The mayor of Murdock, Minnesota is defending the decision to allow a group that describes itself as a “warrior” religion of “white people” to use a local abandoned building as a church, Newsweek reports.
Asatru Folk Assembly, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group, bought the abandoned building earlier this year with the intention of using it as a place of worship. The Murdock City Council approved their rezoning application, which they claim they were legally required to do despite outcry from the community.
An AFA board member said at a meeting discussing their request in October that non-white people would not be allowed at the church "because they're not of Northern European descent,” but denied that they are a white supremacist group.
Murdock City Mayor Craig Kavanagh told NBC News that the council does “condemn racism in all forms,” adding, "Because we've approved this permit, all of a sudden everyone feels this town is racist, and that isn't the case. Just because we voted yes doesn't mean we're racist."
City attorney Don Wilcox said that the decision on the permit was a matter of freedom of religion and “separate” from the issue of whether the group should practice in the town.
"I think there's a great deal of sentiment in the town that they don't want that group there," he said. "You can't just bar people from practicing whatever religion they want or saying anything they want as long as it doesn't incite violence."
A petition has collected about 120,000 signatures calling to keep AFA from operating in the town, which has only about 280 residents.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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