Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian National Socialist pagan musician who has spent his life spreading his message of heathenry and hatred against Christianity. In addition to his music, he was convicted of burning a string of Christian churches across Norway and later, hunted down and ritually murdered Oystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, another pagan black metal musician from Denmark. He served a mere fourteen years in prison, and after being released has continued to perform and spread his message. In recent years, he has devoted considerable time to spreading his message by YouTube, and his channel continues to rise in popularity.
In a recent message, he advocated fellow National Socialists to ‘purge’ Christians from the burgeoning nationalist movement, saying they were ‘enemies’:
Clearly, the philosophy which Varg preaches is inherently evil. However, as with many things in life, Varg is correct about a great deal of points, and especially about the rising nationalist movement. He is absolutely correct to say that Christians have no place in the nationalist movement because what Varg is saying in this regard is what we at Shoebat.com have been saying.
We have taken a tremendous amount of criticism for pointing out the obvious fact that the nationalist movement is an attempt at a pagan revival. Since all forms of paganism are the enemy of the Christian Faith, then for a Christian to support a pagan movement is to betray his own beliefs that he associates with, even if he does not practice them well.
Right now there are many faces on the “alt-right” movement, although it is more accurately called an ethnonationalist movement because its focus is on the revival of the nation-state in a strictly pagan context where the object of one’s life, community, and purpose for existence is the perpetuation of the self and one’s own people regardless of one’s neighbor. It is where the government is a replacement for God, as service to the state is obedience to God, as morality is defined by the community because they view their opinions as absolute truth, because ultimately, they believe they are or can become God.
The “alt-right” will go down in history as but a phase through which the transition to ethnonationalism was made, and owing to the Internet, one is able to witness this transition in real time with each passing step. However, it is a necessary phase because it has provided the means through which the natural realignment of public sentiments will be able to take place so that ethnonationalism can once again become publicly accepted.
Right now there are many faces in the “alt-right” movement who have been given popularity over the years. Prior to the past election cycle those names and groups included Jared Taylor, AMREN, VDARE, and other organizations made up of usually older men and women with an erudite background who focused their efforts on giving a “scientific” explanation for ethnonationalism. They might be considered the racists of the 19th century but with a late-20th and early 21st century presentation. They persisted for decades leading up to the current emergence of the “alt-right”.
In recent years, especially about a decade before and shortly after the Trump election, the “alt-right” emerged as a force in “conservative” politics. Made up of “millenials”, in particular young men with legitimate grievances about social, economic, and racial issues, were attracted to the message of ethnonationalism as it provided legitimate facts for the most part that many refused to speak of, but then delivered its poison by presenting the philosophical message of the movement. Since Millenials came of age or never knew a time without the Internet, they have been able to use it to effectively disseminate their message even better than the previous men involved in the movement. They have effectively displaced the AMREN and VDARE types who, while they maintain considerable influence, have been relegated to an “older” crowd that is for the most part being ignored as they are seen as irrelevant or even a potential threat.
Within the “alt-right” movement there have been many voices that agree on the principle of ethnonationalism, but are not in agreement on how to apply it. Ultimately, the end of ethnonationalism is paganism, which is the position in which Varg has taken his stance for many years- indeed, it would be wrong to call him a part of the “alt-right” as he has openly and consistently spoken of his views well before the alt-right existed. Far from being an “extremist,” he is simply but one embodiment of the philosophical end of the movement who desires to see it brought to its logical conclusion.
This is where the “alt-right” in its current form is destined for failure. The movement is at war within itself because its positions are philosophically inconsistent. The clearest manifestation of that is the race issue, for while the alt-right movement will acknowledge legitimate issues or differences with regard to race, and since the ultimate poison of the ethnonationalist movements always is in the answer to the issues raised and never the facts presented, the alt-right cannot be effective because it is either offering multiple and inconsistent answers to the same problem or those offering the answers do not believe they are true by their philosophical affiliations.
The pagan ethnonationalist position on race is the position of Darwinian evolutionary philosophy, which is that man’s superiority or inferiority before God stems from his race because the divine is found in man, who defines morality by his will in a contest of power over all with respect to none. This differs from the Christian, who says that the superiority or inferiority of a man before God comes from his desire for and possession of God’s grace or his lack and rejection of God’s grace, emphasizing that all men are made in the image and likeness of God, and that all men have value by the virtue of their creation, and that ultimate power ultimately comes from God and will return to God. Christians and pagans both can discuss differences between race, cultures, and peoples, but the Christian believes that all men are sons of Adam and Eve and so we are bound by a common humanity that must be respected because it was created by God.
The pagans on the other hand place divinity in the worship of the places and people who they love, ultimately transforming their objects of affection into gods. As the pagans define morality by that which they understand to be right and wrong from their own knowledge and that of their fellow men, ultimately they must conclude that as they are either gods or related to deities because they can define good and evil. If they can pronounce themselves gods, and if other pagan peoples are able to do the same, then when a conflict arises between them, the struggle is not merely one between two groups, but it is a clash of deities to see whose ‘god’ is stronger, and truth going forward is defined by the victor. If this pagan philosophy is applied on a scale that is larger than a conflict between tribes, it is a veritable guarantee of wars between nations and even possibly, groups of nations for dominance in the name of their national gods over those of others.
The arguments that the pagan ethnonationalists make which attract Christians to them are indeed attractive for many, because in true form to their mode of operation, they speak of uncomfortable but real truths that few desire to discuss. In the case of Europe, the fact is that Europe is in an existential crisis, for by refusing to have children, creating a system with generous social benefits that encourages idleness, and then allowing millions of non-European people into Europe in order to do the work that many Europeans do not want to do in order that they might continue to maintain a certain standard of living, the Europeans have invited their own destruction upon themselves through replacement by those they have invited since they will have children while the Europeans will not.
The pagans respond by saying that the situation is a proof that “Christianity has failed” and to which they answer that a return to paganism is necessary to “save the white race.” However, it is conveniently ignored that Christianity has been dying in Europe for centuries, brought about in a large part by the promulgation of heresy starting not with theological issues, but with the desire to submit the Christian Church to the role of the government, effectively reducing the Church to being a social mouthpiece through which government authority or decisions, be they legitimate or illegitimate, could be made a religious duty upon the people.
The first major and successful attempt at this was realized with Martin Luther. As Pieter Wiener notes in his book Luther: Hitler’s Spiritual Ancestor, the tyranny of the National Socialists in Germany started with Luther because it was Luther who subjected the Church to the state with the intention of creating a German Church and by definition, a German God for a German people. The issue of Luther’s 95 theses and his protests against many legitimate issues in the Church that were of importance was secondary to the ultimate end for which many noblemen and even the Ottoman Empire supported him, which was the creation of an ethnic church cut off from the main church, which naturally would lead to the creation of a national religion that could then take any form it wanted to, with or without the use of a church or ministers.
Now the Catholic Church has never been against “ethnic nationalism” in the positive sense, and that is of a particular ethnicity, race, and culture in a certain area being supportive of and desiring to protect their own interests. The emphasis which the Church makes is that all of such values are secondary in consideration to the primary fact that man is a creature made of body and soul, created in the image and likeness of God, a little higher than the animals and a little lower than the angels. Since man is a creature who is made to spend his existence with God, all of his decisions for himself and his fellow man must be oriented to this end. The Church will always support the good of a people to stand for their culture, and to protect their culture from abuse from without, but while always honoring the dignity of man.
As far as the pagan is concerned, while he will agree with the Christian on the importance of “protecting” one’s race, ethnicity, culture and way of life, the reason is far different, for while the Christian sees it as a manifestation of the mercy and goodness of God, the pagan sees his culture as god itself. Since he sees the conflict through the window of a “war” with other “gods” as manifested by other cultures, races, and ethnicities, one returns to the conflict above, which is that a clash of cultures becomes a clash of the gods in a struggle for power.
The reason that Varg is calling for the purge of Christians from the alt-right is because he is correct in that Christians are both a threat to it as well as do not belong in it. Christian philosophy is intrinsically opposed to pagan ethnonationalism, and so the Christian presence not only divides the movement, but for the Christians involved in it, they are living contradictions of their own beliefs, for a Christian is supposed to hold that the grace of God is superior to a man’s race, whereas the pagans by necessity value race over grace.
The future of the “alt-right” is not more of the “alt-right,” but it is a return to paganism. Varg IS one of the many faces of the movement that is going to take over in terms of his perspective, for as detestable as his views are, he is philosophically consistent and believes in taking the views he professes to their natural and reasoned conclusions.
Watch for the transition. If does it not come with the millennials, then it will be with “Generation Z”, or as the Daily Stormer has called them, “Generation Zyklon,” because having been exposed to the “alt-right” and building on the momentum of the millennials, they will be the group of people to put into practice the horrors of old which are being formed again today.