Comments on: Never believe anything you read about Norway or Scandinavia

By: Bjørn Stærk

Bjørn Stærk — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:30:06 +0000

Well, we are fairly secular these days. I grew up a Christian, (now I'm an atheist), and I was always very conscious of what a minority we were. A minority with their own separate culture, often invisible to the Norwegian mainstream, which speaks politely about "belief" and a "people's Church", but doesn't really believe in the life-changing way that Christianity entails.

So on one side there is more of a Christian presence in Norway than people realize, but on the other side it's probably correct to say that Norway is not a Christian nation. We definitely have a Christian history, though, so that claim in the article is wrong. We also had our own puritan movements. (The < HREF="http://blog.bearstrong.net/max256/2009/05/og-debatten-gar-i-sirkler-som-en.html" REL="nofollow">book I reviewed by Nina Witoszek<> a few days ago claimed that our priestly/religious inclinations have been transformed into a sort of missionary approach to world politics, and I guess there may be something to that.)

By: Forbitret fossil

Forbitret fossil — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:20:02 +0000

I completely agree: whenever Norway or Scandinavia is brought up, the facts tend to be a bit skewed. Have you seen this article? http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/10/22/zuckerman/ Norway isn’t even mentioned, but my main issue with this article is that the writers discuss Scandinavia as some sort of secular heaven, not accounting for the fact that our societies are based upon the Christian fatith. …our flags are modelled after the cross, for heaven’s sake!

Also, Scandinavia consists of three countries, and although there are similarities among our nations, we also have different cultures. I hate that this is rarely brought up whenever Americans talk about “Scandinavia.”

By: Konrad

Konrad — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:55:14 +0000

Vakkert!