The English are in trouble.

Why is this?

Two reasons

1. The English are not doing what they should be doing.

2. Others are taking advantage.

What is to be done?

We can't immediately change what others do but we can change what we do. And we should.

Actions have their origin in the mind. To change what we do we need to change our minds.

Religion is the name we give to those cultural practices that shape our values and way of thinking. A good religion is the primary means that communities use to develop the good values of their members. The English need a good religion.

What about Christianity?

Some say Christianity should be the English religion. We disagree. We don't think that the Christian tradition is up to the job of providing a good religious foundation for our current needs.

Reasons we give are that:
1. Christianity is one-sided in its teaching. It teaches goodness but not how to make a success of life.
2. Christianity underplays the importance of wisdom and is divorced from philosophy.
3. Christianity stakes claim to a historical origin which is quite foreign to the English – and thus confuses the English identity.


What about pre-christian paganism?

We are interested in pre-christian paganism but there are problems with just saying let's go back to the old religion.

1. There is only limited information about pre-Christian paganism – this is especially true of the paganism of the Anglo-Saxons.

2. The pagan religion that was good in ancient times is not necessarily suitable for us today.

3. The historical English identity and culture is bound up with Christianity. To reject everything Christian would cause our cultural impoverishment.

Despite the above some have developed a modern paganism called Asatru or Odinism inspired by the records of the ancient religion of the Scandinavians.

So what is wrong with Odinism?

1. Odinism tends to encourage a Scandinavian identity to some degree in conflict with the Anglo-Saxon one.

2. The Odinist tradition is divorced from the non-Scandinavian origins of European intellectual culture. Partly for this reason it lacks support for intellectuals and philosophers.

3. Odinism has limited cultural resources to tackle modern global issues.

4. Odinists have not proved very good at reaching out to non-Odinists and expanding the Odinist community.

So what religious framework do we need?

We think that we need a new religious framework which we call Angloheathenry.

- Angloheathenry should speak to our Anglo-Saxon identity but also connect us to the common European heritage and prepare us to take a global outlook when needed.

- Angloheathenry should provide solid assistance to philosophers and rational truth-seekers. There should be interconnection between Angloheathen philosophy and its more religious aspects.

- Angloheathenry should not define itself in opposition to Christianity but be open to incorporating aspects of a Christian culture.

- In an age when the global balance of power between Imperialists and Heathens has got out of kilter – resulting in excessive centralisation – Angloheathenry should provide the cultural tools to bolster the health and strength of the small community – and the global community of small communities which we call Heathendom.

April 2012 CE / 4012 HE