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A whites-only church that was approved is experiencing pushback from the community, which has now created a petition to stop it.
A church in Murdock, Minnesota, was just granted a conditional use permit to operate a white-only church in the city.
NBC News cited that the Asatru Folk Assembly, which originated in northern Europe and allows only whites to practice their religion, had the permit approved by the Murdock City Council this month.
The organization has been labeled a “neo-Volkisch hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. While it is unclear what went into the council’s decision to approve the permit, the church is already experiencing pushback from the broader community, which has now created an online petition with nearly 130,000 signatures to prevent it from operating in the small city of 280 people.
“I think they thought they could go unnoticed in a small town like this, but we’d like to keep the pressure on them,” said Peter Kennedy, a longtime Murdock resident. “Racism is not welcome here.”
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The hill He also noted that the Change.org petition has grown considerably in signatures since it was created earlier this week. When asked by NBC if they viewed themselves as a separatist or white supremacist group, the Asatru Folk Assembly denied these claims, saying they simply “respect our own culture.”
“We are not. It is simply not true,” said Allen Turnage, a member of the board of directors of the popular assembly. “The fact that we respect our own culture does not mean that we are denigrating someone else’s.”
Many people from the community and neighboring towns have also voiced their opinion on Facebook that they disapprove of the church receiving the permit and that they plan to oppose the decision.
“Just because the city council has granted them a conditional permit does not mean that the city and the people in the surrounding area will not be vigilant in policing and protecting our area,” wrote Jean Lesteberg, who lives in the neighboring city, on the page. of the city’s Facebook. .
After his decision to approve the church permit, Craig Kavanagh, Murdock’s mayor, said during the meeting that the city “condemns racism,” even though this decision seems contradictory to that.
“We, as leaders of the City of Murdock, want it to be known that the City of Murdock condemns racism in all its forms – conscious, unconscious, anywhere, anytime, now and in the future,” said Kavanagh.
