OK while I have no trouble with a viking temple, and it sounds kind of cool, Neo Paganism is bullshit. It's not a re-boot of an ancient religion because quite simply we don't know enough about that particular type of religious observance. Quite frankly neo-paganism is bullshit making it up as it goes along. It is however mostly harmless bullshit, although I have my reservations about how good it is for people who already have mental health issues and am concerned about some of the xenophobia and racist hostility that can be present in neopagan bullshit. To the extent that it is people dressing up funny and pretending to be druids, vikings or whatever else, enjoy your fancy dress crackers.
*Waits for the inevitable "Shut up, Donny".
Actually, Asatru is a example of mesopaganism. We know a good deal about Norse religion, as opposed to the wholly cut out of whole cloth Wicca.
It's like battlefield reenactment in a way, hence my use of the word "farb" to refer to Neo-Nazi believers of Asatru.
I wasn't going to comment on this thread again, but I have to say this: we actually know very, very little for certain about Norse paganism as it was originally practiced. That's because we don't have any writings from that time period to confirm our hypotheses about the details of what they believed. All the written sources we have on religion were written well after that region converted pretty wholesale to Christianity. We have general ideas about which gods the pagans worshiped, what some of their myths were, and so on, but when it comes to the details of their theology or religious philosophy we don't have anything at all. Heck, even what we know about the myths isn't necessarily reliable and might be heavily influenced by Christian themes, since Snorri Sturluson (the guy writing all this down) had a religious education and seemed to write with the intention of delegitimizing its old folklore. (For example, he explained the origins of the Aesir as a tribe of warlords from Asia that became so renowned they were treated as gods.) Ragnarok's themes are eerily similar to those of Revelations, Ask and Embla (the first humans in Norse myth) may simply be analogues to Adam and Eve, and a much of surviving medieval Scandinavian literature has a decidedly pro-Christian message. There was probably a period of time when both paganism and Christianity were practiced side by side and were influenced by each other as a result, but we don't have any "real Norse paganism" with which to compare its modern Neopagan revivals.
EDIT:
As a side note:
You see, sweetie. Only FRUMMER religion is bullshit. Normal spirituality that's not frummy, including Paganism, is NOT bullshit.
[...]
I think ANTI-Theism is as much BULLSHIT as Religious Frummerism!
I'm not antitheist or antireligious. I think that spiritual and religious beliefs don't have enough evidence to support them (and I respect any religious person who will admit at least that), but I can understand why some people are helped by believing in them.
That being said, do you know what "frum" even means?
Frum is a Yiddish term for "Holier-than-thou religious nut". I don't use "fundamentalist/fundie" anymore because it give legitimacy to religious fanaticism. It refers to "the fundamentals of the faith". Now, while frums might follow the "fundamentals", they tend to ignore the nice parts & embrace the stupid parts. Many ChristoFrums ignore Jesus' emphasis on love, non-violence, forgiveness, unconditional love, kindness, gentleness, charity, good deeds, humanitarianism, mercy, non-judgmental, etc. I can't fathom a judgmental, bigoted, hateful schlub as someone who follows all the Christ-like fundamentals.....so, I call them, "Frummers".