan in a party typically linked with conservative Christianity, while others criticized him for going on the defensive and asserting his belief in “God” instead of “gods.” In a letter to The Wild Hunt, a popular Neopagan blog, Halloran clarified his response to the media: “I honor my Ancestors and cling to my Hiberno-Norse Culture’s Worldview. I revere my God (Tiw)- and henotheistically I may add... I have never hidden my religion—it’s on my Facebook, in courts—judges and counsels in the Courts I practice are aware, I’ve been the corporate counsel for a variety of pagan groups—and have lectured and discussed theology all over the U.S.”
It would have been impossible to find a Neopagan like Halloran running for political office twenty years ago, when most Neopagans kept their identities carefully guarded for fear of losing jobs or child custody battles. In neighborhoods all over the country, Neopagan communities have been treated suspiciously and outright persecuted by some Christian neighbors, law enforcement, and government agencies. Since for many Americans, the Republican Party is inseparable from conservative Christianity, Neopagans were surprised that the party stood by Halloran, and took it as a sign that not only is the makeup of the religious left and the religious right shifting, but that the country as a whole is becoming more receptive toward their religion.
Theodism and Asatru are similar but different religions. It would be like calling Baptists and Catholics the same religion.
Just as libertarians are neither conservative nor liberal.
Some people have religious dispositions but are not true believers.
It is hard to understand these folks for people with only simple categories.
I wrote a post today illustrating how it is common to have weird perceptions but we don't have to build envangelical weird beliefs based on these perceptions. Weird insights are fun -- no need to make them into weird beliefs !
Well this is a religious site, so do you profess a religion at all? Or are you saying that Pagan beliefs are weird? Definetly not any more weird than Christian beliefs, or Islamic beliefs. Do to the practicality of Pagan religion and how it adresses the here and now, and not just the afterlife I find Paganism much more practical than monotheistic traditions. One could say belief in magick is akin to faith, the depth of ones practice would determine what you get out of it. I may be way out in left field, but what if anything does evangelical have to do with Pagan beliefs? As for insights, if you work with magick long enough seriously I find that it does work quite well. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your post however, so take no offense, just trying to make a point, as a Pagan myself. I have a deep faith in my Gods, and self. I will not limit the power of a God or Gods if in my mind I can come up with so many amazing ideas, and art, and experience, then of course the Gods have experienced the same and more. Weird beliefs?, I suppose to an atheist all things religious are weird, and to Christians and Muslims anything mystical is weird. Takes all kinds that's the great thing about this world we dwell in.
"But in fact, Neopagans fall everywhere on the political spectrum, serve in the military and as police officers, and work in other professions that do not seem to fit their countercultural image."
It's not surprising at all for a Norse pagan to be conservative. I'm no expert on Odinism or anything, but I know that in many places-- including the Black Metal scene in Scandinavia and in American prisons-- Norse paganism is frequently linked to neofascism and white supremacy. Halloran's statement: "I honor my Ancestors and cling to my Hiberno-Norse Culture’s Worldview"-- could be seen as having extreme-right overtones, since for many people part of that worldview is the idea that Hiberno-Norse culture is destined to dominate lesser cultures...
Once upon a time, I was a devout charismatic Christian. Got saved, gave praise, all that. Then I grew up.
There simply was nothing in Christianity to feed my hunger for deeper wisdom and knowledge, or a way to experience that for myself. So many of my thoughts, philosophies, theories and ideas, just didn't fit with the Churche's worldview.
I'm not saying that there are not some great teachings in that faith, but for me, it leaves so many things unanswered, and after awhile of being a Christian I felt that God was telling me to think outside the box. Rather the concept was that the Spirit was telling me to not put ME in a box. So i studied other faiths, and I studied MY heritage.
Some people just don't understand Pagan's at all. This is mostly because we live in a supposed Christian nation, and that is the predominate claimed faith, a large percentage. But when I philosophicaly start to debate with people and break down their belief structure I usually am met with hostility and anger. Some people get angry and lose any faith all together in anything, since their religion wasn't that all encompassing or spiritual to begin with.
For anybody serious about YOUR heritage. That is europeans etc., and in truth all people of the earth, including Jews, and Muslims. Our ancient ways were not the limited dogmatic non progressive faiths that are predominate today. In the case of people of european descent especially I wonder why so many follow Christianity, wich is essentialy Judaism for the masses. I'm also appalled that they don't teach about the ancient Pagan traditions in world history class in highschool for instance when they make a good review of the Christians,Hindus(wich are essentialy pagans in india), Budhists, Muslims, and Jews. Somehow the religion of the caucasians, african americans, and others have been left out. So you have all these people who have no clue about their spiritual heritage
Pagans are deep,insightful, and can approach things from angles and perspectives that Christians do not. As for the tribe, that is us people of the nation and it's various sets, a Pagan is concerned with the land it's people and stewardship, there is a big emphasis in our Norse tradition on the future generations. I don't find this with most of George Bush and company, and it's good to see a Pagan in their ranks.
I look forward to a day and it may be when i'm 80 where a large majority of religious people in this country ARE Pagan and Proud, the rest will be atheist, Budhists, and more liberal JESUS LIKE christians who don't need million dollar churches, who sell religious sacred texts for profit, and who don't worship the almighty dollar. Then perhaps the Earth can heal, the air can be clean, the food can be healthy and natural, and people can feel sacred and good about their spiritual selves and not feel like they're curse in sin dirty filthy beasts incapable of being as the Gods themselves. The power is in YOU.
This could be a beautiful nation if we have more leaders like this, no ugly architecture polluting everything. Our world is largly artificial and that is sad, it is a dishonour to our ancestors that Christian descendants have raped the land. Sooner or later yes, the Old Ways are comming back. There's nothing to fear of heaven being on Earth, we can make it happen. I personaly feel honored that this man stands firm in his beliefs and ancient traditions the legacy of ones tribe was once important to our people, we have lost touch with that.
1) heathens do not have "broom closets"
2) we are not "neopagan"
3)"I'm no expert on Odinism or anything"
then perhaps you should have done some research before commenting no?
"but I know that in many places-- including the Black Metal scene in Scandinavia and in American prisons-- Norse paganism is frequently linked to neofascism and white supremacy."
white supremacy, neofacism and heathenry have absolutely nothing in common whatsoever
"Halloran's statement: "I honor my Ancestors and cling to my Hiberno-Norse Culture’s Worldview"
maybe if you knew anything about the worldview of the germanic peoples prior to the conversion you might see that your assumption is way off.
"could be seen as having extreme-right overtones, since for many people part of that worldview is the idea that Hiberno-Norse culture is destined to dominate lesser cultures..."
I strongly suggest you educate yourself next time prior to commenting.
The idea of the "broom closet" is a general trope regarding the need or perceived need for many Pagans, including Asatruar, to keep their religous identity hidden. Its understandable that many non-Wiccans resent the use of Wiccan tropes as a catch-all for all sorts of Pagan issues, but until a better term comes along this concept gets the job done.
Many people also challenge the term "neopagan" from various perspectives. In the article the term is used interchangably with "contemporary Paganism" and is a term familiar to many in American Religious History. The various Pagan movements do not share a common founding or founder, but compared to other recent traditions like Sikhism they are indeed "newer" and the term "neo"-Pagan is not inaccurate. Sometimes Pagans themselves differentiate between PaleoPagans, MesoPagans and NeoPagans. Professor Pike is more than qualified to represent the different sides of this discussion fairly.
Christopher W. Chase
Iowa State University
Yes, exactly. Though I also agree the neo-fascism connection to heathenism is a falsehood...it's like saying all Christians are racists just because some of them are.
Sorry chris but "no", I know of no heathen that "needs or perceives to keep their religious identity hidden." By the same token they are not shouting it off the rooftops or shoving it in people's faces.
"Professor Pike" could have done a better job, especially the "celebrating the changing of the seasons", maybe if she interviewed some heathens she would have gotten a better idea of what we do instead of assuming.
She also blew it with the animal scarifice being a "common practice", performing an actual blot is not a "common practice" and is only performed by some and do not get me started on the bullsh*t statement of "followers of Norse religion tend to be.... slightly less supportive of women’s issues than the general Neopagan population."
Really? I guess she or Ms. Berger has never read any of the Sagas then for if they did they would have known the important role women played in germanic/scandanavian society.
I Hope Mr. Halloran Wins Because He'd Care More About The Most Important Issues. (The Enviroment, Freedoms ect. I Follow Paganism As Well So I Know He'd Be Best For Us.
Wyrd!!! These folks sit around the mead hall a little too much and ruminate and hear their stomachs rumble and think it's Thor. One can smell the foul bog!
Ummm....no.....
Trust me when I tell you, when you worship a God that carries a hammer and he wants you to know something, you'll know. There will be NO mistaking it.
This article is a bit odd. I have yet to meet a liberal pagan. Almost every neopagan I know is a conservative. It's a natural fit. The ancient pagan religions were about ancestry, kin, tradition, blood, honor - things the left typically abhors.
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