Anonymous City Council vote gives Asatru Folk Assembly a Midwest hub in the Swift County town of 275 residents.
Voting anonymously, the Murdock, Minn., City Council granted a permit allowing a white supremacist church to use an abandoned Lutheran church as its third gathering spot in the United States.
The vote Wednesday night came after the council was advised that rejecting the Asatru Folk Assembly’s request could violate its religious rights.
Meeting online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council kept its video camera turned off, meaning that other meeting attendees couldn’t see the members’ faces. Despite repeated requests from the online audience, council members refused to identify who voted for or against the permit, passing it on a voice vote without a roll call. One member on the five-person council could be heard voting no. Continue reading.