As few as 24 percent of Danes and as few as 16 percent of Swedes believe in a personal deity. . . . In Scandinavia, belief in life after death hovers in the low 30 percent range, as opposed to 81 percent in America. Some 82 percent of Danes and Swedes believe in evolution, while roughly 10 percent believe in hell. Their rate of weekly church attendance is among the lowest on Earth. This is all very sad--and personally so for me. I have spent a lot of time in Sweden (and Denmark, too). I have a lot of family and friends there. On top of that, I'm a Lutheran pastor who actually believes, teaches, and confesses the historic Christian faith. My grandparents came from Sweden and believed it, too. How that ostensibly Lutheran nation has fallen!
On a trip to Sweden a couple years ago, I talked to one of my father's first cousins, "Uncle Fritz," in his early 90s. He believes in evolution, doesn't believe in God, totally secularized, etc. But he was taught the faith in his childhood, and as I told him of the true gospel of Christ crucified, that old memory moved him to tears. I don't know that it went any further than that, though.
I know a number of fellow Lutheran pastors in Sweden who ARE holding firmly and faithfully to Christian truth, in opposition to the apostate and NOMINALLY Lutheran Church of Sweden. They are fighting the good fight!
Ping to the Swedish Ping List.
This is all very sad--and personally so for me. I have spent a lot of time in Sweden (and Denmark, too). I have a lot of family and friends there. On top of that, I'm a Lutheran pastor who actually believes, teaches, and confesses the historic Christian faith. I've found very little news about the state of the church in Norway. I'm thinking it's possibly because Norwegians are considered to be less enlightened by most other Scandinavians.
My grandparents came from Sweden and believed it, too. How that ostensibly Lutheran nation has fallen!
I have to go back a few more generations than you to find my direct connection to Europe. My Norwegian & German immigrant ancestors were all involved in building churches, including one who was a delegate when the Norwegian Synod in Wisconsin was formed in 1853.
My Swede seems to have emigrated mostly due to the economic condition of Sweden in 1888. It's been difficult to nail down anything about his faith, because he was a rare Swede in a "Norwegian" American community.