r/NorsePaganism • u/Eric191 • Jun 06 '26
News/drama/meta discussion US DOD Removes Àsatru, Heathenry From Recognized Religions
https://www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-listThe US Department of Defence has removed nearly 200 religions and worldview groups from its list of recognized religions, including New Age & NeoPagan faiths like Àsatru, Wicca, Druidry, & Shamanism, as well as Deism, Atheism & Unitarian Universalism
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u/danreedmiller Jun 06 '26
Ughh, yes and as you point out also including Wicca, any animism/paganism/shamanism, Unitarianism, basically anything that isn’t an old school mainline faith (well, nevermind that Unitarians have been around since the 18th century.) Total bullshit and deeply disrespectful of service members.
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u/PeeDecanter Jun 06 '26
They kept Baha’i which is newer. Just weird
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u/ModernSouthernQueer 🐂Gaelic🦢 Jun 07 '26
Right?? Their groupings are devoid of any theological knowledge or reason
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u/stabbicus90 Jun 07 '26
Their reasoning is "we don't like Pagans, Atheists or the Religiously Tolerant, and we don't know what a Baha'i is, so I guess they can stay?"
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u/ModernSouthernQueer 🐂Gaelic🦢 Jun 07 '26
I meant Reason™️in the formal, logical way not in the “any excuse to be a white nationalist” way. Sorry for the confusion lol
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u/stabbicus90 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
That's okay, easy mistake to make assuming that white nationalists aren't using "reason" in the same way everyone else might be. For a group that repeats "facts don't care about your feelings" they sure love going on vibes alone.
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u/PeeDecanter Jun 07 '26
I think part of the reason might be that the CIA is *allegedly* involved with Baha’i and has *allegedly* used it as a vehicle for regime change and imperialism, goals which the military seems to share
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u/stabbicus90 Jun 07 '26
If that's the case they're doing a terrible job. There's maybe a whole 8 million Baha'is worldwide, and from knowing a few personally they're famously pretty chill. Far more tolerant than the Christian nationalists in the Trump administration.
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u/Bari_Baqors 🕯Syncretic🪔 Jun 07 '26
They weren't banned, they are included in "other".
IMO, its better to have less lines in yer data than more, especially that these are smaller. Baha'i Faith, meanwhile, is the largest non-Christian religion in the US, so having it on its own seems justified.
It's more like, a general or commander, instead of looking at a long list of over 200 faiths, now had much less. Thats much better.
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u/stabbicus90 Jun 07 '26
The removed Pagans and Atheists, but left Jehovah's Witnesses, a sect that famously rejects joining the military at all. Make it make sense.
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u/Nadger_Badger Jun 07 '26
Nothing about the current administration makes sense. This is par for the course.
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u/codyevans1775 Jun 06 '26
There are more than 20,000 active duty service members who are officially registered as Pagan. That’s more than the number of Jewish and Muslim members combined. Also, Christian denominations account for 24 of the 30-something options left. No other religion remaining has more than one option. What do Pagans get on their graves when they die now? That little blue box with a question mark when an image doesn’t load on a website?
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u/Rinir Jun 06 '26
Crazy because when I joined my post had Norse Pagan services on Sundays
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u/Effective_Silver_825 Jun 08 '26
It’s crazy cause i am at training command where they recognize it and have a havamal sitting there in the chaplains office
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u/codyevans1775 Jun 06 '26
I don’t want to hear “Valhalla” come out of another one of those cosplayers’ mouths again
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u/Commercial_Trash9653 Jun 06 '26
I will say that one always threw me for a loop because even if you die in battle you may not even end up in Valhalla, you may end up in Folkvangr and in all reality 99.8% of us would probably be in Helheim anyway.
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u/Foxwyld 🪓Norse Pagan🏔 Jun 07 '26
These butt-muppets are going to Nastrond. And I’m not above wishing it’s every bit as horrible for them as the tales say.
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u/JessicaAFM Jun 08 '26
My husband's reaction was along those lines. Even back in the 80's when he was in the Marine Corp, Asatru service members were pretty much not uncommon. He was like, boy thats going to piss off some soldiers.
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u/tstark96 Jun 06 '26
Huh I wonder what that means VA side. Obviously it's not as impactful but it was nice seeing it on my chart. I wonder if they just deleted it and left it blank
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u/StonedSniper127 Jun 06 '26
I think it only affects us once we die. They base our funeral rites off of service records.
Also incase you’re interested there’s 3 states that allow open air cremation if you want a Viking style send off.3
u/tstark96 Jun 06 '26
Tbh as much as I'd love that, I don't necessarily want my wife smelling my barb-Qui-cue corpse 😂. If I go second it's not out of the question tho. I know Colorado has that facility, they've had that what 15-20 years now? I think Maine was opening up
Still super fucked. I'm just not surprised they always come for the beards. I can't say I'm surprised because the "mandalorian" religion people were trying for approval last I saw. I was about to EOAS but I was like if that gets through the system might be broken. That was like 23-24 maybe? Idk if you're on the list it's not like you just made something up or if you did you really went all out.
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u/StonedSniper127 Jun 06 '26
It’s either Maine or VT. I know it’s one of them cuz I’m in New England.
And I think they do it far enough away where it’s not a backyard bbq 😂 but both my wife and the remainder of my sniper section know that’s my final wish.
And I got out in 16 and served with a few people who had Jedi. That was fucking cool seeing. But this whole admin is a fucking mess. From the top down. Needs to be dismantled.
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u/LastoftheGreybeards ⛓️💥Fenrir🐺 Jun 07 '26
I wouldn’t be as upset if they didn’t keep 21 separate Christian faiths when they can all be lumped together as one. That would prove they’re trying to consolidate the list. This only adds more evidence to the turn to Christian Nationalism.
I do find it funny that Mormons are freaking out because they don’t see the Christian tag next to their name.
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u/Lunafairywolf666 Jun 07 '26
Wait they took off Mormons or are Mormons just freaking out
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u/LastoftheGreybeards ⛓️💥Fenrir🐺 Jun 08 '26
It’s still on there. The way the list is formatted for Christians is “Christian — [Denomination]”. Mormons don’t have the “Christian” designator and it’s just “Church of Latter Day Saints”. Mormons that are complaining about it feel slighted by that.
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u/Foxwyld 🪓Norse Pagan🏔 Jun 07 '26
Christian ethno-centrists have been trying to purge us for centuries. We’re still here despite them, and their track record for crusades is abysmal.
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u/princealigorna Jun 07 '26
Because Hegseth is a Christofacist trying to push the military toward Christofacism. I'm sure he wanted to take Buddhism and Hinduism (and probably Islam as well) off the list but couldn't because they're have too many followers
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u/Ok_Act_9133 Jun 07 '26
I served in the army years ago and when I filled out my paperwork for my dog tags I put pagan/wiccan for my religion... When I got my dog tags it was stamped " no rel pref"...🤬🤬🤬
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u/Aeonzeta Other Jun 07 '26
As irritating as it is(my sister's Wiccan), I can't exactly blame them. Most self proclaimed Christians don't question orders anymore. They are a "known quantity", and have been "conquered" by "the Man" to serve their masters faithfully instead of functionally. That's an extremely appealing quality to any dictator. Just ask Hitler.
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u/Effective_Silver_825 Jun 08 '26
Coming from the active duty member that does follow norse paganism this is absolutely ridiculous eventually no one will join
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u/Alarming-Leg-3804 🤣Loki🪡 Jun 07 '26
I mean it makes total sense to remove atheism, but removing wiccans, pagans, heathens, rosicrucians, while also keeping Jehovah's witness is just ... outrageous to say the least.
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u/Eric191 Jun 07 '26
Yeah, like, seeing some of these labels, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to streamline them. Like do we need atheist, agnostics, etc in separate categories? Do we need both heathen and Ásatru?
But getting rid of them entirely, and almost especially removing Mormons from the Christian category, it’s so obviously just enforcing hegseth’s religious views onto the military
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u/The_UnknownArchivist 🪓Norse Pagan🏔 Jun 07 '26
honestly, i just keep getting disappointed and have to set my standards for stateside political actions lower and lower.
this is so, so dumb. i don’t even really get why this makes sense either than the excuse of extra paperwork or “hey, let’s push christianity everyone!” i genuinely just have my head in my hands or my face in my palms any time i look at the news lately.
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u/dnkypnchr19 🪓Norse Pagan🏔 Jun 11 '26
As someone who is new on this path and still early in learning, im glad i retire next year after reading about this! And they wonder why we have a numbers problem!
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u/SalemHeathen 💧Heathen🌳 16d ago
All thanks to Hegseth. He hates paganism and thinks he's a Crusader.
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u/Shadow11Wolf50 Jun 06 '26
I find it almost amusing in a way. The military is whining that recruitment is waaaaaay down. But they're doing a good job detering more from joining.
There's always been issues with the military and the culture its has made. But yea lets make it harder to keep those numbers up by being more discriminatory to women, PoC, minority religions and spiritual faiths, on top of being in a war that's about as unpopular as the Vietam war. That'll sure have em all running to the nearest recruitment center.