The award has triggered a powerful backlash among Thunberg's compatriots on social media, some of whom point to it as proof that environmentalism is a religion, whereas others argued that it debases the honorary doctorate as such.
The theological faculty at the University of Helsinki has decided to elevate eco-activist Greta Thunberg to an honorary doctor.
The higher educational institution has voiced plans to lionize 30 "highly meritorious people from around the world" by granting them honorary doctorate degrees in 2023, which it dubbed the "jubilee year of the promotion."
Amazing. There were 8 people selected, seven of them are nominally Christian - Lutheran. And their work sort of revolves around religion, but they have a life full of achievements.
Riho Altnurme is Professor of Church History at the University of Tartu, and an expert in Estonian church history.
Annabel Brett is Professor of Political Thought and History at the University of Cambridge. Her focus is on medieval and early modern moral and political thought.
Grace Davie is Professor Emerita at the University of Exeter. She has authored a number of works on the sociology of religion.
Philip Esler, Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire, is a pioneer in the social-scientific study of the Bible.
Maria Immonen has had a long career in international aid in countries including Finland, Tanzania and Switzerland.
Mia Lövheim is Professor of the Sociology of Religion at Uppsala University. She specializes in religious, media and social change, particularly from the perspective of gender and youth issues.
Munib Younan has for decades been the public voice of Middle Eastern and especially Palestinian Christians.
And then there is
Doctor Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish opinion-maker and activist. The School Strike for Climate she staged outside the Swedish parliament building in autumn 2018 soon expanded into the global Fridays for Future movement, in which schoolchildren urge decision-makers to take climate action based on scientific evidence. The value of her uncompromising and consistent work for the future of our planet has been recognized with several major awards and prizes. Her actions have obliged all of us with the task, as members of communities and societies, but above all as human beings, of making changes to our everyday lives.
One of these just doesn't belong.