(RNS) — At a press conference Friday (Sept. 12) announcing that law enforcement had a suspect in custody for the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel closed his statement by saying, “Lastly, to my friend Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother. We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”
At a time when shocking sound bites arrive at a furious pace, Patel’s mention of Valhalla left many people scratching their heads. But members of one small pagan sect, modern Heathens, were more annoyed than puzzled.
“Heathens noticed immediately,” said Jennifer Snook, professor of sociology at Grinnell College and author of the book “American Heathens.” Valhalla, she explained, is “part of their sacred lore.”
There are no firm statistics on how many people practice Heathenry, a contemporary religious movement adjacent to modern paganism. As Snook explained, Heathens focus on the “cultural folkways, histories and mythology of Nordic and Germanic countries,” in which Valhalla is populated by warriors who died valiantly in battle.
Many Heathens “took issue,” Snook said, with the “idea of Valhalla being used so casually by a guy who Heathens perceive as unworthy of the honor. Patel, who was raised in a Hindu family, has not served in the military and Kirk did not die in battle, even if the right perceives his death to have been committed as part of an ideological one.”
Benjamin Kowalksy-Grahek, president of the U. …