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Is Europe’s Inclination to Irreligiosity Behind the Attacks Toward the Pious?

March 25, 2018
File photo of Cathedral of Florence

A recent news report by the Swedish state television SVT has caused Antje Jackelén, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden, to come under unfair attacks. The news report stated that in the last decade, some one million people in Sweden have canceled their church memberships and thus, the church is unable to make the ends meet. The report added that faced with an economic crisis caused by this impasse, the Church of Sweden is being forced to sell some of its churches. Following this news coverage, Antje Jackelén, the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden, has been made a target on social media. The far-rightists heavily criticized Jackelén in their posts, accusing her of “praising Islam and its prophet, and not doing anything about the churches that have been put up for sale.” In fact, the criticism directed at Jackelén crossed the line, effectively taking the form of insults and death threats. The criticisms went so far that Jackelén saying “Gud är större”, a Swedish phrase that has roughly the same meaning as the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar”, even led to her being associated with suicide bombers. Jackelén expressed…


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