Iknow its off topic but.....
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Tyra
Member
Are you sure you're not an Odinsman?
(Cuz you sure sound like one when you speak your mind...)
Are you sure you're not an Odinsman?
well he does have a point Tyra...... the only thing i find worth doing in life is pursuing knowledge..... there is never enough knowledge to fill ones mind....
Tyra
Member
Yes, but then you've "Old Faith tendencies". Bates doesn't. Or he says he doesn't, but the more he posts, the more I think he does, he just doesn't know it. Yet.
(It's OK, Bates, I'm just harrassing you a bit. You're excellent how you are. But if you were of the Old Faith, then you'd be a poster boy, because you say all the right things at all the right times and you think like a Norseman in so many ways it's kind of scary.)
It's an Odin thing that, to when given a choice, always opt for the knowledge regardless of consequence.
(It's OK, Bates, I'm just harrassing you a bit. You're excellent how you are. But if you were of the Old Faith, then you'd be a poster boy, because you say all the right things at all the right times and you think like a Norseman in so many ways it's kind of scary.)
It's an Odin thing that, to when given a choice, always opt for the knowledge regardless of consequence.
Blodørn
Member
Tyra
Member
And knowlede is something that someone can never take from you. Oh, except for that Alzheimer dude, but that's beside the point. The pursuit of knowlege is what makes me happy, and various things like my kid, my brothers, good food and sitting in a pit digging up dead people.
Blodørn
Member
Bates
Swamp Yankee
I tend to think you are right.
I just have, of course, the Bates version of it. Which is why I wear a Tiwazollnir
aye..... i find myself doing that quite a bit
sometimes i come close to regretting it heh
Ikki
Member
Blodørn
Member
Knarfi
Yaba-daba-doo!
Knarfi
Yaba-daba-doo!
Hey Tyra, have you heard about this?
http://www.thelocal.se/7186/20070503/
I was always led to believe that the majority of the population was secular (or at least, not believing in Abrahamic faith). I know that "technically", the numbers of members are high, but that wasn't necessarily due to wanting to be a member of said religion. Does the church still retain a decent amount of its former power?
http://www.thelocal.se/7186/20070503/
I was always led to believe that the majority of the population was secular (or at least, not believing in Abrahamic faith). I know that "technically", the numbers of members are high, but that wasn't necessarily due to wanting to be a member of said religion. Does the church still retain a decent amount of its former power?
Bates
Swamp Yankee
Churches are notoriously effective in their cohesiveness. Even a small number can make a lot of noise, and when 70% of the population really doesn't give a shit one way or the other, it gives that small number a lot of say. The same kind of thing we have going on here, just at a smaller scale. Except the 70% or whatever here is starting to go... "Hey... WTF..". I hope.
Tyra
Member
Hang on - I'm not awake yet...I have an answer to that, but I have to wake up the English part of my brain first, OK?
Tyra
Member
OK, I'm, sort of awake now...
It is officially largely a secularized country, relatively speaking. The numbers get somewhat skewed, though, since not everyone that "adheres" to a religion is a member of an organized group. A lot of people would say they "believe in God", but since their idea of what a god is doesn't match any given organized group, they also say they are "religious" but not necessarily "Sunni" or what have you. Then there are religions like asatru, where the idea of organizing as a group more or less is contra-indicated by the religion iteself. Again, one is then religious, but not necessarily belonging to a group. When I lived in Sweden in the late 80's the number of people who were active Christians was only 2%, but I can guarantee that that is a low number compared to how many people would actually call themselves Christian. They are brought up by Lutheran parents, and so have received a somewhat Lutheran, somewhat ON upbringing, which equals Swedish. They did not attend church, though, and the Social democrat party generally had about half the votes beck then (they did NOT find their principles on any faith governing the country, for sure, and so it would to some be impossible to say that you were Christian and still vote for them), so I suppose it depends on how you define "Christian". The numbers have changed a lot since the church separated from the state a while back, too. It then became more accepted to belong to a Christian denomination other than Lutheranism (which, when I was a kid, was reserved for "weird people" and "rebels"), which I think made it easier for those who once said they were Christian but who did not go to church because they didn't feel the Lutheran church fit them, to find a denomination that did. I would imagine that many people were born again as a result.
The Old Faith by its very structure is not one that shows up well in a census (sp?). As you may have noticed, I still struggle with what to call "it" when I post here. The ON did not have a word for their religion, and we still don't really, which names it very difficult to put it down on the form when you fill it out. Then we all end up using different names for the same faith, which fractures the statistic into bits and pieces, and the only way to settle that problem is to become organized, which, as I said, goes against the core of the faith itself to a certain degree. It's a catch 22, the same one asatru suffers from in Canada. Here, we fall under wicca, which just makes me cringe, but at least we are now an official religion. Then there's also the part where we do not have any dogma that says we are supposed to go out and convert non-believers to earn brownie points. This means that the religion is something we keep to ourselves, something between me and my gods only. On account of that, those that are of that faith, most often do not raise a stink at the schools etc when asatru is not taught, and we pass it on to our children, but we don't go Edda-thumping door to door. We just blend in, which is a very, very (I cannot emphacise how very) Scandinavian. We do not make a fuss over things. Another reason why all religions would be conspicuously abscent from a census, because it is not any of anybody else's bussiness, so we just don't as, don't tell. Kind of like that. This is also why many peolpe look donw on religious people, because this "door to door let's be loud about it and tell everybody what we believe and how to rule accordingly" is not something that is "normal" in the culture, even for Lutheranism (and for sure not for the Old Faith). Neither is loud prayers from the minaret. You can imagine how well that blends with Swedish culture.
Still, relatively speaking, in comparison to the rest of the world, it is a very much secularized country. It has a lot to do with the social democratic rule that the country was under for so many years, but also with the anture of the people itself and with the religions that are there besides from the judeo-christian ones.
Now you've just read the issue as seen from my frame of reference, though, which probably is not entirely un-skewed, considering my age, gender, political and religious stance, but it's the most un-biased I can accomplish.
It is officially largely a secularized country, relatively speaking. The numbers get somewhat skewed, though, since not everyone that "adheres" to a religion is a member of an organized group. A lot of people would say they "believe in God", but since their idea of what a god is doesn't match any given organized group, they also say they are "religious" but not necessarily "Sunni" or what have you. Then there are religions like asatru, where the idea of organizing as a group more or less is contra-indicated by the religion iteself. Again, one is then religious, but not necessarily belonging to a group. When I lived in Sweden in the late 80's the number of people who were active Christians was only 2%, but I can guarantee that that is a low number compared to how many people would actually call themselves Christian. They are brought up by Lutheran parents, and so have received a somewhat Lutheran, somewhat ON upbringing, which equals Swedish. They did not attend church, though, and the Social democrat party generally had about half the votes beck then (they did NOT find their principles on any faith governing the country, for sure, and so it would to some be impossible to say that you were Christian and still vote for them), so I suppose it depends on how you define "Christian". The numbers have changed a lot since the church separated from the state a while back, too. It then became more accepted to belong to a Christian denomination other than Lutheranism (which, when I was a kid, was reserved for "weird people" and "rebels"), which I think made it easier for those who once said they were Christian but who did not go to church because they didn't feel the Lutheran church fit them, to find a denomination that did. I would imagine that many people were born again as a result.
The Old Faith by its very structure is not one that shows up well in a census (sp?). As you may have noticed, I still struggle with what to call "it" when I post here. The ON did not have a word for their religion, and we still don't really, which names it very difficult to put it down on the form when you fill it out. Then we all end up using different names for the same faith, which fractures the statistic into bits and pieces, and the only way to settle that problem is to become organized, which, as I said, goes against the core of the faith itself to a certain degree. It's a catch 22, the same one asatru suffers from in Canada. Here, we fall under wicca, which just makes me cringe, but at least we are now an official religion. Then there's also the part where we do not have any dogma that says we are supposed to go out and convert non-believers to earn brownie points. This means that the religion is something we keep to ourselves, something between me and my gods only. On account of that, those that are of that faith, most often do not raise a stink at the schools etc when asatru is not taught, and we pass it on to our children, but we don't go Edda-thumping door to door. We just blend in, which is a very, very (I cannot emphacise how very) Scandinavian. We do not make a fuss over things. Another reason why all religions would be conspicuously abscent from a census, because it is not any of anybody else's bussiness, so we just don't as, don't tell. Kind of like that. This is also why many peolpe look donw on religious people, because this "door to door let's be loud about it and tell everybody what we believe and how to rule accordingly" is not something that is "normal" in the culture, even for Lutheranism (and for sure not for the Old Faith). Neither is loud prayers from the minaret. You can imagine how well that blends with Swedish culture.
Still, relatively speaking, in comparison to the rest of the world, it is a very much secularized country. It has a lot to do with the social democratic rule that the country was under for so many years, but also with the anture of the people itself and with the religions that are there besides from the judeo-christian ones.
Now you've just read the issue as seen from my frame of reference, though, which probably is not entirely un-skewed, considering my age, gender, political and religious stance, but it's the most un-biased I can accomplish.
