{"id":5683,"date":"2018-01-06T18:11:42","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T00:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5683"},"modified":"2018-01-06T18:11:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T00:11:42","slug":"take-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/take-sweden\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Trevor Major<\/strong>
\nAlthough I have never been there myself, I hear that Sweden is a great place to live. More than 80%\u00a0of Swedes\u00a0believe it is safe to walk\u00a0their streets\u00a0at night. A majority donates\u00a0to charity, and a majority\u00a0is\u00a0very trusting toward\u00a0fellow Swedes.i<\/span>\u00a0And yet\u00a0Sweden is supposed to be one of the most secular nations in the world.\u00a0Meaning that\u00a0it is\u00a0one of the most godless nations in the world.\u00a0<\/span>
\nBy some estimates, only 2-4% of Swedes attend worship services every week.\u00a0According to\u00a0a\u00a0European Commission survey\u00a0conducted in 2005, only 23% say they believe in God.ii<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nAtheists look at these numbers and conclude that it is\u00a0indeed\u00a0possible for\u00a0a nation to be good without being under God. Listen to biologist and atheist, Jerry Coyne:\u00a0<\/span>
\nNor should we worry that a society based on secular morality will degenerate into lawlessness. That experiment has already been done\u2014in 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<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nBut is\u00a0Sweden\u00a0based on secular morality, and is it\u00a0largely filled with non-believers and atheists?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIn addition to the 23%\u00a0who believe in God, another 53%\u00a0believe in some sort of spirit or life force.\u00a0What, exactly, does that mean?\u00a0Are more than half of Swedes now pagans and New Agers because they\u00a0confidently assert a belief in\u00a0spirit beings and\u00a0occult\u00a0forces? Or did they choose this option because they are not\u00a0really sure what to believe, but\u00a0think\u00a0there is more to this\u00a0world than meets the eye?\u00a0It is\u00a0difficult\u00a0to say\u00a0for sure, but Sweden\u00a0is hardly\u00a0a\u00a0bastion of\u00a0non-belief and atheism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nThere 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<\/span>\u00a0In one very detailed study of Enk\u00f6ping\u2014a small city west of Stockholm\u201464.8% describe themselves as either \u201cstrong Christian\u201d or \u201cmildly Christian,\u201d and another 19.7% identify with \u201cnon-confessional\u201d churches. In other words, almost 85% of the city\u2019s residents consider themselves to be Christian in some sense or another. Only 10.9% consider themselves to be \u201catheists.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
\nNone 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.\u00a0<\/span>
\nSo, when someone like Coyne visits Sweden, he is going to feel safe, and he\u00a0is going to enjoy the fact that people are not\u00a0packing the pews on\u00a0Sunday.\u00a0How do we explain this disconnect between Sweden\u2019s religious\u00a0heritage\u00a0and its secular reputation?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nModern Sweden is secular because\u00a0its people\u00a0never really had to fight for their faith. To be a citizen of Sweden was to be\u00a0a\u00a0part of the faith community. It had little to do with right beliefs, right worship, and righteous living.\u00a0Next,\u00a0Sweden\u00a0is secular because the state gradually took over the responsibilities of the church.\u00a0This was\u00a0easy to do when\u00a0the\u00a0church and\u00a0the\u00a0state\u00a0were in one another\u2019s\u00a0pocket.\u00a0And\u00a0Sweden\u00a0is secular because the\u00a0official\u00a0church\u00a0grew increasingly out of step with\u00a0its own people.v<\/span>\u00a0An\u00a0unpopular\u00a0monopoly is still a monopoly, and\u00a0the Swedes were starved of\u00a0religious\u00a0options.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nBut\u00a0secular 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\u00a0the\u00a0Lutheran\u00a0church. It also had a lot to do with Sweden\u2019s\u00a0remarkable\u00a0unity.\u00a0It is easier to\u00a0follow the rules when everyone\u00a0looks, acts, and speaks the same.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIf\u00a0Coyne\u00a0wants\u00a0to\u00a0live in a country founded on an explicitly\u00a0secular morality,\u00a0he will\u00a0have to look elsewhere. May I suggest Hitler\u2019s Germany,\u00a0or Stalin\u2019s Russia,\u00a0or Pol Pot\u2019s Cambodia, for starters?\u00a0<\/span>
\nAtheists like Coyne benefit tremendously from living in a diverse\u00a0culture\u00a0with a strong Christian heritage.\u00a0E pluribus\u00a0<\/i>unum<\/i>\u2014\u201cOut of many, one.\u201d\u00a0But\u00a0how can we\u00a0be one if\u00a0we do not\u00a0share a common, objective\u00a0sense of right and wrong?\u00a0Without God, there is no way to decide what\u00a0that\u00a0kind of\u00a0morality\u00a0should be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Trevor Major Although I have never been there myself, I hear that Sweden is a great place to live. More than 80%\u00a0of Swedes\u00a0believe it is safe to walk\u00a0their streets\u00a0at night. A majority donates\u00a0to charity, and a majority\u00a0is\u00a0very trusting toward\u00a0fellow Swedes.i\u00a0And yet\u00a0Sweden is supposed to be one of the most secular nations in the world.\u00a0Meaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,66],"tags":[1015,1289,94,1299,1235,1300,1236],"class_list":["post-5683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-think-excerpts","tag-atheist","tag-february-2013","tag-morality","tag-secular","tag-smart-faith","tag-sweden","tag-trevor-major","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nTake Sweden - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/06\/take-sweden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take Sweden - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Trevor Major Although I have never been there myself, I hear that Sweden is a great place to live. 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