Thor, the Pope, and Hobby Lobby

You meet such fascinating people on the internet.

On Saturday night, I had a very interesting conversation on Twitter with a representative of Hobby Lobby. It started when a "promoted" (paid for) tweet by @HobbyLobbyCase appeared in the feed for @NorseMythNews, my Norse Mythology Twitter account.

The tweet that Hobby Lobby paid for me to see

@HobbyLobbyCase is "Hobby Lobby's official Twitter account for information and updates on the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby United States Supreme Court case." I had never previously imagined that a litigant in a case before the Supreme Court would take the step of setting up a Twitter account specifically to sway public opinion before presenting their case to the highest judges in the land. We live in strange times.

The case centers on the assertion by the owners of Hobby Lobby that their Evangelical Christian beliefs give them the right to decide which types of birth control their female employees can receive through their employer-provided health plans. The Affordable Care Act requires that all insurance plans cover preventative care, including all forms of contraception. All businesses with more than fifty employees must provide insurance that fulfills the law's requirements.

Hobby Lobby's owners argue that their religious beliefs exempt them from following the law. They assert that allowing their employees access to legally mandated plans providing what the owners call "abortifacients" would violate the owners' Christian beliefs regarding reproduction – even if the employees in question do not hold such religious beliefs themselves. You can read more about the specifics of the case by clicking here.

Hobby Lobby has decided to market this case as an instance of the government trampling the religious freedom of its owners. This is a bit strange, given that the owners are citing their religious beliefs as grounds for restricting the legal rights of their employees. The religious views of the female employees themselves – and their own beliefs regarding reproductive rights – seem to be of absolutely no concern to the owners.

Sign posted by National Organization for Women members at Hobby Lobby protest
Photograph by Kile Brewer

Even stranger is that the Evangelical Christian owners of Hobby Lobby would quote the pope to bolster their argument. It seems that Pope Francis' marketing team has been so successful in selling the new pontiff that even Evangelicals are embracing his teachings. Everyone from religion journalists to lawyers have been rushing to create colorful photo-memes emblazoned with his declarations.

Strangest of all is the fact that the Supreme Court would hear this argument, since they already handed down a clear ruling on this issue back in 1990. In a 2012 article, I wrote about the earlier case in relation to President Obama's willingness to give Catholic organizations exemption from the Affordable Care Act's assertion of reproductive rights:

Liberty and fairness for all Americans, however, doesn't include followers of minority religious groups that lack financial and political clout. The 1990 Supreme Court decision in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith ruled that religious beliefs do not free individuals from complying with local or federal law. Members of the Native American Church were told that the state law forbidding use of peyote trumped Indian ritual use of the plant – a religious practice that predates the formation of the United States itself.

Judge Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion declared that religious beliefs do not provide immunity from the law. "To permit this," he wrote, "would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself."

In 2012, I suggested that there was one law for minority faith groups like the Native American Church and another for large, monied religious organizations like the Catholic Church. In 2014, business owners with ties to Evangelical Christianity are brazenly asserting that their personal religious beliefs trump federal law and that the decision against the Native American Church doesn't apply to them.

I hope that the Supreme Court will remain consistent and give the same answer to Evangelical Christians that it gave to members of the Native American Church. If it finds in favor of Hobby Lobby, it will be broadcasting a clear confirmation that majority faiths have more rights and privileges than minority religions. That would be a dark day for everyone, but especially for those of us who belong to minority faiths.

Is there really equal access for all?

What follows is the full text of my public Twitter conversation with Hobby Lobby's official representative. For ease of reading, I have expanded the abbreviations in my own comments that were required by Twitter's 140-character post limit. When necessary, I have also included explanations in [square brackets].

_______________________________________________________

HL – Convictions impact actions. @Pontifex [the Pope's Twitter name – remember what I said about his marketing team?] understands this. Why doesn't our government? #SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] pic.twitter.com/Kxbj0e2sI1 [see above for attached image with pope-quote]

KS – Hobby Lobby pays so I see tweets on @HobbyLobbyCase, quotes Pope to support anti-reproductive-rights stance. #WastingMoneyOnTheWrongAudience

HL – We offer 16 of 20 contraceptives covered under ACA [Affordable Care Act], and our employees are free to obtain the remaining four.

KS – You should review Native American Church case. Court ruled religious views do not give right to disobey any part of law.

HL – Here's a link to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion ruling in favor of our position: http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2013.06.27-Opinion.pdf

KS – Interesting. You think there should be one law for minority faiths like Native American Church and another law for Christians?

HL – Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby is the only case we're arguing.

KS – [Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia's majority opinion against Native American Church: religious belief never gives exemption from law. Are you saying he's wrong?

HL – We're asking the entire court to take a look at our specific case and make a judgment based on its merits.

KS – If you stand by religious equality, follow Native American Court ruling; if you think Christians have more rights than minorities, go to court.

HL – There are nearly 100 religious liberty cases at various levels of the American court system right now. All are important.

KS – Your case isn't about religious liberty but about a majority faith asserting a right to dictate morality in violation of law.

HL – We are not dictating morality. We're asking the government not to dictate how our founders run their family business.

Our founders have deep religious convictions that impact every aspect of the way they do business.

This case, and the laws at its core, are absolutely about religious liberty.

KS – You're asking for religious belief to give exemption from federal law, exactly what Supreme Court said would lead to lawlessness.

HL – This federal law infringes on the religious freedom of our founders, a freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.

KS – First Amendment doesn't say individual religious belief gives right to disobey federal law. Is that really your lawyer's argument?

HL – Again, we refer you to the Tenth Circuit ruling. Constitution's free exercise clause & RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] (1993) at the core of this case.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

KS – That's not what this case is about. You can read about relevant Supreme Court decisions in this post: https://norsemyth.org/2012/04/obama-and-ostara-one-year-later.html.

HL – SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] will be weighing our case through lens of free exercise clause and RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act], so that is exactly what it is about.

KS – This is about religious practice if telling those outside your faith how to act is a religious duty; my faith teaches opposite.

HL – Again we're not telling anyone how to act. Our employees (who come from all walks of life) are free to make their own choices.

KS – I'll buy your religious freedom stance if you tweet, "Hobby Lobby believes Thor's followers are equal to Christ's in every way."

HL – [no reply]

KS – Or you could tweet, "Hobby Lobby believes that Thor's followers be exempt from any tax paid to non-heathen administrations."

HL – [no reply]

KS – Or, "Hobby Lobby defends right of Odin's followers to be publicly intoxicated while drinking sacred mead in public areas."

HL – [no reply]

_______________________________________________________

The spokesperson for Hobby Lobby went off to argue with other Twitterers at this point. I think it's pretty clear what his reaction was when asked to take a public stand on religious freedom for those other than Christians.

It really gives the lie to Hobby Lobby's claim to be fighting for the right of the individual to practice her religion free from government interference, doesn't it? Then again, that's not what this case has ever really been about.

My final Twitter comments were admittedly preposterous, but so is the idea that the religious beliefs of Hobby Lobby's owners give them a right to disobey whatever law they feel like. If the followers of Christ receive a free pass, so should the followers of Thor (and every other deity). Is the Supreme Court willing to put that in writing?

I woke up this morning with the words of the leaders of Iceland's state-recognized heathen church ringing in my ears. The members of the Ásatrúarfélagið (“Æsir Faith Fellowship”) practice Ásatrú, the modern iteration of the Old Norse religion of Odin, Thor, Freya and the other gods and goddesses.

When I interviewed her in 2010, Jóhanna G. Harðardóttir explained to me the connotations of the word heiðinn – the Icelandic equivalent of the English word heathen, which is the most common self-identifier for followers of Ásatrú:

Heiðinn, that’s the word that we use. It is the same as heiður, which means clear. We say, “Heiður himinn” - the sky is clear. You should keep a clear head. Don’t let anybody tell you what to do, don’t let anybody rule you. Think, yourself. That’s it.

When I interviewed Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson the same year, he said something so pithy that it deserved to be made into a pope-style meme:

These Icelandic heathens place great emphasis on clear thinking, freedom of thought, and the right of the individual to determine her own truths. Their ideas seem much more filled with the Spirit of America than do the ideas of the Hobby Lobbyists, centered as they are on the assertion that their religious ideas must be forced upon others in the secular sphere. Hobby Lobby's insistence that religious law trumps secular law seems awfully like an embrace of the principles of sharia law – the great bugaboo of America's religious right.

The Evangelical Christian owners of Hobby Lobby are attempting to redefine "religious freedom" to mean "using a position of financial power to force one's religious beliefs upon those outside one's own faith tradition." Maybe it's time for American heathens to step up and provide a different perspective – one that actually embraces the ideals of freedom that the Hobby Lobbyists are twisting to suit their own agenda.

Worldwide Heathen Census 2013: Results and Analysis

Why was a census needed?

Heathens have been mostly invisible in major surveys of religious affiliation. When heathens do respond to surveys like those of the Pew Research Center and the U.S. Department of Defense, they tend to disappear into categories like "New Age" and "No Religious Preference."

Estimates of the worldwide number of heathens vary greatly and tend to founder on the conflation of "heathen" with "pagan" and/or "Wiccan" in most surveys. In the past, attempts made by heathens themselves to gauge the actual number of worldwide practitioners of the religion have not been entirely successful.

The Worldwide Heathen Census 2013 sought to establish an approximate number of adherents through an anonymous survey with only one item: a pull-down menu where the respondent selected his or her home country. It was hoped that the anonymous nature of this census would attract responses from heathens who may not want to put their name on an official form from a governmental agency or research institution.

Final census results are posted below. They will hopefully serve as a resource for journalists, academics and researchers. Most importantly, the results will give at least an approximate answer to a question on the minds of many heathens: "How many of us are there?"

What is heathenry?

This survey was originally called Worldwide Ásatrú Census 2013. When I contacted practitioners from different communities around the world for their input, they all agreed that "heathen" was the most general term – and that it is the term with which most adherents would identify.

Thor's Hammer: A Symbol of Heathenry

There are very real differences between different forms of this religion. Some practitioners are opposed to the word "heathen" itself. I respect these differences and realize how important they are. However, this census sought to – for just this one brief moment in time – move beyond these differences in order to get a sense of the worldwide community.

For the purpose of this census, all of the following were considered part of the "heathen" world:

Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, Ásatrú, Asatro, Firne Sitte, Forn Sed, Forn Siðr, Germanic Heathenry, Germanic Neopaganism, Germanic Paganism, Heathenism, Heathenry, Norse Paganism, Norse Religion, Northern Tradition, Odinism, Old Way, Theodism, Urglaawe, Vanatru

If your preferred term was not included, I apologize. It was simply an oversight. The point is that this census was meant to include as broad a range of heathens as possible. As long as you self-identify as someone who belongs to any of these paths, I hope that you chose to participate and helped create a true representation of worldwide heathenry.

There are very important differences in the way that heathens around the world approach belief, ritual and organization. There are intense disagreements on what it means to be part of this religion, of who can be a heathen and of how the faith is defined. With the greatest respect for the deep feelings people have about these issues, this was not the place to have these arguments. The goal of this census was to gather data on the number of heathens worldwide, not to start yet another argument over the nature of the religion.

For more information on heathenry, read "Ásatrú Definitions for Journalists"

Who participated in the census?

Participation was open to those who self-identify as a heathen and have heathenry as their primary expression of faith and religion – those whose core religious identity is as someone who practices any variation of Germanic paganism, as someone who honors the Æsir and the Vanir, as someone who follows the Old Way in the modern world.

Those who practice a form of eclectic paganism that includes Germanic deities among veneration of a broad range of figures from other paths were asked to not participate. Those who venerate the Norse gods as merely one part of a more generalized pagan practice were also asked to not submit an entry in the survey. I respect their choice, but it is simply not what this particular survey was about.

Purely in the interest of gathering some very specific data, I sought to move beyond the conflation of heathenry with other pagan religions – as has so often been the case in previous surveys of religious affiliation. The goals was to finally make an estimate of heathens as a distinct group, as opposed to an invisible presence within the "pagan" or "New Age" marker in more generalized surveys.

How did the census work?

The census accepted entries via a dedicated post on The Norse Mythology Blog from October 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013. You can view the original post by clicking here, but please be aware that the entry form has now been disabled and will no longer accept submissions.

The census was designed to be (1) anonymous and (2) easy. Each participant simply scrolled to the bottom of the post, selected his or her home country from the pull-down menu and clicked the "submit" button. Those who were unable to access the embedded form were given two additional means to enter the census; a direct link to the form itself was provided and an invitation to contact me directly via email was given.

Participants were asked to submit responses only for themselves as an individuals. They were asked to not submit for other local heathens, fellow members of organizations, family members, etc. Heathens who are part of a community of heathens or have contact with other heathens were asked to tell others about the survey – but to not respond on their behalf.

How did heathens find out about the census?

Throughout the three-month census period, the survey was promoted regularly on the social media sites of Norse Mythology Online: Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest.

I created a series of fifteen posters to draw attention to the census. These were featured in various social media posts that explained the census and provided a direct link to the survey page. Each poster was widely seen and shared.

One of 15 posters created for the census

Regular, parallel posts were made on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Each of these posts were accompanied by multiple tweets on Twitter. The Facebook posts inviting heathens to join the census reached a particularly large worldwide audience:

4 posts had between 20,000 & 29,999 views
5 posts had between 30,000 & 39,999 views
13 posts had between 40,000 & 49,999 views
4 posts had over 50,000 views

8 posts had between 500 & 999 likes, comments and shares
18 posts had over 1,000 likes, comments and shares

This chart shows the number of daily census responses. After the large reaction to the initial announcement of the survey, the spikes correspond with the regular social media posts. There is also a large jump related to the article on preliminary census results published by the Icelandic newspaper DV (Dagblaðið Vísir) on December 28.

Number of Daily Responses to Worldwide Heathen Census

Many heathens around the world voluntarily spread the word about the census. Online heathens posted links to the census in groups and forums, bloggers wrote posts notifying their readers about it, and large heathen organizations asked their members to participate. I received personal emails and messages about the census from members and leaders of several heathen groups around the world.

Announcement at the Allsherjarþing – Photo by Kári Pálsson

Some heathens went above and beyond in their support for the census, and some took the census from the online world to the real world. At the large annual meeting of Iceland's Ásatrúarfélagið (“Æsir Faith Fellowship”), slips of paper announcing the census were printed out and handed to members.

I am extremely grateful to everyone who participated – and especially to everyone who helped spread the word and encouraged their fellow heathens to enter. Skál!

What were the final results?

I have been regularly posting updates with census numbers for countries with over 100 entries each. Finally, here is the complete list of all entries:

Afghanistan 6 Algeria 1 Andorra 1 Angola 1 Argentina 97 Armenia 10 Australia 603 Austria 74 Azerbaijan 1 Bangladesh 1 Belarus 5 Belgium 115 Benin 1 Bolivia 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 Brazil 510 Bulgaria 23 Canada 805 Chad 1 Chile 120 China 3 Colombia 66 Costa Rica 28 Croatia 24 Cyprus 1 Czech Republic 58 Denmark 293 Ecuador 5 El Salvador 2 Estonia 9 Fiji 2 Finland 85 France 96 Georgia 4 Germany 1389 Greece 19 Guatemala 4 Honduras 2 Hong Kong 1 Hungary 52 Iceland 1000 India 9 Indonesia 4 Iran 3 Ireland 69 Israel 9 Italy 118 Japan 1 Kazakhstan 2

Latvia 9 Lebanon 2 Liechtenstein 2 Lithuania 5 Luxembourg 5 Macedonia 2 Malaysia 3 Malta 3 Mexico 165 Moldava 1 Montenegro 3 Mozambique 1 Namibia 4 Netherlands 215 New Zealand 65 Norway 197 Pakistan 1 Panama 2 Paraguay 1 Peru 13 Philippines 8 Poland 219 Portugal 64 Romania 50 Russia 63 Saudi Arabia 1 Serbia 17 Singapore 2 Slovakia 20 Slovenia 13 South Africa 80 Spain 125 Sri Lanka 1 Sudan 1 Swaziland 1 Sweden 344 Switzerland 73 Taiwan 2 Thailand 4 Trinidad and Tobago 4 Turkey 39 Ukraine 14 United Arab Emirates 2 United Kingdom 1207 United States of America 7878 Uruguay 14 Uzbekistan 1 Venezuela 10 Zimbabwe 2

Final results: 16,700 entries 98 countries

How can we interpret the results?

I created the following infographic to help make sense of the census results. The charts are all interactive; simply hover your cursor over various elements to see details. If the infographic fails to load after a decent amount of time, click here to view it offsite.

Sources for data (other than census results) used in creating this infographic:
United Nations: World Population 2012
PewResearch: Religious Landscape Survey
United States Census Bureau: QuickFacts
Statistics Iceland: Religious Organizations

How do the census results reflect previous estimates?

Some past estimates of heathen numbers now seem wildly off the mark. They have either been based on conflation of heathens with other pagan groups or on (completely understandable) emotional desires to make a minority faith seem larger than it actually is.

Much confusion has been caused by a the "Germanic neopaganism" article on Wikipedia. It currently states:

As of 2001, the City University of New York estimated that some 360,000 people in the USA self-identify as "Pagan" (excluding Wiccan (134,000), New Age (68,000), Druid (33,000), Spiritualist (116,000) and aboriginal religions (4,000)).

The citation leads to a dead webpage yet appears to be referring to the Graduate Center of the University of New York's "American Religious Identification Survey 2001." While the census uses the terms Wiccan, Druid and Pagan, there is no mention of heathenry, Ásatrú or any other variation of Germanic paganism. This particular Wikipedia page seems to be in the midst of long-term edit wars, and it remains unclear why these numbers (unrelated to any form of heathenry) are included at all.

Unfortunately, some of today's journalists seem to be not only cribbing from Wikipedia but are also fudging what are already fudged statistics. The article from Iceland's DV newspaper (mentioned above) states:

Árið 2001 áætlaði Borgarháskóli New York að eingöngu í Bandaríkjunum væru um þrjú hundruð og sextíu þúsund ásatrúarmenn.

In 2001, the City University of New York estimated that there were about three hundred and sixty thousand heathens in the United States alone.

Wikipedia nonsense is actually having a powerful effect, now that some journalists are using it as an unquestioned source of information – and not even mentioning in their articles that their "facts" are taken from the site. Just to be clear, the "American Religious Identification Survey 2001" does not state that there are 360,000 heathens in the United States.

Still, this fictitious 360,000 number is a drop in the ocean compared to my personal favorite estimate: the commenter on The Norse Mythology Facebook Page who insisted that there are "billions and billions of heathens worldwide – billions in the United States alone!" Considering the fact that the planet only has about seven billion inhabitants and the United States currently has a total population of about 313 million, these might be slightly optimistic numbers.

What message do the results send?

I hope that the census results will get the attention of the professional survey takers like the Pew Research Center, of government groups like the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, of interfaith organizations like the Interfaith Youth Core, and of the many other institutions around the world that claim to have inclusive religious policies but do not seem to notice that heathens actually exist.

Another of the 15 posters created for the census

The heathen community may be small, but it is a very real tradition with members around the world. The respect due to a religious community and its inclusion in the worldwide faith discussion should not be based on the number of adherents – or on amount of funding or political influence, either. I look forward to a day when heathens are held in the same regard as members of any other faith tradition.

A wonderful take-home message from the census is that, when there is something positive for everyone to work towards, the often furious disagreements between various branches of the heathen community can be temporarily put aside. I was very glad to see posts by and receive emails from people who don't agree with my approach to mythology and heathenry, yet still took part in the census and urged their friends to do so, as well. I was very happy to see members of diametrically opposed heathen communities urge people to take part in the survey.

I have no illusion that everyone will hold hands and dance around the midsummer bonfire together, but it's nice to know that there was – at least for a moment – some common ground that everyone could share.

There is another message that the census sends, a message to those heathens who have not found like-minded people in their particular locale: you are not alone. In the words of Odin:

Young was I once, and wandered alone,
And nought of the road I knew;
Rich did I feel when a comrade I found,
For man is man's delight.