By Trevor Major
Although I have never been there myself, I hear that Sweden is a great place to live. More than 80% of Swedes believe it is safe to walk their streets at night. A majority donates to charity, and a majority is very trusting toward fellow Swedes.i And yet Sweden is supposed to be one of the most secular nations in the world. Meaning that it is one of the most godless nations in the world. 
By some estimates, only 2-4% of Swedes attend worship services every week. According to a European Commission survey conducted in 2005, only 23% say they believe in God.ii 
Atheists look at these numbers and conclude that it is indeed possible for a nation to be good without being under God. Listen to biologist and atheist, Jerry Coyne: 
Nor should we worry that a society based on secular morality will degenerate into lawlessness. That experiment has already been done—in countries such as Sweden and Denmark that are largely filled with non-believers and atheists. I can vouch from experience that secular European nations are full of well-behaved and well-meaning citizens, not criminals and sociopaths running amok.iii 
But is Sweden based on secular morality, and is it largely filled with non-believers and atheists?  
In addition to the 23% who believe in God, another 53% believe in some sort of spirit or life force. What, exactly, does that mean? Are more than half of Swedes now pagans and New Agers because they confidently assert a belief in spirit beings and occult forces? Or did they choose this option because they are not really sure what to believe, but think there is more to this world than meets the eye? It is difficult to say for sure, but Sweden is hardly a bastion of non-belief and atheism.  
There is more. Around 74% of Swedes are registered members of the Church of Sweden. A significant proportion of the population continues to rely on the national church for christenings, confirmation, marriage, and funerals.iv In one very detailed study of Enköping—a small city west of Stockholm—64.8% describe themselves as either “strong Christian” or “mildly Christian,” and another 19.7% identify with “non-confessional” churches. In other words, almost 85% of the city’s residents consider themselves to be Christian in some sense or another. Only 10.9% consider themselves to be “atheists.” 
None of this is really surprising. The Swedish state and the Lutheran church were bound together for over four centuries. Being a member of the Church of Sweden was compulsory until 1952. It was not officially divorced from the state until the year 2000. 
So, when someone like Coyne visits Sweden, he is going to feel safe, and he is going to enjoy the fact that people are not packing the pews on Sunday. How do we explain this disconnect between Sweden’s religious heritage and its secular reputation?  
Modern Sweden is secular because its people never really had to fight for their faith. To be a citizen of Sweden was to be a part of the faith community. It had little to do with right beliefs, right worship, and righteous living. Next, Sweden is secular because the state gradually took over the responsibilities of the church. This was easy to do when the church and the state were in one another’s pocket. And Sweden is secular because the official church grew increasingly out of step with its own people.v An unpopular monopoly is still a monopoly, and the Swedes were starved of religious options.  
But secular is not the same as atheist. The underlying morality of Swedish society was baked into the country a long time ago. It had a lot to do with the Lutheran church. It also had a lot to do with Sweden’s remarkable unity. It is easier to follow the rules when everyone looks, acts, and speaks the same.  
If Coyne wants to live in a country founded on an explicitly secular morality, he will have to look elsewhere. May I suggest Hitler’s Germany, or Stalin’s Russia, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, for starters? 
Atheists like Coyne benefit tremendously from living in a diverse culture with a strong Christian heritage. E pluribus unum—“Out of many, one.” But how can we be one if we do not share a common, objective sense of right and wrong? Without God, there is no way to decide what that kind of morality should be.