Bible Ban Sparks Swedish Debate
Sweden has long had the reputation of being a super-secular nation. Less than 3% of the population attends church. But, within the last few days, it seems that God has made His presence known in Sweden.
It all began when a Swedish hotel guest checked into his room and found that the room was outfitted with a copy of the New Testament. He protested to the hotel chain. The chain ordered all Bibles removed from their hotels. A conservative bishop called for a boycott of the hotel chain. A former young radical who is now a devout Christian and host of a popular talk show denounced the hotel’s action in newspaper columns and on television. A young Evangelical Christian organized an electronic letter-writing campaign, asking the hotel chain to justify its action in banning the Bible while running ads for pay porn.
The Scandic hotel chain bowed to the pressure. It put the Bible back into guest rooms.
All this has been going on in a nation that made history when it announced that it had “a third way” to go in the battle between socialism and capitalism. In essence, it proposed to accept the capitalist concepts of production and exchange while pressing for the socialist concept of national income distribution.
Sweden was doing very nicely until in the post-World War II era world manufacture went global. Products once “made in Sweden” were now being made in China and India for Swedish companies.
Sweden found itself in a hole. And, as the old saying goes, there are no atheists in a foxhole. When nothing seems to work, people turn to prayer.
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