Iceland has been officially Christian for 1,000 years, but according to journalist and atheist Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir, “Icelanders have never really been strictly Christian.” She said they accepted Christianity with the understanding that that they would be allowed to quietly practice paganism. “It’s not that people necessarily believe in the old Norse gods or have secret ceremonies in their basement,” she explained. It’s just a cultural value.
Now they’re opening a pagan temple. (via Prufrock)
Yeah, this was announced some time back. I think they overstate the case. Superstition certainly coexisted with Christianity, as it did everywhere else in Europe, but I doubt very much the narrative of an unbroken line of underground heathen faith in the culture. Modern heathenism is a construct of wishful thinking. That especially applies to the same-sex marriage thing. The old Vikings had nothing but contempt for anyone who was on the receiving end of an act of sodomy, whether voluntarily or by force. The idea of a loving same-sex relationship with the approval of society would have offended them deeply.