https://samnytt.se/arkebiskopen-muslimer-kan-vara-med-i-svenska-kyrkan/
Outgoing Archbishop Antje Jackelén received harsh criticism for her religious relativist stance, not least in relation to the controversial religious ideology of Islam. She adopted the Swedish variant of “Allahu akbar” as her language of choice and said she could not put the peaceful healer Jesus before the warrior and mass murderer Muhammad as a prophet. Now Jackelen’s successor goes a step further and welcomes all Muslims to the Church of Sweden.
Martin Modéus has been appointed as the new archbishop in the Church of Sweden. For more conservative and traditional Christians, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire after eight years with the controversial Antje Jackelén. In a debate article in the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter, Modeus presents himself as the heir and further developer of the religious relativism for which his predecessors became famous and criticized.
The fact that Modéus is speaking out in this way is caused, among other things, by the fact that the Center Party’s supposed new party leader, Muharrem Demirok, who has already been in several storms before taking office, has also declared that he is a Muslim but also a member of the Church of Sweden. Many have reacted against this, but Modéus takes the opposite stance – being a Muslim and not a Christian does not constitute an obstacle to being part of the Church of Sweden, he believes.
That the Christian way of “relating to faith” would be a requirement in the Church of Sweden, Modéus emphatically opposes – all ways, even the Muslim, are equally legitimate and needed in the country’s churches.
A requirement to be a Christian in order to be part of a Christian congregation is regarded by the new archbishop as a recent “ideologization of the concept of religion.” However, the claim is contradicted by many who believe that what is new and ideological instead is the idea that it is just as well to believe in Allah and Muhammad in a Christian congregation as in Jehovah and Jesus.
In the Church of Sweden, under the leadership of Archbishop Martin Modéus, “you define what you believe in based on your own terms.” According to Modéus, the fact that the Church of Sweden receives a diversity of non-Christian beliefs “is an asset.”
Modéus wants the country’s churches to function more as clubs for general social community than places where a common Christian belief is shared. In this, he claims to have been inspired by one of the ideologues of Dagens Nyheter’s editorial page, Björn Wiman.
The Church of Sweden has lost many members. This is due, among other things, to the fact that more and more Swedes have adopted a secular outlook on life, but in many cases also to the fact that you do not recognize yourself in the “left-wing church” it has turned into, which nowadays functions more as one of the Social Democrats’ many corporative legs in Swedish society.
However, many Swedes remain members, by birth and unfettered habit, that they have not come to terms with leaving or are simply not aware that they are members of something they never actively chose to join. Even outspoken critics retain often their membership in order not to lose the right to vote in church elections and thus the opportunity to influence the future direction of the Church of Sweden.
However, the Church of Sweden needs new members to replace those who fall away, and the large group of immigrant Muslims is therefore attractive. According to Modéus, it is by opening the church doors to them that you can still claim to be a “people’s church.” That the church should be something only for believers or cultural Christians is “far too narrow,” the archbishop asserts in the DN article.
Outgoing Archbishop Antje Jackelén received harsh criticism for her religious relativist stance, not least in relation to the controversial religious ideology of Islam. She adopted the Swedish variant of “Allahu akbar” as her language of choice and said she could not put the peaceful healer Jesus before the warrior and mass murderer Muhammad as a prophet. Now Jackelen’s successor goes a step further and welcomes all Muslims to the Church of Sweden.
Martin Modéus has been appointed as the new archbishop in the Church of Sweden. For more conservative and traditional Christians, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire after eight years with the controversial Antje Jackelén. In a debate article in the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter, Modeus presents himself as the heir and further developer of the religious relativism for which his predecessors became famous and criticized.
The fact that Modéus is speaking out in this way is caused, among other things, by the fact that the Center Party’s supposed new party leader, Muharrem Demirok, who has already been in several storms before taking office, has also declared that he is a Muslim but also a member of the Church of Sweden. Many have reacted against this, but Modéus takes the opposite stance – being a Muslim and not a Christian does not constitute an obstacle to being part of the Church of Sweden, he believes.
That the Christian way of “relating to faith” would be a requirement in the Church of Sweden, Modéus emphatically opposes – all ways, even the Muslim, are equally legitimate and needed in the country’s churches.
A requirement to be a Christian in order to be part of a Christian congregation is regarded by the new archbishop as a recent “ideologization of the concept of religion.” However, the claim is contradicted by many who believe that what is new and ideological instead is the idea that it is just as well to believe in Allah and Muhammad in a Christian congregation as in Jehovah and Jesus.
In the Church of Sweden, under the leadership of Archbishop Martin Modéus, “you define what you believe in based on your own terms.” According to Modéus, the fact that the Church of Sweden receives a diversity of non-Christian beliefs “is an asset.”
Modéus wants the country’s churches to function more as clubs for general social community than places where a common Christian belief is shared. In this, he claims to have been inspired by one of the ideologues of Dagens Nyheter’s editorial page, Björn Wiman.
The Church of Sweden has lost many members. This is due, among other things, to the fact that more and more Swedes have adopted a secular outlook on life, but in many cases also to the fact that you do not recognize yourself in the “left-wing church” it has turned into, which nowadays functions more as one of the Social Democrats’ many corporative legs in Swedish society.
However, many Swedes remain members, by birth and unfettered habit, that they have not come to terms with leaving or are simply not aware that they are members of something they never actively chose to join. Even outspoken critics retain often their membership in order not to lose the right to vote in church elections and thus the opportunity to influence the future direction of the Church of Sweden.
However, the Church of Sweden needs new members to replace those who fall away, and the large group of immigrant Muslims is therefore attractive. According to Modéus, it is by opening the church doors to them that you can still claim to be a “people’s church.” That the church should be something only for believers or cultural Christians is “far too narrow,” the archbishop asserts in the DN article.
