Why Pagan in the United States?

I think it is safe to say that the United States, out of all the Christian countries of the world, is home to the greatest number of pagans. On a visit to the Norwegian embassy, I asked the percentage of pagans in the country. The speaker looked at me funny and said “Why, less than 10%, I think. I've certainly met anyone who is pagan.” “Not even Odinists or Asatru?” I pressed. “Odinists, no. Asatru? Now that is an American thing,” he responded.

One would think that, in a country where Asatru originated, there would be a higher percentage that believed in the old religions. Why is there such a high concentration of people in a foreign country that believe in a traditional religion when few of the people in the original country believe in it?

I believe there are two answers. The first is what plagues the United States as a whole; the search for identity. As such a vast country with so many different people, one begins to see (after meeting so many people) that we are all effectively the same. There is a desire in the United States to be something more than an American, to have a unique perspective. Could be developed more. Sometimes this results in Americans calling themselves by other nationalties. It is not uncommon to hear an American in the United States to say “I'm Italian. My great-grandparents are from Italy.” In most other countries, it is sufficient to be simply of that nation but the United States values foreigners so highly, that people want to identify as foreign at any value. Foreign is interesting, mystical, and sexy. American is normal and boring. That is the general view that causes people to identify as a different nationality. Identifying as pagan, or any other religion than Christianity or Judaism (the two mainstream religions), is foreign. It has the mysticism and the appeal that it is different.

The two desires to be different, to be from a different nation and be a different religion coincide here. If someone is Asatru, that generally means that they can trace their roots back to Northern Europe (granted, there are probably some that just believe). Not only is identifying as Asatru different, but it also gives you a link to Europe. Those are two highly valued concepts in the United States.

The second desire also stems from the vastness of the United States. It is the desire to have a mythology and a history. The United States is such a young country, there are few solely American folk traditions. Most of the folk traditions stem from European traditions. There is a movement to rediscover a folk tradition in the United States but its difficult. There can be no creation stories, we know how the United States was created; there can be few stories about geographical phenomena, the United States has always been too science based to accept a fairy tale. Without a folk history of their own, the United States turns to other countries. Part of the attraction of a traditional religion such as Asatru is the folk tradition. There are traditional theories and ways that are attractive. As I'm not Asatru but rather Celtic, I can only speak to the Celtic way. In the Celtic religion, there is a focus on the community and that there is a spirit in everything. The focus on community is important, being that many Americans feel as if they are losing the community to the city. It is the tradition that there is spirit in everything that more pertains to the current topic. Believing that there is life in a living thing may not seem like a unique idea but in a fast-paced America, it is easy to forget. It is too easy to forget the beauty of nature, and that it is entertwined in everyone's life, inextricably. Additionally, there is a movement in the United States to become more green. Being more ecologically friendly is a heavy part of these traditional religions.

If these things are so good, especially the latter, why do the original countries not have a higher amount of people believing in these religions? Very simply, its because they still believe in a way. The folktales still exist in bedtime stories and the tradition of being ecologically friendly is still a part of life. Even the festivals still exist, in some form.

And this last thing is what the Norwegian ambassador's assistant intimated to my class.