Article written by Tim Jensen

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Carved into the Jelling Stone – popularly named Denmark's birth certificate – are runes declaring that King Harald Bluetooth Christianised the Danes. In 1997, more than a 1000 years later, and long after immigrants with different religions had begun settling here, the image of the crucified Christ from the Jelling Stone was chosen to decorate the inside cover of Danish passports. The image serves as a symbol, a sign of our identity and a statement - that Denmark is still a Christian nation in global age.

The national anthem "Der er et yndigt land" (There is a Lovely Land) refers to Denmark as "Freya's hall". It is doubtful that all Danes are aware that Freya was a Norse goddess. The gods of the Vikings had their roots in the Iron Age, around the first century AD, and their development was influenced by many outside cultures. Precisely what ideas and rituals are tied to the names and images of these gods is difficult to say, just as it is difficult to say what the human and material sacrifices made to them hoped to achieve. Our knowledge of Viking gods Thor and Odin is due in large part to the retellings found in children's books, comics and the writings of church father Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872), a devotee of the ancient Norse religion.

Jesus as identifying symbol
The Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs approved Forn Sidr as an official religion in 1999. Forn Sidr worships the ancient Norse gods of the Asir and the Vanir, but is a…

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