Residents protest after Minnesota town approves permit for whites-only church
Dec 22, 2020
More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition to stop a church that is open only to white people from operating in the town of Murdock, Minnesota.
The Asatru Folk Assembly says its members honor "the Gods under the names given to them by our Germanic/Norse ancestors." The Southern Poverty Law Center calls it a "neo-Volkisch hate group," saying its bigotry is rooted in "baseless claims of bloodlines grounding the superiority of one's white identity." Church board member Allen Turnage denied being part of a white supremacist group, telling NBC News, "Just because we respect our own culture, that doesn't mean we are denigrating someone else's."
The group purchased a building in Murdock that once was used as a Lutheran church, and because it was zoned in a residential area, they asked the city for a conditional use permit to turn the building back into a church.
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