Шведы отвернулись от Церкви
“It’s time to blow up churches!” – with such an appeal to the Swedes was made not by a heir of the Soviet godless of the 1930s, but… by the retired dean of Skara Cathedral, Hans Börje Hammar, brother of the former archbishop of the Swedish church – a man extremely influential and popular in church circles of that country. His open letter to his compatriots instantly stirred a wave of debate about the future of one of the country’s oldest institutions.
Sweden has for several years been holding the lead in Europe as the least religious state of the Old World. According to polls, more than 80% of Swedes consider themselves non-believers.
Eleven years ago, the decline in parishioners did not particularly worry the Swedish Lutheran Church, since it was part of the state, and every citizen automatically paid their tax “church tithe.” Everything changed in 2000, when the church was separated from the state, and people could choose for themselves whether to remain in the bosom of Lutheranism or set off on an autonomous spiritual voyage. Hundreds of thousands chose the latter.
“I studied the statistics, and they horrified me,” says Hans Börje Hammar. “Since 2000, more than half a million people have left the church (Sweden’s population is 10 million). The situation with the younger generation is even worse. In the 1970s, 80,000 children underwent confirmation every year. Today that number has dropped to 35,000.
The number of parishioners is getting smaller and smaller, and accordingly our incomes are falling. We simply have no money to maintain the 3,384 churches we have in the country. There are only three options – blow up the churches, fill them with people, or turn them into pizzerias and production workshops.“
In 2000, when the “divorce” of church and state took place, the authorities undertook to pay approximately 50 million euros annually for the upkeep of churches of cultural and historical significance. As a rule, these are buildings constructed before 1940. However, as church hierarchs admit, these funds are catastrophically insufficient. Hundreds of churches stand empty all year round, which automatically increases maintenance costs. Mold, dampness, vandals, and thieves attack.
Every year, newspapers write about dozens of cases of robberies of abandoned churches. Priceless medieval sculptures, church utensils, and even… entire roofs covered with expensive copper disappear. This year the police registered 42 such robberies. “Mostly rural churches, unvisited by parishioners, are left without roofs,” says Patrik Olsson, representative of the church insurance company. As he asserts, there are far more robberies than recorded.
Only 60% of churches are insured, and often for various reasons they are not reported to the police. Each crime on average costs tens of thousands of euros, but the enormous bills come later. After all, a bare roof leads to damage to the building, wall paintings are destroyed, mold and fungus appear.
Representatives of the liberal wing of the Swedish church claim they have found a way out. People need to be attracted to the church not only by the possibility of communion with God, but also by a whole range of quite secular services. “A popular trend spreading through parishes is healing in the church not only the soul, but also the body. Today we borrow a lot from other cultures and peoples,” says the apologist of the new survival path of the church, Annika Borg, a pastor and doctor of theology.
Priests have begun to enlist psychotherapists, specialists in therapeutic gymnastics, and instructors in Chinese medicine as helpers. If before the body was considered a vessel of sins, and preachers called the flock to tame the mortal flesh with prayer and sin, now their views, influenced by economic problems, have radically changed. “The body is as sacred as the soul; after all, it is God’s creation, which must be cherished and nurtured,” pastors instill in parishioners.
For several years now, many Swedish churches have been operating as a kind of spa salon, offering visitors massages of various types, water treatments, and cleansing drinks. The hard benches on which one was supposed to sit and listen to the sermon have also been transformed. In some places soft sofas have appeared, where one can comfortably lie down, covered with a blanket, sipping Chinese green tea, half-listening to the priest.
As the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports, courses in the Chinese art of “developing energy and inner strength, as well as training the mind,” opened in 15 churches, are particularly popular with parishioners. Instructors teach parishioners to meditate, to establish a connection between their qi and the heavenly and earthly qi, uniting these energies in the area of the lower pelvis. Other groups of visitors practice Tai Chi circles, mastering the art of slow movements that strengthen spiritual and bodily forces.
For conservatives who consider the introduction of Eastern philosophy into the bastions of Christianity inappropriate, the church offers “homegrown” methods of bodily perfection – from special Nordic diets to Nordic walking.
The second part of the motto that the Swedish church is putting into practice, “So that body and soul may be young,” has also begun to be interpreted in a modern spirit. “Wireless connection. Prayers free of charge. Stable connection. Pray where, when, and how you want. Free technical support in all parishes,” – advertisements with such texts, posted on public transport and at bus stops, lure the “apostates” to the churches.
They are promised prayers for all occasions – whether it be relief from constipation or God’s help in business. “The church is going through difficult times, but it will emerge from them with honor if it learns to look more broadly at the surrounding world and adapts to new realities,” Pastor Annika Borg calls on conservatives to follow the example of the “renovationists,” writes chaspik.spb.ru
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