Beards and Jabs

Policy for Religious Beard Exemption Memos

As part of Skjǫldrinn, a military order celebrating its 1,243rd birthday, we have been maintaining a warrior culture for over a millennium, documented, and most likely for much longer. We embrace, promote and celebrate the most fundamental evolutionary core traits and characteristics of men and thus warriors, who have built Scandinavia and modern civilization. Naturally, these standards mean that we must be selective in our membership.

We will not ask any member or prospective member his COVID jab status. His medical information is private. However, should we be made aware that a member or prospective member has been jabbed, the information will be a factor in our decision to support any application for a religious beard accommodation. Members and prospective members should therefore take our position under serious consideration, whether or not we know their jabbing status.

If you have been jabbed, on your own will, with informed consent, and without coercion, because you believed, in good faith, that it was the best thing for you to do, then your decision is irrelevant to us and would not affect any beard accommodation request. It is your body, and ultimately your choice, even if we believe such choice to be a great mistake. The information that follows therefore does not apply to you.

The “your body, your choice” approach, based on the concept that the male body is sacred and a man’s own jurisdiction, however, has limitations. If the concept was absolute, then we could not kill enemies on the basis their body is sacred and they would need to give consent before we execute or slaughter them. In the context of Forn Siðr, dominion over your own body is fine as long as it is within our code and within the ethos of a warrior.

With this in mind, if you have been jabbed through coercion or duress, it is a problem. Coercion includes, of course, getting jabs so you don’t lose your job, so you don’t get discharged from the military, so you don’t lose your pay, and so on. Essentially getting a jab not fully on your free will, and thus, submitting to the state, a corporation, or public pressure for a variety of reasons, personal and otherwise. Such submission is likely a breach of our code and our ethos, and is inconsistent with the core traits and characteristics of a man, let alone a warrior, which form the foundation of our belief system.

In a military context, the situation is even more problematic. Within the U.S. Armed Forces, a service member enters an oath to protect the Constitution, which includes the first amendment, against all enemies, domestic and foreign. Submitting to a state disregarding the first amendment is a breach of such oath. Further considering the context of the COVID situation, the largest enemy PsyOp in the history of the west, being coerced into getting a jab also represents a submission to the CCP, an enemy, and thus, is absolutely inconsistent with the ethos of a warrior. Allowing a state to control the body of its citizens also goes against everything a warrior should stand, and fight for. Agreeing to take a jab that one knows, or ought to know, will neutralize part of the U.S. Armed Forces is another failure to enforce the protection of your country.

Another consideration is that accepting a jab for financial reasons, as in not wanting to lose one’s job in fear of not being able to take care of a family, also suggests an over-reliance on the state, and an inability to be self-sufficient. Again, another situation highly inconsistent with our beliefs that a man should have a set of skills and capabilities allowing him to survive without assistance from the state, which includes employment by the state.

Consequently, if you have received a jab through coercion, you are unlikely to qualify as a man or warrior under our standards, although we would be open to you arguing your case. If we do not see you as a man or warrior, we will not endorse your religious beard accommodation request. If you are a member, however, we will not prevent you either from filing such request, as long as it doesn’t require our endorsement. But knowing our position and where we stand, membership is something you should really take under advisement.