'Far-right' charity director says his 'nature' religion is not racist

INSIDE NEWARK'S ODINIST FELLOWSHIP

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

THE head of a religion which calls for the country to become a “true English land” insists his organisation is not racist, amid a review by the regulator.

The Odinist Fellowship operates out of a 16th-century temple in Newark and is registered with the Charity Commission, meaning it does not pay tax on its donations or when buying property.

But as the Odinist Fellowship prepares to open its second temple elsewhere in the country, the Charity Commission has opened a review into it.

Speaking to the Post, the director of the fellowship flatly denied the religion is only open to white people, claiming it has ethnic minority members.

The Post left the temple with a book published by the fellowship which includes A Prayer For England and the English People, the last line of which reads: “May we hope that England shall once more become the good, true English land.”

The book also talks about people choosing marriage partners “from among their own kind” and the Odinist Fellowship’s website says the religion is “ethno-specific”.

Although Charity Commission rules allow charities to carry out occasional political activity, the regulator says this cannot become the reason for a charity's existence and that a charity should not become a vehicle to promote the views of a trustee.

Ralph Harrison, director of the Odinist Fellowship, said he would not “confirm or deny” his politics.

Mr Harrison has been described by one organisation as a “longstanding far-right activist” and was pictured in March at a rally organised by the Britain First group. The rally called for “remigration now”, meaning the mass deportation of immigrants.

Odinism is described by the fellowship as the “native religion of the English people”, originally practiced by Anglo-Saxons and reintroduced in the Viking era. It says Odinism then suffered a “spiritual genocide” at the hands of Christianity.