Asatru Folk Assembly (Folkish heathenry)
Folkish (racially exclusive) Germanic heathen organisation founded by Stephen McNallen (1994). Classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group since 2017 for explicit white-only doctrine and frequent intersection with white-nationalist movements.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — Folkish Germanic heathen organisation classified by SPLC as a hate group (2017+); racially exclusive doctrine.
Profile facts
In context
The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) is an international Ásatrú organisation founded in 1994 by Stephen A. McNallen, who had led two earlier attempts at organised Germanic heathenry: the Viking Brotherhood (1972) and the Asatru Free Assembly (1974), which dissolved in 1986 amid internal disputes. When the "old AFA" split, two successor bodies emerged — the folkish Ásatrú Alliance and the universalist Troth — and McNallen's 1994 Asatru Folk Assembly positioned itself explicitly against what he and researcher Jeffrey Kaplan describe as the Troth's "universalist" tendencies, teaching instead an "integral link between ancestry and religion, between biology and spirituality." This folkish/universalist split is the central doctrinal fault line of modern American heathenry: universalist bodies such as the Troth and Heathens United Against Racism (HUAR) hold that anyone can practise heathenry regardless of ancestry, while the AFA restricts full participation along ethnic lines.
The Southern Poverty Law Center added the AFA to its hate-group list in 2018, under a "neo-Völkisch" category, and the Anti-Defamation League separately lists it as an extremist group practising "modern Norse paganism with a white supremacist slant" — both attributed designations rather than independent proof of internal harm, but grounded in specific documented incidents rather than doctrine alone. In December 2019, two Army National Guard members tied to the AFA's "Ravensblood Kindred" left the military under scrutiny after attending a Richard Spencer rally; in December 2020 the AFA's purchase of a former Lutheran church in Murdock, Minnesota drew a 120,000-signature petition and national coverage describing it as a "whites-only" group. In August 2024, AFA member Zachary Babitz — described by the group as an "apprentice Folkbuilder" and previously photographed with a "1488" tattoo — was arrested in New Mexico on murder, carjacking, and armed-robbery charges; he pleaded guilty in April 2026 and received a life sentence. The AFA has not been alleged to have directed this crime, and it is documented here as part of the group's public record rather than as institutional harm evidence. A coalition of Heathen and neo-pagan organisations produced "Declaration 127" specifically condemning the AFA and its folkish doctrine, and the wider inclusive-heathenry movement continues to organise in direct opposition to it. The AFA now operates five dedicated hofs (temples) across the US and claimed roughly 730 members in 2025.
History
Folkish Asatru emerged from late-20th-century Germanic neopagan revival. AFA represents the most prominent organised Folkish body in the USA, contrasted with the larger Universalist Troth.
Key control doctrines
- Folkish (racially exclusive) heathenry
- Gender essentialism
- Worship of Norse / Germanic gods
Recovery resources
- Heathens United Against Racism — Universalist heathen organisation supporting people leaving Folkish groups
- ICSA — International Cultic Studies Association
See the full curated list at /resources.
Notable public ex-members
- Multiple ex-members documented in HUAR materials
Legal cases & controversies
- SPLC hate-group designation 2018+ (corrected from a prior '2017' entry)
Evidence by BITE axis
- Strong gender essentialism guiding member conduct
- Endogamy expectations
- Public ceremony participation expected
- Universalist heathen materials framed as ideologically suspect
- Internal communications discouraged outside the AFA frame
- Folkish doctrine creates strong insider/outsider thinking
- Outside / non-European spirituality dismissed
- Severance of those who depart for Universalist rivals
- Strong in-group emotional bonding around heritage identity
Timeline
- 1994AFA founded by Stephen McNallen
- 2014Matthew Flavel succeeds as Allsherjargothi
- 2018SPLC formal hate-group designation — corrected from a prior '2017' entry per the SPLC's own extremist-file citation date
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
| Title | Type | Reliability | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zachary Babitz Pleads Guilty in Federal Case Involving Armed Robberies, Carjackings, and Fatal Shooting · archive | Government | Primary | — |
| Land, Property, Asatru — Pomegranate (2024) | Academic | Secondary | — |
| The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man — Nature (2015) | Academic | Secondary | — |
| The Environmentalism of the Far-Right Pagans — Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (2023) | Academic | Secondary | — |
| Commentary: Trying to learn the lesson of Kennewick Man · archive | Academic | Secondary | — |
Sources
- SPLC Asatru Folk Assembly profile (2018+) search ↗
- Heathens United Against Racism statements search ↗
- Multiple academic studies of contemporary heathenry search ↗
- Wikipedia, 'Asatru Folk Assembly' (retrieved 2026-09-02), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru_Folk_Assembly ↗ Wikipedia
- Anti-Defamation League, 'Asatru Folk Assembly' Hate on Display, https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/asatru-folk-assembly open ↗
- The Hill, 'More than 120,000 signatures collected to stop "whites only" church in Minnesota town' (23 Dec 2020), https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/531431-more-than-120000-signatures-collected-to-stop-whites-only-church-in open ↗
- CNN, 'City approves conditional permit to allow use of church building by a Whites-only group' (10 Dec 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/10/us/minnesota-asatru-folk-assembly-murdock-trnd/index.html open ↗
- US Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico, 'Zachary Babitz Pleads Guilty in Federal Case Involving Armed Robberies, Carjackings, and Fatal Shooting' (17 Apr 2026), https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/zachary-babitz-pleads-guilty-federal-case-involving-armed-robberies-carjackings-and open ↗
- Zachary Babitz Pleads Guilty in Federal Case Involving Armed Robberies, Carjackings, and Fatal Shooting — https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/zachary-babitz-pleads-guilty-federal-case-involving-armed-robberies-carjackings-and open ↗
- Land, Property, Asatru — Pomegranate (2024) — https://doi.org/10.1558%2Fpome.21903 open ↗
- The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man — Nature (2015) — https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnature14625 open ↗
- The Environmentalism of the Far-Right Pagans — Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (2023) — https://doi.org/10.1558%2Fjsrnc.24203 open ↗
- Commentary: Trying to learn the lesson of Kennewick Man — https://newsroom.uw.edu/postscript/commentary-trying-learn-lesson-kennewick-man open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-09-02Body expanded from stub (thin-content programme); corrected SPLC hate-group designation year from 2017 to 2018 in timeline and legalCasesOrControversies.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Frequently asked questions
Q.Is Asatru Folk Assembly a cult?
CLCI Hub deliberately avoids the binary label "cult." Instead it places groups on a transparent 0–40 spectrum of documented control using Steven Hassan's BITE model (Behaviour, Information, Thought, Emotional). Asatru Folk Assembly scores 22 out of 40 — "High Control", at medium confidence. The score describes documented control patterns, not a judgement of members' sincerity or beliefs; many members do not personally experience the patterns listed.
Q.What is Asatru Folk Assembly's CLCI score?
Asatru Folk Assembly scores 22 out of 40 on the Cult-Like Control Index, which falls in the "High" band. That total is the sum of four BITE axes — Behaviour 5, Information 6, Thought 6, Emotional 5 — plus a signed modifier of +0 for aggravating or mitigating factors.
Q.Why does Asatru Folk Assembly score 22 on the CLCI?
The score reflects publicly documented patterns including: Explicit white-only / 'Folkish' doctrine; SPLC hate-group classification since 2018; Strong gender essentialism; Severance of those who join Universalist heathen organisations. These map onto the BITE axes of behaviour, information, thought, and emotional control, and a signed modifier of +0 is applied for factors such as financial demands, leadership accountability, and exit costs. Every claim is backed by the citations in the Sources section on this page.
Q.How reliable is the Asatru Folk Assembly rating?
This profile is rated Medium confidence. Medium confidence means the score rests on reputable journalism plus consistent ex-member testimony. CLCI scores are not fixed — they are revised whenever new public evidence appears, and groups that reform can score lower over time.
Q.Where can I get help regarding Asatru Folk Assembly?
If you or someone you care about is affected by Asatru Folk Assembly, start with the Recovery resources listed on this page. General cult-aware support is available from the International Cultic Studies Association (icsahome.com) and the Freedom of Mind Resource Center (freedomofmind.com). CLCI Hub is an educational resource, not a crisis service — if anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.