Aims

The Anglo Saxon English people are a distinct nation, bound together by common origins, culture, history and all those things that a shared sense of belonging entails. We are the Angelcyn, the indigenous people of England, and we assert our right to exist and to celebrate this identity. The English Folk Church aims to help this by reconnecting people back to an indigenous English folk religion. It is intended to draw together like minded people of an Anglo Saxon English identity and to help build strong English communities with a positive sense of history, identity and purpose. A folk religion is a set of beliefs and practices that are deeply rooted in the culture and identity of a particular people. These often go way back to the dawn of civilisation and the beginnings of social organisation. The bonds between a people and their folk traditions are powerful and help define them. These traditions often survive the advent of universalistic religions, such as Judaeo-Christianity. The time has come for the indigenous people of England to connect back to our ancient folk religion; one that celebrates life, beauty and honour. Many people are doing this through Odinism, Asatru and Heathenry. But the EFC does not seek to discard our rich Christian identity. The teachings of Christ have brought many benefits to our people and remain firmly embedded in our culture. The EFC teaches that true Christianity is not alien to our folk, but is rather a restoration of an earlier religion our people practiced. This is not Judaeo-Christianity, which is not only alien to our folk, but also seems to be opposed to us, even to our right to exist. Neither is it the Christianity of the ‘Church’; that institution which has so often practiced the exact opposite of what Jesus preached. The EFC teaches that our folk originally practiced a religion handed down directly by God, but which became corrupted in the hands of mankind over time. This religion held universal truths, but was not a universal religion. It was the religion of the Druids of ancient Britain and their equivalents throughout northern Europe. It gradually spread southwards and eastwards and influenced the religious traditions of many other peoples, including the Ancient Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Greeks and the original religion of Abraham. Jesus came to restore this religion; not to create a new one and not to impose a form of Judaism on us. The aim of the EFC, then, is to restore as best we can our original folk faith in the manner Jesus intended. The English Folk Church aims to be a bridge between Heathenry, Odinism and Christianity. It will encourage Heathens to recognise the positive things about Christianity and Christians to relate more to their folk culture and the beliefs of their ancestors. It is there for people who see value in both. It is there for those who are living with a partner from the other tradition and who wish to find ways to respect both. But above all, it presents a holistic spiritual tradition in its own right. The Anglo Saxon English people should not be divided by religion, but rather strengthened and unified by it. The EFC will try to foster a strong sense of Anglo Saxon community, based around the family and clan group. It will offer practical ways of strengthening these such as prayers, blessings and short ceremonies that can be performed in the home and in small family gatherings. It will promote the idea of small churches dedicated to family groups and encourage religious ceremonies to be carried out as part of clan get-togethers. In this way, it is hoped that it will provide a spiritual underpinning for the Anglo Saxon community to mix amongst itself, to marry within the extended community and to raise strong families within the security of the wider folk group. This is what is meant by being folkish. A folk religion is an ethnic religion. It is the means by which one group of people relate to and understand the divine forces around them. As an ethnic religion, it follows that a particular folk faith is appropriate to a particular group of people. This is why many peoples around the world are exploring their own versions of Folk Christianity; they are trying to reconnect with their own identity and past. As such, we celebrate and seek to preserve our native Anglo Saxon English identity. This does not imply negative feelings towards other peoples and faiths. We strongly advocate peaceful co-existence between the different peoples and faiths of the world, each respecting the others right to exist.

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