NY-23 wasn’t the only race on Tuesday night in New York, city residents also voted to fill a vacant city council seat to work alongside that bastion of conservatism Mike Bloomberg. A Republican won the seat; Dan Halloran became the first openly pagan city councilman.
Dan Halloran became a city council member for New York’s 19th district despite having one thing going against him that his opponent tried to use. Dan Halloran is a pagan, an openly practicing pagan who worships Oden and other Norse gods. All of you comic book buffs out there know Oden as the father of Thor. Maybe he helped Dan Halloran bring it home on Tuesday.
Halloran was raised Catholic but had an epiphany after his father died when he was a senior in high school, that’s when he started to study his family heritage which ultimately led him into the religion of Theodism. Theodism is a form of Norse Paganism that worships, like I said before, comic book character’s fathers. (I’m sure I’ll catch it for that one)
Being elected to the New York City council, Dan Halloran became not only the first openly pagan councilman, but the first openly pagan elected official in the United States; although I’m sure he’s not alone. Halloran is unapologetic about his faith, in a statement to a pagan blog he said:
“I honor my Ancestors and cling to my Hiberno-Norse Culture’s Worldview. I revere my God (Tiw)- and henotheistically I may add… I have never hidden my religion—it’s on my Facebook…. I’ve been the corporate counsel for a variety of pagan groups—and have lectured and discussed theology all over the U.S.”
So if I understand it right, each pagan has a designated god? Just checking. Well, here’s wishing Dan Halloran the first openly pagan politician in America luck, working with Bloomberg he’s going to need more than Thor’s hammer to make it.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
just another “sign of the times” in terms of where our culture has degenerated to.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
He turned me into a newt . . . I got better.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Henotheistic means that while Dan believes in the existence of many Gods, he personally serves, worships, reveres, what have you, one, in this case Tiw. Many Pagans are Polytheists, though some of them may only revere a specific deity.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:00 am
I’ve met his Theodish group. They are very nice folk and have people from the right and the left, which is refreshing, considering how many liberals there are in NYC. There are many conservatives who are pagan, although the liberals are louder. I am glad that he won this position and I am sure he will show how much he deserves it. The first two comments are quite ignorant. many pagan religions are not about degeneration. Wicca most certainly is, but not Norse paganism. It is about getting back to ones roots and spirituality. Conservatives should be able to appreciate that, rather than mock it. I am glad to know many conservative Republicans who do not thing the way comments #1 and 2 think. Educate yourselves.
November 7th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Good for the Pagans.