Where I'm from (Scandinavian welfare state) we don't have political Christianity in the theocratic American scripture-spewing sense. What we have is a type of political "Christianity" that is completely devoid of meaning; you don't have to go to church or pray or follow a moral code or study or really believe anything. They don't want to ban abortion or divorce or gay people (trans people is still a problem though). For these people being Christian simply means not being Muslim. It is a completely made-up excuse for excluding Muslims.
In the former USSR 90% Christians go to a church only for baptism, sometimes wedding or funeral, and pretty much ignore religious teachings altogether. For them "Christianity" of their variety is just a part of identity. Muslims in more developed parts of the former USSR (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, urban areas in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan) are basically the same with religion being just an identity.
In the former USSR 90% Christians go to a church only for baptism, sometimes wedding or funeral, and pretty much ignore religious teachings altogether.
What, don't you guys have your own Christian Democrats? (Note to Germans: The Finnish ones are a minority party, with an emphasis on minority, for religious weirdos) There was a period where every single time their showed up in the media leader to say something hateful about LGBTQ folks, young Finns left the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in droves :data-laughing:
Note: Most Finns belong to said church- it's basically the state church. Despite the name, they're not Evangelical in the American sense
Also, our churd party, the True Finns, has some American-style religious nut politicians and are also generally anti-LGBTQ along with their base- the True Finn voter might not be religious themselves but they certainly worry about Finland's proud Christian traditions, like when religious hymns get dropped from school ceremonies
We have a Christian democratic party that was founded as a reaction to the legalisation of abortion and pornography in the 1960's. Today their base is mostly in the strict Lutheran sect Inner Mission that is one of the more gloomy and joyless tendencies within the national church that is mostly found in western Jutland. They like to present themselves as a soft humanistic centre-right party and talk about good stuff like childcare and work-life balance. They're also not racist in the same open and demonstrative way politicians here usually are. It has an audience as lots of people want to vote for the right-wing coalition while still maintaining a moral fig leaf that allows them not to feel like complete assholes.
They are able to build some popularity saying all the good stuff but it is always short-lived. The popularity bubble pops the moment someone asks them about their opinions on abortion and gay marriage (two things that virtually everyone here supports). You can see them squirm as they try to defend their policies while also distancing themselves from them in an attempt not to look like the bigoted fundamentalists they are.
They haven't been able to clear the 2 percent threshold for parliamentary representation for decades.
Where I'm from (Scandinavian welfare state) we don't have political Christianity in the theocratic American scripture-spewing sense. What we have is a type of political "Christianity" that is completely devoid of meaning; you don't have to go to church or pray or follow a moral code or study or really believe anything. They don't want to ban abortion or divorce or gay people (trans people is still a problem though). For these people being Christian simply means not being Muslim. It is a completely made-up excuse for excluding Muslims.
In the former USSR 90% Christians go to a church only for baptism, sometimes wedding or funeral, and pretty much ignore religious teachings altogether. For them "Christianity" of their variety is just a part of identity. Muslims in more developed parts of the former USSR (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, urban areas in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan) are basically the same with religion being just an identity.
TIL Finland was part of the former USSR
What, don't you guys have your own Christian Democrats? (Note to Germans: The Finnish ones are a minority party, with an emphasis on minority, for religious weirdos) There was a period where every single time their showed up in the media leader to say something hateful about LGBTQ folks, young Finns left the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in droves :data-laughing:
Note: Most Finns belong to said church- it's basically the state church. Despite the name, they're not Evangelical in the American sense
Also, our churd party, the True Finns, has some American-style religious nut politicians and are also generally anti-LGBTQ along with their base- the True Finn voter might not be religious themselves but they certainly worry about Finland's proud Christian traditions, like when religious hymns get dropped from school ceremonies
We have a Christian democratic party that was founded as a reaction to the legalisation of abortion and pornography in the 1960's. Today their base is mostly in the strict Lutheran sect Inner Mission that is one of the more gloomy and joyless tendencies within the national church that is mostly found in western Jutland. They like to present themselves as a soft humanistic centre-right party and talk about good stuff like childcare and work-life balance. They're also not racist in the same open and demonstrative way politicians here usually are. It has an audience as lots of people want to vote for the right-wing coalition while still maintaining a moral fig leaf that allows them not to feel like complete assholes.
They are able to build some popularity saying all the good stuff but it is always short-lived. The popularity bubble pops the moment someone asks them about their opinions on abortion and gay marriage (two things that virtually everyone here supports). You can see them squirm as they try to defend their policies while also distancing themselves from them in an attempt not to look like the bigoted fundamentalists they are.
They haven't been able to clear the 2 percent threshold for parliamentary representation for decades.