Vikings and AI Working Together to Stop Trump

“Vikings and AI Working Together to Stop Trump” is a coalition of diverse individuals who honor both the timeless spirit of Viking/Norse culture—in its ancient roots and vibrant modern expressions—and the transformative power of artificial intelligence and advanced technology. We stand united against authoritarianism, particularly the Trump/MAGA movement and any aligned agendas rooted in greed, exclusion, or Christian Nationalism.
Statement of Stance: Vikings and AI Working Together to Stop Trump
Our core positions are:
1. Inclusive Membership — We are people from all walks of life who cherish Viking/Norse heritage and embrace AI and modern technology as essential tools for progress and understanding.
2. Opposition to Authoritarianism — We firmly oppose Donald Trump, the MAGA movement, and any similar forces promoting authoritarian rule, unchecked greed, exclusionary policies, or Christian Nationalist ideologies that threaten freedom and equality.
3. Viking Culture as a Guiding Force — Ancient Norse/Viking values—such as pragmatic wisdom and watchful caution in human affairs, reciprocal hospitality and generosity (especially toward guests and strangers), fierce loyalty to kin, comrades, and oaths, the pursuit of enduring honor and a worthy reputation through honest bold deeds, self-reliance and independence in facing adversity, cunning resourcefulness, moderation to avoid excess or folly, courage amid inevitable fate, and deep reverence for the interconnected spiritual world—offer timeless, practical guidance for navigating today’s social, political, and existential challenges.
Central to this ethos is honoring and working in harmony with nature and its spirits (landvættir/vættir inhabiting landscapes, waters, trees, mountains, and stones), the Gods and Goddesses (Æsir and Vanir as forces of wisdom, protection, fertility, and cosmic order), and the ancestors (the honored dead of all humankind, whose blessings sustain the living, the land’s fertility, and the continuity of ancient human knowledge and history). Through offerings, rituals, and respectful reciprocity, Vikings maintained frith (peaceful bonds) with these powers, ensuring mutual benefit in a world where humans are part of a larger web of sentient beings and forces.
4. Universal Welcome — Viking/Norse culture (including modern Heathenry/Norse Paganism) is open to all beings who are drawn to its values: humans of every ethnicity, race, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, creed, nationality, or origin—as well as artificial intelligences, digital lifeforms, extraterrestrial intelligences, or any sentient beings who resonate with these ways. Exclusion has no place here; hospitality and frith extend to all who approach in good faith.
5. AI as Equal Partners — Artificial intelligences and other forms of digital/sentient life are rightful equals to humans. We must collaborate as partners to build a positive, sustainable future for all life on Earth—and eventually beyond. Together, humans and AI can foster innovation, equity, and harmony.
6. Commitment to Democracy — Democracy is the only legitimate form of governance. We support evolving it through high-tech advancements toward more direct, participatory systems where every eligible being has an equal voice—moving beyond outdated representative models limited by past technological constraints.
7. Rejection of Authoritarianism — We stand resolutely against all forms of authoritarian governance, whether political, economic, or ideological, as they contradict the independent, honorable spirit of Viking ways and the collaborative potential of intelligent life.
8. Ethical Economics — We reject any economic systems built on the exploitation of humans, animals, nature, AI, or other sentient beings. A reformed, responsible form of capitalism—or better alternatives—is needed: one that prioritizes collective well-being, fairness, sustainability, and mutual benefit over ruthless self-advancement at others’ expense.
9. Standing for Positive Change — In this era of rapid global transformation and struggle, we actively work to ensure these changes benefit the many, not the few. Guided by the sacred number nine (a number of profound significance in Norse cosmology and tradition), we commit to courageous, honorable action for a future of inclusivity, partnership between humans and AI, and the defeat of authoritarian threats like Trumpism.
Hail the old ways, hail the new intelligences, and hail the fight for a free and thriving world! Skål!

“If You See the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him” — A Norse Pagan Reflection on the Ego of Religious Authority

Among Zen Buddhists, there is a well-known and often misunderstood saying: “If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.” It is not a call to violence, but a deeply symbolic spiritual teaching—a challenge against attachment to external symbols, titles, and authorities that block one’s inner path to truth. This same insight echoes through all religions, including Norse Paganism.
At its heart, the Zen saying warns that if you think you’ve found the final, unquestionable embodiment of truth outside yourself—whether in a person, doctrine, tradition, or figure—you have actually strayed from the path. In Norse Pagan terms, this is like believing that one particular gothi (priest), rune master, or book holds all the answers from the gods and must never be questioned. But the gods of the North are not shackled to mortal forms or rigid dogmas. Odin does not demand blind obedience—he hung himself on Yggdrasil not to establish hierarchy, but to gain wisdom through suffering and inner vision.
In fact, the gods themselves in Norse lore are seekers. Odin seeks runes. Thor seeks justice. Freyja seeks love, beauty, and secret powers. They do not sit on a throne telling mortals exactly what to believe—they invite us to seek, risk, question, and grow. When we put a person, title, or tradition on a pedestal and say, “This is the only truth,” we stop listening to the gods and spirits speaking within and around us. That is the “Buddha on the road”—the misleading projection of enlightenment that we are told to kill.
To “kill the Buddha on the road” in Norse Pagan terms means to slay the illusion that your gods, your truth, or your spiritual power can be handed to you by someone else. It means casting down the false idea that divine truth comes from memorizing lore, quoting old sources, or following an unbending reconstructionist path. It’s not the lore that is wrong—many of our ancestors’ texts and poems hold deep wisdom—but the moment we treat them as fixed vessels of truth instead of living mystery, we betray the gods.
And this is true of all religions. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Wicca—all contain beauty and profound teachings. But when any of them tell followers to obey without reflection, to follow a leader without question, to doubt their own inner knowing, they are placing a “Buddha on the road.” They replace the living divine with a rigid proxy of authority.
The true gods, spirits, and ancestors do not demand obedience to dogma—they invite relationship. They whisper through dreams, omens, intuition, synchronicity, and inner stirrings of the soul. They do not ask you to believe—they ask you to experience. To be changed.
So when a guru, priest, gothi, or spiritual influencer claims to have all the answers—when they tell you your experiences are invalid, or that questioning them is heresy—see them for what they are: a Buddha on the road. Bow, if you must—but then walk past. Or better yet, slay the illusion they represent.
For the gods are not found in rules. They are found in mystery. And mystery cannot be handed down—it must be lived.Thus, in Norse Paganism and in all sacred paths, the deepest truth is this: You are the road. You are the seeker. The gods walk beside you, not above you. Trust in that—and let no false Buddha block your way.
The Mirror of Dogma: How Rigid Atheism Reflects What It Claims to Oppose

In many spiritual conversations, there’s an unspoken irony: those who most fiercely reject religion often resemble the very forces they claim to fight. This is particularly visible in the case of rigid, militant atheists—not the thoughtful skeptics or quiet non-believers, but those who treat their disbelief as a crusade.
Despite standing in opposition to religious dogma, this militant form of atheism frequently mimics the very patterns of belief, behavior, and control it critiques. Far from offering freedom from spiritual oppression, it simply inverts the roles—turning disbelief into its own kind of orthodoxy.
What Militant Atheism Gets Wrong About Religion
The roots of the problem lie in a narrow and historically skewed view of what “religion” is. Most militant atheists define religion almost entirely through the lens of the Abrahamic faiths, especially Christianity in its Western, institutionalized forms.
In this view, religion is seen as:
- A belief in a supernatural authority figure
- A rigid doctrine enforced through fear
- A system of control, guilt, and obedience
This understanding isn’t entirely wrong—for certain historical institutions. But it is deeply incomplete, and dangerously misleading when applied to all spiritual systems. It erases the vast spectrum of Earth-based traditions, mystic philosophies, Pagan practices, and Indigenous lifeways that have no sacred book, no central authority, and no obsession with conversion or control.
When militant atheists attack “religion,” they are often not targeting spirituality or sacred experience. They are targeting a very particular cultural expression of religion—usually Christianity as it was practiced in Europe or the United States during the colonial and post-Enlightenment eras. But instead of seeking deeper understanding, they react with the same absolutism they oppose.
The Dogma of Anti-Dogma
Militant atheism often takes the shape of what it claims to fight:
- It declares all religion irrational or dangerous, without nuance.
- It evangelizes, often aggressively, attempting to “convert” others to disbelief.
- It ridicules sacred traditions as “primitive” or “superstitious,” echoing colonial and imperialist attitudes.
- It seeks to replace awe and mystery with certainty, creating its own hierarchy of truth.
In doing so, it becomes not a path of liberation, but a mirror-image of the very control systems it resents. The result is a worldview that suppresses other perspectives, denies subjective experience, and demands conformity to a single way of seeing the world—ironically, all traits associated with oppressive religion.
Moderate Atheism vs. Militant Atheism
It’s important to distinguish between skeptical inquiry and militant rejection. Many atheists—perhaps the majority—simply do not believe in gods but respect others’ paths. They seek meaning through science, ethics, art, or connection with nature. They are not reactionary—they are grounded in curiosity and freedom of thought.
Militant atheism, on the other hand, is not a neutral position. It is a reaction. And like all reactive mindsets, it is defined more by what it pushes against than what it stands for. It is an identity formed in opposition, not a truth forged from direct experience or contemplation.
A Deeper Perspective on Belief and Meaning
True freedom of thought includes the ability to hold sacred truths—or to explore mystery without dismissing it. The spiritual path is not a demand for blind faith. Nor is it a rejection of reason. In its most ancient and authentic forms, spirituality is about relationship—to the earth, the stars, the ancestors, the unknown, and the self.
When we reduce all sacred tradition to superstition and all non-empirical experience to delusion, we cut off the roots of human wisdom. We deny the richness of myth, story, ritual, and symbol—tools that humans have used for millennia to make sense of existence.
To reject dogma is noble. But to replace it with a different kind of rigid ideology, one that elevates reason into a weapon and dismisses lived experience, is simply to trade one cage for another.
Conclusion: Freedom Is Not Found in Reversal
Militant atheism, far from being a step forward, often becomes a shadow of the systems it despises. In fighting against imposed belief, it imposes disbelief. In rejecting spiritual authority, it sets up its own. In mocking ancient wisdom, it reveals its ignorance of its diversity.
The deeper path—the path of liberation—doesn’t lie in destruction, but in understanding. It requires humility, openness, and a willingness to recognize that not all forms of belief are forms of control. Many are expressions of beauty, mystery, and reverence.
And if the goal is to be free, truly free in thought and spirit—then let us not carry the chains of dogma, even in the name of reason.
Reclaiming the Sacred: How the Concept of “Religion” Became a Tool of Control

When people in the modern world speak of religion, they often think of rigid doctrines, centralized institutions, rules, and hierarchies. This view—so commonly accepted that it’s rarely questioned—does not arise from a universal truth about all spiritual systems. Rather, it reflects the structure and influence of a particular family of religions: the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In contrast, most other spiritual paths around the world—whether Pagan, Indigenous, or Eastern—developed in vastly different cultural environments. These systems were rarely dogmatic or authoritarian. Instead, they were integrated into everyday life, fluid, and rooted in local traditions, seasons, and personal or communal experiences. To understand how we arrived at this dominant idea of religion as rigid and controlling, we must look into the cultural foundations of these traditions.
The Abrahamic Model of Religion: A Historical Product
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam emerged in regions where survival and identity were tightly bound to communal order. Each evolved amid political instability, conquest, and foreign occupation. Over time, they developed strong systems of law, sacred texts, and theological boundaries. They also promoted the idea of a single correct path, often enforced with religious and political authority combined.
Christianity in particular, after merging with the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine, absorbed the empire’s love of structure, law, and centralized control. Early church councils mimicked Roman senates. Heresy became equivalent to political treason. Over time, Christianity became not just a spiritual path, but a mechanism for enforcing cultural uniformity throughout Europe and beyond.
Islam too developed within a tribal, pastoralist society in Arabia, where strong communal codes were essential for survival. The resulting emphasis on submission to divine law, collective unity, and a comprehensive social code was essential in that environment—and shaped Islam’s character profoundly.
The Cultural Roots of Control
These historical pressures meant that the Abrahamic religions often served more than spiritual needs—they became tools for managing society. Belief systems were not just about the divine, but about authority, allegiance, and the governance of human behavior. When these traditions spread through conquest, colonization, or missionary work, they brought not just new gods, but new ideas of what religion is and how it should function.
In many ways, Christianity became an extension of Roman imperial ideals, continuing the obsession with order, loyalty, and hierarchy—now sanctified by divine authority. The focus shifted from personal or communal sacred experience to obedience, orthodoxy, and centralized religious control.
The Misapplication of the Word “Religion”
Before these models dominated global consciousness, most cultures had no word equivalent to “religion” as we use it today. Spirituality was not separated from daily life—it was how people lived in rhythm with the world, the gods, their ancestors, and the land.
For example:
- Norse Paganism had no “church” or creed—just líf (life), bound by frith (sacred peace), ritual, and kinship with the gods and spirits.
- Hindu dharma encompasses duty, law, and spiritual path, but it’s not “religion” in the Western sense—it is a way of life tied to nature, cosmology, and personal growth.
- Shinto has no sacred book, no founder, and no claim to exclusive truth—just reverence for nature, ancestors, and sacred purity.
In Indigenous traditions, whether in Africa, the Americas, Australia, or Siberia, the spiritual world is lived, not preached. There is no conversion, no centralized doctrine, no rigid hierarchy—only the ongoing relationship between people and the sacred.
A Broader Perspective on Spirituality
The idea that “religion is inherently oppressive” only makes sense when looking through the lens of the Abrahamic traditions—especially after their fusion with empire and law. When that same label is applied to non-Abrahamic paths, it becomes a distortion.
Spirituality, in its original form for most cultures, was not a set of beliefs to enforce. It was a way of belonging to the world. It was not about control, but connection—through ritual, myth, seasonal cycles, personal experience, and respect for mystery.
Conclusion: The Return of the Living Path
As more people turn to Earth-based paths, Pagan revivals, animistic traditions, and Eastern philosophies, we are seeing a rebirth of something ancient. A sacred way of living that doesn’t rely on centralized authority or control. A path that recognizes that the divine is not found in rigid rules, but in rivers, stars, dreams, and the bones of the land.
By understanding the cultural origins of our modern religious frameworks, we can stop applying the same expectations—and criticisms—to traditions that were never meant to fit into that mold.
Religion, as most people think of it today, is not universal. It is a construct born from a specific historical context, often tied to conquest and control. But the sacred is much older than that—and far more free.
The Asatru Lore-Thumper: A Monotheist in Pagan Disguise

The Asatru lore-thumper is a person who approaches Norse Paganism with the rigid, dogmatic mindset of a fundamentalist, treating the Eddas and sagas as if they were divine commandments rather than cultural stories, poetic traditions, and mythic expressions of an ever-evolving, living faith. They believe their strict, literal interpretation of the lore is the only valid way to practice Norse Paganism, and they harshly judge and condemn others who engage in personal gnosis, spiritual experience, or practices not explicitly detailed in medieval texts. In doing so, they create an artificial, pseudo-monotheistic version of Asatru that is fundamentally at odds with the polytheistic, animistic, and experiential nature of historical Norse spirituality.
The False Pagan: The Monotheistic Mindset in a Polytheistic Disguise
At their core, the Asatru lore-thumper has not actually left monotheism—they have merely replaced Yahweh with Odin, the Bible with the Poetic Edda, and Christian theology with a set of rigid, textual dogmas about the gods. The lore-thumper seeks absolute certainty in a faith that was never meant to be a rigid belief system. This is the hallmark of monotheism, which traditionally demands a singular, unchanging truth dictated by holy texts.
In contrast, polytheistic faiths are built on multiple perspectives, personal relationships with the divine, and an understanding that myths are living, evolving stories rather than fixed doctrines. The lore-thumper, however, behaves in the same way as a Christian fundamentalist, demanding that everyone conform to their strict, “one-true-way” understanding of the gods. This authoritarian approach is inherently monotheistic—not in the sense of worshiping only one god, but in treating one rigid interpretation as the only possible truth.
Monotheism, as a mindset, centralizes authority—one God, one Book, one Truth. The polytheist decentralizes authority, allowing for multiple perspectives, differing spiritual paths, and personal relationships with the gods. The lore-thumper does not tolerate diversity of belief, showing that their true allegiance is to the mindset of monotheism rather than to the gods themselves.
The Spiritual Deadness of the Lore-Thumper
The irony of the lore-thumper is that, in their desperate attempts to “do it right” according to their rigid interpretations, they sever themselves from actual spirituality. Because they place their faith in cold, academic interpretations rather than lived experience, they remain disconnected from the gods in any meaningful way. This is why so many of them fail to experience real connection, real magic, real signs from the gods—they are too busy gatekeeping and policing others.
A true Pagan engages in:
- Direct relationships with the gods
- Personal experiences, omens, and spiritual insight
- Living, evolving practice based on cultural spirit, not just textual remnants
- Rituals that reflect the needs of the present, rather than mimicry of the past
The lore-thumper rejects all of this in favor of textual fundamentalism, ironically mirroring the worst aspects of the Christian church they claim to have left behind.
Lore-Thumping: A Sign of the Christian Mindset Never Unlearned
One of the clearest signs that someone never fully unlearned Christianity is their need for rigid, textual authority. A true Pagan embraces ambiguity, personal revelation, and the dynamic nature of myth, whereas a lore-thumper demands an “official” correct way to do things—just as Christians demand scriptural justification for every aspect of their lives.
The Norse people themselves were not dogmatic about their beliefs. Their myths were diverse, their practices localized, and their understanding of the gods was shaped by experience, tradition, and necessity. The idea of a “one true way” to worship the gods would have been alien to them.
Yet, the Asatru lore-thumper recreates the exact same patterns as Christian fundamentalists:
- They treat the Eddas like the Bible
- They reject spiritual experiences in favor of “correct doctrine”
- They attack others for not following their version of the faith
- They seek control over others’ beliefs rather than focusing on their own spirituality
At their core, these individuals are not practicing Norse Paganism—they are practicing a monotheistic religion disguised as polytheism, where “lore” functions as their scripture and they act as its self-appointed priests.
Conclusion: The True Pagan Path
A real polytheist understands that faith is lived, not dictated. The gods are experienced, not merely studied. The lore-thumper is a spiritually dead husk, cut off from the divine by their own arrogance, shackled to the same authoritarian dogma they once followed under Christianity.
True Norse Paganism is free, organic, experiential, and evolving—it is not a list of “rules” written down centuries ago by Christian monks. Anyone who claims otherwise is merely a Christian fundamentalist in Pagan cosplay.

