Synergetics

I have been writing in my blogs about integration, immigration, assimilation and many other issues which have to do with the multi-cultural aspects of life in Sweden and the reality of the Church in Sweden.

Below you will find articles and links that will help you get some understanding from a secular perspective as I browsed through many articles of “The Local” which is an English edition of Swedish news. As you will notice, the path to diversity is rarely smooth! So here we go:

It’s as if we immigrants stink of rotten fish” When deciding where in the world to study and work, Nabeel Shehzad, an engineer from Pakistan, thought Sweden seemed like the perfect place. But that was before he began to encounter discrimination on a regular basis. READ »

Parents to face jail for child marriages. Parents who allow children under the age of 16 to get married in another country could face up to two years in jail. READ »

Sweden shutting door on refugees: critics. Recent decisions by Sweden to send refugees back to Baghdad and other war-ravaged areas have tarnished its reputation for welcoming victims of conflict, critics say. READ »

Immigration agreement for Greens and government. The Swedish government and the Green Party are to present a joint proposal on Thursday for new rules governing labour force immigration. READ »

Asylum system ’stuck in Stone Age’. The Swedish Migration Board has proposed changing the “stone age” regulations for asylum seekers who have started families with Swedish nationals. READ »

The path to Swedish asylum: A smuggler speaks. Rami Abdelrahman travels to Jordan and tracks down the first link in the chain of an underground operation involved in the smuggling of Iraqi refugees to Sweden. READ »

UNHCR criticizes Sweden’s Iraqi refugee policy. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has criticized Sweden’s policy of deporting rejected Iraqi asylum seekers to the southern and central regions of their home country. READ »

Dutch ditching dykes for Dalarna. Hundreds of Dutch want to move to Dalarna and the county is using some innovative methods to assist in the process. READ »

Liberals call for compulsory citizenship classes. The Liberal Party has said it wants to introduce a mandatory course for all immigrants seeking Swedish citizenship. READ »

Immigrant girls and sex education - who knows best? Parents, students, or the state: who knows best? David Landes looks at the thorny issue of sex education and editorial reactions to a Liberal Party proposal aiming to bar parents from exempting their children, particularly girls, from classes. READ »

My views on sex and laws: READ

Foreigners can’t bank on Swedish ID. Foreign students continue to feel marginalized by Swedish society as a result of confusion regarding the issuing of Swedish identity cards. READ »

The next Synergy Evening is scheduled for this coming Friday, 16 May with an emphasis on film.

Lars Johansson, teacher in Philosophy and Religion at Örebro Theological Seminary, will speak about films that help us understand human relationships. You and your friends are invited for discussion and mingling!

Lars also serves as the Director of “Forum for Faith, Culture, and Society,” which publishes the cultural magazine Nod and also facilitates the Nod Academy, which specializes in distance-learning dealing with contemporary issues and Christian faith. Lars teaches on films in lectures and courses and has also assisted in publishing the book, Film and Religion (Cordia, 2005).

Entrance is free, and fika is for sale in our café.

Note: The seminar will be held in Swedish!

The café opens at 7 pm with the seminar starting at 7.30. Time will be allotted for questions, discussion, and mingling afterwards.

//The Synergy Team - Organized by New Life Church and Powerplay

The next Synergy conference will take place 14 -16 November 2008, watch the Synergy “teaser” for the coming conference here!

According to Svenska Dagbladet has the RFSU (the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education) taken the initiative to exhort the Swedish government to form common guidelines for sexuality which are to be applied in the advice and counseling which is given in the 225 centers in the nation where youth can come to receive help and support.

Now up till here I am in agreement with the RFSU (which I seldom am!), I do agree that we need common guidelines in services which we provide on a national level. However, what these guidelines need to address and contain I have many questions about.

The RFSU addresses the fact that the personnel in the different centers implement the constitution which was accepted in 2005 and meant to protect young people from sexual abuse. The law addressed among other things that more situations could be considered rape and that those who had sex with a person under the age of 15 should be more easily convicted for rape. The RFSU tries to bring the application of the law down to questions like: Is it illegal for a 14 and 16 year old to have sex? At the moment parents have the right to know what their children under the age of 18 get for advice / treatment.

My conviction is (based upon their own description of their programs and values) that RFSU is trying to loosen up the principles applied in our legal system and thus breaking down many of the values that might be needed to have a healthy society and family life. One of the convictions they have is the right teenagers have to decide whether and with whom they want sex.

Now, while addressing the inconsequence of praxis in the 225 centers which need common guidelines, I am sure that they have already prepared (as they use to) a set of advices and guidelines which will allow a greater sexual freedom lower in age to facilitate (as they surely will tell us) the needs and wishes that young people today have in regards to their sexuality.

In a few year old study done in the US we can read: Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide. The present study exam­ines the linkage between teenage sexual activity and emotional health. The findings show that:

When compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly less likely to be happy and more likely to feel depressed.

When compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly more likely to attempt suicide.

The fact is that when asked about the timeing of their sexual debut, the teenagers answered the following way:

The survey was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and 17 other federal agencies.

What do I want to say with this observation? I do not trust our children in the hands of the RFSU! If we condone or legalize sex between a 14 and 16 year old… what happens if the 14 year old decides to have sex with a 23 year old? Will we suddenly apply other measures, other measuring tools for other ages? Most probably we will see the growth of situations as described in Dagen and Göteborgsposten. The removal of limits (laws, principles, values) will overtime completely destroy the very young people that we as adults are called to protect, develop and support! We will educate our children, as they will have to make their own decisions as time comes. But for now: RFSU – hands off from our kids! That’s the Way I see it!

John

Years ago Lech Walesa former president of Poland and the winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Peace said “Europe could become a fortress of luxury protected by a silver curtain in place of an iron curtain.” Now many years later his prediction (prophecy) might come to pass as we start to see a sharpening of the immigration laws in the EU.

The public opinion in Sweden is slowly turning; the Sverige Demokraterna a party bringing together the people dissatisfied with the way things go in our nation and who are focusing on the closing of our borders for immigrants and to give support to those immigrants who want to leave, have for the first time in the polls passed the 4% vote barrier to be able to enter the national political scene.

As the statistics below show, for the first time we are approaching the 50% level where we conclude that it is better to have fewer immigrants in our nation!

In the proposals for immigration we are willing to open the borders for well educated people who are able to make themselves a living as they are offered a job. Notice that we say well educated people!

Sweden has in an agreement with the United Nations declared to be willing to receive a number of the most exposed and needy refugees in the world (1700 individuals’ theses are figures of 2005). However, in those days only 1200 of these were welcomed by Migrationsverket. (I cannot find the figures of the agreement of Sweden and the UNHCR for this year). Hundreds of families and individuals who have been proposed by UNHCR (UN’s refugee organization) have been declined. Notice that these people have gone through a screening process by workers of UNHCR who live on site!
Sweden has however increased its 2008 pledge to SEK 564,000,000 or approximately USD 89 million to support the work among refugees through the UNHCR, which is a 6% increase from last year.

My question however is: “Are we trying to buy off our responsibility by sending more funds to the UNHCR to take care of the unwanted, (read uneducated) refugees, while we as nation will welcome “the cream” of the crop?!

Integration potential…
Back to the most needy and exposed refugees….hundreds of the ones who were proposed by the NHCR were left behind because of tough Swedish requirements which are criticized by the UN and Amnesty. What are these tough requirements?

The whole idea of the UN is to have quotes in different countries to welcome those and give help to those who are in the greatest needs. Instead of looking at the greatest needs and follow the direction of the experts in the camp (who after all work with these refugees day after day), we find that some representatives evaluate people on basis of education, cultural adjustment, language ability, family circumstances and other unclear criteria. It is almost like a recruitment tour where the best potential refugees are picked out from the masses…

Who are the ones whom will be the greatest assets to us? Who will be able to integrate friction-free? Who will be able to be least of a burden to society? It is the survival of the fittest!

We show how inhuman our approach is to human life and human potential… Can human potential only be measured in economics? Can human potential only be measured in terms of strength and abilities and perspectives of integration potential?

We, together with the other countries in Europe are quick in developing our silver curtain to control and hinder the arrival of “Unwanted subjects”… Sad to say that we are rather advanced in our efforts to reduce the painful process of facilitating hurting people.

That’s the Way I see it!

John

The Swedish people’s attitude towards immigrants and racism 1993 – 2007 (percentage)

Another question was asked in the survey done among 3400 people, “Is it good to receive fewer refugees in Sweden?” 40% said it was good to have fewer, 29% thought this was a bad idea.

Paul W. Kahn’s first sentence in his book “Out of Eden” says: “Evil makes us Human”… writing such a statement surely calls for attention! Göran Skytte’s article in SVD “Personal evil is a reality” already releases responses of people who do not believe in the personal character of evil and declare it to be metaphysics.

Every single day all of our moral sensitivities are challenged by the depth of human depravity and the tremendous scenes of deep traumatic human suffering. What kinds of world are we living in where predators go after the most vulnerable and exposed people; the children, the suffering, the young and the poor? Ethnic cleansing, suicide bombers and people in power in Burma who allow the same people they are called to lead and protect, to expose to a potential genocide?

Even the places once thought safe, like school, home, church, and small towns, have all been penetrated by an evil presence that has created a culture of fear, hatred, and blame. We are left to make sense of it all and often look for someone to blame.

There the question might come in: How does God draw near to deal with the problem of evil?

I don’t try to say that there are easy short-cut answers to be found on all aspects of human suffering as we experience it. Questions like, “why was I raped and abused as a child?”, “why did my parents have to die in a tsunami?”, or “why do the rulers in Burma allow their people to die by not allowing help to flood in?”, make it clear that there are no easy answers resolving all “why” questions. Yet as a Christian I can speak in general terms about living within the remnants of a fallen creation which is marked by chaos and disorder, and deeply disfigurement by the horrendous effects of sin’s deformation of God’s original intention (Genesis 3).

Depths of human wickedness may take various forms, “the line between good and evil is never between ‘us’ and ‘them’, the ‘poor’ and the ‘rich’ , the ‘criminal’ and the ‘saint’, or the ‘left’ and the ‘right’, but runs through the heart of every individual and every society”.

The most sensitive, the most moral and the most religious persons among us are not immune from the influence of evil. The apostle Paul acknowledges that though he “wants to do good”, evil continually to take over the best of his intentions (Romans 7:14-24). There is a constant battle for those who wish to do good, and we should never play down personal evil as if it were the problem of a few, while the rest of us are immune (Romans 3:23). There are simply no easy answers that effectively tackle the way of evil in our world.

The fact is (and we are all aware of it ): evil is not limited to the personal level: it has possessed the corporate world through greed, the political world through power and ambition, and the institutional church through preserving the appearances at the expense of people. It takes the form of social injustice that promotes racism, poverty and the marginalization of various groups.

Evil sometimes wears a suit, lives in luxurious apartments in the inner-city districts of Kungsholmen and Östermalm in Stockholm while driving their BMW, but it is also dominant in the high-rising apartment buildings in Tensta, Botkyrka or Rinkeby where new Swedes try to make themselves a living and home.

Evil can also hide behind a success driven, consumer friendly, image conscious, program based church that exists for its own sake. And, we ought not to be surprised because “even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

So what can we learn from the Bible about God’s way of addressing the problem of evil and shattering its horrible effects? Through Jesus, God’s justice takes on human flesh as Jesus came down to the earth and encounters the effects of evil with a holiness that produces cleansing, a power that breaks down the very strongholds of evil, and a Kingdom that provided a vision of an alternative way.

His presence exposed institutional corruption, and challenged the Roman Empire with an alternative Kingdom. The climatic exhibition of Jesus’ victory over personal, cosmic and global evil comes at the cross, when dark forces come together in personal betrayal and denial, institutional terrorism and threats, and political power-games and violence.

This is the way evil works in the world, and Jesus seems to be no match before these dark and accusing forces. But when taunted to use his powers for personal deliverance he refuses to play their power-games. When he is insulted and mocked, he refuses to allow tensions by hitting back in the same spirit. Instead, he answes their evil intentions with a real call for forgiveness, that has the potential of crushing evil’s deadly grip. Yes, in the darkness of the occasion even Jesus felt somehow abandoned by God - “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” Mark 15:34. In the end it was Jesus who was in control and calling the shots. Evil had taken its best shot, but even a Roman centurion had to admit, “Surely this man was the Son of God”.

Could it be that a sign of God, a sign of change has come down in the person Jesus Christ as he broke down the personal and corporate evil in our time and age?

I believe so and that’s the Way I see it!

John

Yes will we learn from this? With the Sverige Demokraterna passing the 4% of votes which would give them a place in Riksdag after next election we don’t know what will happen with our nation, and our asylum- and integration politics.

Yesterday I wrote a blog about “Is Sunday morning 11.00 am the most segregated hour of the week among Christians?” and I addressed the way I have experienced the different Swedish and ethnic churches in our country who stay away from each other adding even more fire to the segregation issue.

Fokus magazine did a great job for the second year in a row to map out the reality of our integration praxis and politics. The sunshine story of the Gnosjö municipality is worth to be copied throughout our nation and SVD’s Per Gudmundson continues his thoughts on this. Of course we have to realize that the sheer demand of workers in the different industries in Småland adds to the openness of integration and hopefully assimilation. It would be interesting to hear from some of the Småländare how the assimilation process in regards to relationships, friendships, participation in church and other associations is going. Maybe we could even learn more from them!

A few questions to my readers:

1. Personally I am very interested in hearing how church life looks like; is it as I described it and have experienced in the largest part of Sweden? And is it unjust to say that also in Småland there is segregation in the churches… I don’t know, please help me by responding!
2. In regards to the situation in Botkyrka I wonder if integration is only measured by being part of the work force or is there true integration and assimilation besides the work place as well in new social networks with Swedes and new-Swedes?

To finish things of; the attitude as expressed by Lars Åke Magnusson as he received a diploma and flowers on behalf of the community from Fokus chief editor Karin Pettersson says it all: We want to them that they came to Gnosjö!

What a welcome to many of those who for many different, social, political religious and economical reasons have searched for a haven. By the way let’s not forget that between 1865 and 1914 over 1.2 million people (almost 20% of the Swedish population) left Sweden as emigrants to search for a better future and economical possibilities. Most of them; people between the ages of 15 and 35, crossed the ocean to the USA and there many were able to create for themselves new opportunities and a new future, many of these came actually from Småland… Life is interesting isn’t it? This is what we might call: life revisited!

That’s what I have for now, and this is the Way I see it!

John

I could not resist responding to the articles about Gnosjö, the municipality in Sweden which is best at integrating immigrants. See Dagen, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet and Fokus.

Every fourth citizen in that municipality is of foreign decent and employment rate among them is 62%, to be compared with the 42,7% average in the nation.

As I read the articles of the different papers reporting about this phenomenon I was reminded of the rather scaring reality of lack of integration as is found in the Christian Church in Sweden.

Most probably we find that 11.00 am is the most segregated hour of the week among Christians. With the rapid changes in our society and the influx of immigrants among us, many Christians from a number of African, Eastern Europe, Asian and South American nations have established themselves in our nations and have started many different ethnic churches to worship together and to meet the needs of fellowship they were (are) experiencing. While many of them (like in Gnosjö) are integrated in society, through jobs, schooling, and other social networks we find that, most often, the Swedish churches seemed to be places where time has stood still. The “middle class traditional Svensson church” which is still living in the midst of last century is still the face of Christianity to the outside world while our society has changed drastically!

My inner conviction is that the Church has to reflect the reality of society in which it is established. If there is one place where the walls between peoples and cultures could (should) be eliminated it should be the Church! If there is one place in our nation where bridges could be build between peoples and cultures it should be the Church! Jesus Christ has broken down the walls between us and God and us and each other, yet, so many of us Christians, all in our little groups and too often on the fringes of society seem to huddle together in search for security and cultural oneness instead of exposing ourselves to the tremendous manifold wisdom and diversity of God as expressed to the people whom He created in His image!

A church which does not reflect that reality and diversity is for me not a trustworthy church (unless located in places where there is no cultural diversity, or, when as exception if there is no opportunity to relate in each others language which can be the case with first generation immigrants).

In the Focus article mentioned above, the heading expresses it so well: “All are needed in Gnosjö”! If we in the Christian Church only understood the importance of this and were more inclusive and inviting to brothers and sisters and non-Christian friends from different nations we would not only help to create a home and haven for many people. We would (finally) become that colorful reflection and expression of God’s image and purpose where everyone is needed instead of being a bleak, pale and predictable religious entity un-relevant to the people in Sweden today!

That’s the Way I see it, what do you see?

John

PS The lack of integration goes both ways, but as inviting nation I think we should extend the hand of welcome, expand our hearts to them and open our homes! DS

The Jesusmanifestation which was held last Saturday on May 3 was one way to include them, a good start, but only the small beginning!

Ever since I received a link to the article from the Jubilee Centre in England I have kept the contend of this article to myself since I realize that we are about to open a Fair Trade shop in the city of Stockholm. As a church we have adopted to only serve Fair Trade coffee and tea and so, slowly but surely, we are trying to implement what we believe. Because I am an advocate for justice and righteousness. I quote from their material:

It is unusual for Christians to adopt a skeptical position with regards to Fairtrade. After all, aren’t we supposed to take a stand for justice, righteousness, and fairness? Somewhat expectedly, therefore, our February blog comment questioning the Fairtrade Foundation, reproduced in our quarterly Engage newsletter, has provoked a mixture of disappointment, surprise, and confusion. The plea of one letter writer encapsulates the exasperation felt by many, “I should like to know what the alternative is for those of us who genuinely want to help.”

Helpfully, a report published in February by the Adam Smith Institute, Unfair Trade, provides an answer to this question, first explaining in more detail why, “for all its good intentions, Fairtrade is not fair”:

It is therefore that I want to ask all of you who know more about Fair Trade to check the enclosed information from the Jubilee Centre which I highly respect. Actually, their other material, which is tremendously challenging, has been used by God to help form my thinking and convictions in different areas of life.

So, I ask you to consider the information and to address this issue in depth by giving me your side of the coin, your perspective, and even more so, the information you can give me to help answer the important questions that are asked.

I have not made up my mind about this matter… and am therefore open to any trust-worthy input and source!

I hope you can help me! Is Fair Trade Stockholm interested in answering some of these questions?

John van Dinther

Per Gudmundson in today’s leader in Svenska Dagbladet stated it clearly: “About some things you just don’t talk” with as sub title: “the Swedish sin”.

In his column he addresses the Swedish view on money, earning and riches. He quotes a couple of people working within the “entertainment industry” who have made “becoming rich” one of their major goals in life. One of them actually says that he throughout his career never has paid taxes and lived on “black money” (non-taxed). (Hello Skattekontoret where are you?!)

The Swedish taboo!

Anyway, the fact is that talking about money and income is literally a taboo in Sweden, even yesterday as I was meeting with a group of sixteen people (from 9 nations, including 5 Swedes) who are considering to become members of our church we spoke about their right as members to ask any questions about the economy in our church. They have the right to know exactly how much I earn and, for that sake, also about the other employees in the church.

The fact is that I have never ever heard a member ask that question to our board… Why? Because it is a taboo! I believe deeply in accountability and believe therefore also that if we are serious about our responsibility that we need to practice accountability in this area as well. How can members in a church take responsibility without knowing (asking)?

I believe in openness and transparency also in those matters and I believe that we as Christians have an even greater responsibility to live lives in transparency, not only for the sake of our legal and tax system. I believe that we are to fight the spirit of Mammon and consumerism to be able to be a Church which is trust-worthy!

Do I condemn everyone who has something? NO! The fact is that my wife and I own a house ourselves… the question goes much deeper that that. It was Pope John II who said: “It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed toward ‘having’ rather than ‘being,’ and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself.”

The problem so well articulated in the article which I mentioned comes down to: It’s never enough!

The problem of consumerism as a lifestyle means that we must keep raising the stakes and the investments. Enough is never enough, and soon we are possessed by our possessions. Shopping is the number one cultural activity in our country.

Accumulation of unnecessary goods has become a habit, even an addiction, as we wring our hands over lack of storage space. What we once considered luxuries we come to regard as necessities, and eventually we become dependent upon the things we acquire. Consumerism as a way of life demands competition, workaholism, and individualism.

What to say more about these things? You know, I came together with my wife as missionaries to this nation and were being financially supported by our friends to be able to do our work here. I remember the day that I, from having worked as a volunteer (no employement), to becoming employed by the church which my wife and I and fifteen others had started. My first salary was an reason of thanksgiving. Why did I thank God? Believe it or not, I thanked Him that from then on I was able to pay taxes and start supporting this society which I had learned to love and appreciate so much also financially! (To avoid any misunderstandings; I was NOT impressed by our social welfare system, but by you, the Swedish citizens! – and therefore I wanted to be part by paying taxes).

Maybe this is another approach to the matter… what do YOU think? How do you look at life, lifestyle, money and spending?

John

I had the privilege to be part of the Jesusmanifestation… I was part of this day together with leaders and members from Korskyrkan, Vineyard, Tomaskyrkan and Petruskyrkan and our own church New Life as we met at Sergelstorg. See picture:

I had the privilege to lead the two-hour meeting on the infamous Sergelstorg where according to the Christian daily paper DAGEN 90% of Stockholm’s drugs exchange hands (pockets, mouths) or pass through. I told the audience (up to 2500 people) that the name “Jesusmanifestationen” was well-chosen because Jesus is able to manifest Himself and is still doing that as He is walking the streets of our beloved city Stockholm…

Musicians, gospel singers, a worship team, pastors and other people telling their stories of how Jesus had become real in their lives and the wonderful presence of Christians and non-Christians created a familiar atmosphere where many people stayed for long periods of time, sometimes maybe almost against their inclination… Yet they stayed… could it have been because the Holy Spirit was there and intercessors had prepared the ground?! (Thank you God!)

People were invited to receive prayer at the back of a truck which was dividing the stage from the people.. small trickles of people came for prayer… for different needs. At the end of the two hour meeting (divided in 3 sections of 40 minutes each) I felt the urge of the Holy Spirit to invite people forward to the stage as intercessors gathered… each of the 20 intercessors was busy praying for people who came forward to be prayed for (according to Dagen’s journalist).

What can one say about the manifestation… The press in the nation shows the importance of this event by its sheer absence (only Svenska Dagbladet wrote a small article about it).

I preached today in our church and said. “The only sin left in the Western world, and especially in Sweden is the sin of intolerance. “Diversity,” we are told, is the source of our strength”.

The absence of the press proofs another thing to me: In our pluralistic society we have to respect the “cultural diversity” of all peoples except those who keep Christ in the center of their lives!

Honestly, in the sermon (which you might be able to listen to via our homepage. I gave a warning in regards to pluralism and the temptation as a church to move the path of tolerance which our society offers us. (I even felt that the letter from the queen encouraged that pluralism which is endorsed by our society).

The church is following that same path and approach about which A.W. Tozer wrote,

“A new set of 10 commandments have been adopted by the neo Christians of our day, ‘Thou shall not disagree’ and a new set of Beatitudes too, “Blessed are they that tolerate everything, for they shall not be made accountable for anything.”‘

Now then we have the philosophers of our days who can give us tons of reasons not to join these kinds of events…

In an earlier blog about this event I said:

• I rejoice, not because I find this the most effective and appropriate way to let the people in Sweden know that we as Christian Church exist. But because we are uniting around Jesus Christ and Who He is!
• I rejoice because we are doing something! Many of those who are against this kind of manifestation have opinions on what to do, and how to do it. Let’s be honest; they are not particularly known of doing anything at all in regards of furthering the Gospel in our nation!

For now, that’s the Way I see it… and just that you know… I will join next time, and another, and another as long as I feel that God is in it!

Enjoy some of the pictures from Bas van den Eijkhof from this event!

John

For English news read the following