{"id":10497,"date":"2016-07-30T07:56:56","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T07:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=10497"},"modified":"2016-07-30T07:56:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T07:56:56","slug":"is-christianity-on-the-decline-as-iceland-is-officially-worshiping-norse-gods-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=10497","title":{"rendered":"Is Christianity on the decline as Iceland Is Officially Worshiping Norse Gods Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>For the first time since the Vikings sailed, the Icelandic public are worshiping classical Norse gods<a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/traditional-worshipers.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10498\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-10498\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/traditional-worshipers-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"traditional worshipers\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/traditional-worshipers-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/traditional-worshipers.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> like Odin, Thor, and Frigg at a public temple built in their honor. &#8220;The worship of Odin, Thor, Freya and the other gods of the old Norse pantheon became an officially recognized religion exactly 973 years after Iceland\u2019s official conversion to Christianity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An Icelandic association called\u00a0Asatruarfelagid, which\u00a0promotes faith in the Norse gods and is\u00a0headed by high-priest Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, raised sufficient funds and received permission from the government to construct the first such temple in 1,000 years. Observers wonder how the rise of neo-pagan traditions will affect the reception of Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory University says early Christians frequently misinterpreted virtuous gods as demons:<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=9483&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Christian mission has always positioned itself as a rescue operation, that people were in desperate straits, were indeed under the influence of demons. &#8230; It is impossible to read the reflections of Marcus Aurelius &#8230; and not recognize a profound mode of religious expression. &#8230; It is impossible &#8230; not to recognize that [paganism] is the furthest thing possible from the demonic. It is indeed a form of religious expression from which we can learn much, and at the very least we need to respect.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Iceland&#8217;s Norse temple will host official ceremonies like weddings and funerals and\u00a0be dug 13 feet down into a hill that overlooks Iceland&#8217;s capital,\u00a0Reykjavik. Hilmarsson said his organization&#8217;s purpose is not to dispute any Christian traditions, but simply reflect Iceland&#8217;s complex spiritual history.<\/p>\n<p>Hilmarsson said: &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet. We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.&#8221;\u00a0Membership in Asatruarfelagid has tripled in Iceland to 2,400 members, out of a total population of 330,000.<\/p>\n<p>bigthink.com<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time since the Vikings sailed, the Icelandic public are worshiping classical Norse gods like Odin, Thor, and Frigg at a public temple built in their honor. &#8220;The worship of Odin, Thor, Freya and the other gods of the old Norse pantheon became an officially recognized religion exactly 973 years after Iceland\u2019s official [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[23,8],"tags":[2554,2555,2556,2557],"class_list":["post-10497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","category-society","tag-marcus-aurelius","tag-norse-temple","tag-paganism","tag-professor-luke-timothy-johnson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/traditional-worshipers.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2Jj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10499,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10497\/revisions\/10499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}