Minnesota town residents oppose church listed as hate group

MURDOCK, Minn. (AP) — Residents packed a town hall in a tiny western Minnesota community to voice opposition to plans by a controversial Nordic heritage church that has been identified as a white supremacist group.

The Asatru Folk Assembly bought an abandoned Lutheran church in the Swift County town of Murdock and wants a permit to turn it into a Midwest regional gathering hall.

AFA board member Allen Turnage told the crowd the church would not admit a Black person “because they’re not of northern European descent.”

Most of the 50 people at a special City Council meeting Wednesday night opposed AFA’s permit request. The council plans to vote on the church’s permit at a Nov. 4 meeting.