The thing is though you can't really absolutely know if there's a God or not, but of course in your personal perspective you can say there is or there is not a God in your context. It's not like you have explored the whole universe and possibly outside of it at all times and have definite knowledge about the existence of a God. On the other hand you might accept any idea about anything as the truth and that would be foolish.
@@Patralgan I don’t want to sound mean, but your comment is pretty obvious and not like something no one has ever thought of before. My response to it is simple: If there’s no evidence for the existence of something-even if there is no existence for its nonexistence either-it is reasonable to effectively treat it as nonexistent by default. After all, you can never definitely prove or disprove the existence of alien life (at least not yet), and either way it does not make a difference in your life, so why bother preparing your life for the possibility that alien life exists (unless that is literally your job/main profession)? Similarly with religion, there is no evidence that God does or can do anything to you, so why set aside the time to devote to a God that has never definitively affected your life or communicated with you (hallucinations and attributing your own inner voice to God don’t count)? If you insist that God is real, I won’t hold that against you. But if that belief of yours interferes with progress of our species in terms of science, ethics, etc., that’s when there is a problem.
I like how the Georgian pastor changed a little towards the end. It's like he realized that not everyone needs a religion to properly function and move through this life. He grew some, and that warms my heart.
Did anyone find the tiniest bit of irony in that the American pastor declares that hell, god, heaven, etc., are all true, while evolution (which is likely the most well supported scientific theory in the history of mankind) is defined by him as something "unproven requiring faith."
most people did. If anyone didn't find anything odd with what he just did, I would say they don't have a brain. Cognitive Dissonance is a bitch though. It's why racists are still racists assholes even after learning that the people they hate aren't all that bad and they have things in common. Hateful ideologies are imprinted into people from childhood. I don't think it's impossible to break free of the brainwashing, but it is difficult and it causes a lot of people to end up like the pastor. But atleast he actually left the American South and went across the pond to see a different perspective. But I know he's learned very little from the experience, or the experience made him bunker deeper into his beliefs. TRust me you can't win with fundamentalist. They believe that the world is living in sin already, this trip proved it to him and his followers.
@@lordblazer I disagree. If you watch the full documentary, towards the end, the pastor makes a remark about how, even in the depths of “atheistic Scandinavia”, he could hear the Christmas music being played in stores, the carols, etc., and he attributed that to his theme of “Christianity is still alive and the hope for the salvation of souls is still alive”. That to me seems like a “coping mechanism”-where he has to try to convince himself that not all is lost after a disheartening look at the dying state of Christianity in a certain part of the world. He’s trying hard to be optimistic, not to wallow in the mentality of “the end times are near” and “the world is full of sin”.
I hate when they say "Evolution has not been proven". "No one was there to witness it." "There are missing links". I mean how stupid can one get. Evolution has been proven thousands of times over, and there are no missing links.
When Darwin wrote the theory of evolution they maybe had about 10% of the links. But that is still a very good indication of how things work. Today we may have about 70 - 80%. Looking at those ancestors, you would have to be a monimental fucktard to not see how we evolved! I saw a vodeo with Richard Dawkins where someone said "You don't have any evidence" and he said "Yes, we do. I have then here in the basement" (They were at a museum) and the creationist just kept talking and didn't want to come see the evidence.
I am Swedish and live in the States. Watching this made me so proud of my country. Hopefully I can move home soon. For the moment a trip home once a year makes me feel sane again.
Producer of the documentary series here. I'll do my best to get the full episode with English subtitles uploaded here in the near future. I'll get back to you on that! Meanwhile, if you're interested in seeing the full episode with the voiceovers and graphics in Swedish, then it's available here: arenan.yle.fi/tv/2199722
I am very interested in this documentary from this excerpt; I'll be sharing this with many friends and family if we can get the episodes with the English subtitles! Thank you for this!
Josh Alverson The same happened with Africa and Christianity, whenever a religion is brought into an area so heavily, it will change. You can call me a kook, or whatever. It's simply the facts, whether you like it or not. The problem with Sweden is, it is way too "open-minded".
2:00 Both McLain and the Danish priests are making sound like the Danish government forced same-sex marriages on the church, which isn't quit true. What actually happened, was the government allowing the church to preform same-sex marriages. The individual priests can still chose not to preform the marriages, if they go against his or her believes.
Jacob Lively Yeah, I'm pretty happy I happened to be born in Denmark. Now If we could just get church and state separated and remove the seldom used blasphemy law.. That would be great!
Hey all, a new excerpt of another episode is now published. LAPD cop Peter Whittingham visits Finland, Sweden and Norway. How does the Nordic police treat suspects? What equipment and firearms do they carry? That, and more, here: ua-cam.com/video/8zEixWYqPVA/v-deo.html
One of the problems related to religions is the way they condemn people. You are a sinner, you are bad, you are not worthy...some religious people tend to focus solely on moralising people and their behaviour as if they personally knew what is right or wrong. It is just such a strong contrast between people whom call you a sinner and with those whom say God loves you (and don't condemn you). I like the religious people whom leave the moralising part to their God. If God is to judge us then fine, but as long as you aren't the God don't go around judging people to hell.
What is it called when your position actually is right, but you're condemning people's way of life? Pretend that the side that calls for education, curiosity, imagination, accuracy, skepticism, honesty, transparency, logic, verification, falsifiability, sound epistemology, rationality, logic, and mathematical support wherever possible, is actually the side that is right. What is it called when they are trying to help the credulous, illogical, uneducated people who think the world was made in 6 days?
so an atheistic society that allows gay marriage should be a horrible place to live...right? Not according to just about every measure you could apply.
***** so the traditional smoking of the ham and salmon my family has every year has outlived its usefulness? I like smoked ham, I liked smoked salmon!! (dunno why I was trying to make this a Friday meme)
I'm just so pleased about this video. Why is that. Because I see how offended he is by his face and that he can't do much about that. Northen people evolved a lot, saxonian nations and secularity installed there succesfully with little problems. Freedom of speech and thinking is something respected and this guy has to deal with it as much as he wants to convert them. We know very well how americans are trying their best to make their people all quiet and docile by believing in their stupid divinity or w/e it is, but these are proven to be much more advanced cultural and intellectual civilizations. Mostly because they thought themselves to think only for themselve. You can clearly tell he is holding a lot of hate speech to be released and he even admits that he has to skip a lot of his stupid scripture regarding homosexuality. Sin or not, they are people and they need love to and their happiness, so deal with it, buddy. Way to go finish peopl! Hats down.
Also I like how he hears from the black guy saying that he is muslim and he almost freaks out like "Muslim?!?". Yeah bitch, he has a imagary friend like you, but he ain't going on the street asking stupid questions.
John, what a great thing you have done here! We all need to expand our minds and perspectives by learning from others who do not think, believe or live as "we" do. Bravo!
Seriously respects for you to have the courage to come and talk to us in the Scandinavian countries. I hope that you learned something from how we see these things here and was not offended by the cultural differences when it comes to religions. Because religious or not, we are all human beings foremost. I myself am an atheist, but my mother and best friend are religious and that is completely, 100% fine to all of us. Heck, I even do charity work with religious organizations despite them knowing about my atheism. What matters what we, as human beings do, say and think. Not so much what our personal beliefs of one particular thing is. Oh yeah and greetings from Finland.
It is unbelievable how awesome Scandinavia is. I really hope there is a way to see every episode of this series with English subtitles. I feel really bad that I never learned to speak Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or Finish. Had I done, I would certainly be living in one of those countries.
You have to give him some props for stepping outside his american bubble and going to a far more secular country and seeing for himself that these people haven't destroyed themselves with their godless ways.
Josh Alverson Yeah, it took a long for me to realize the answer... I kept asking myself if I was atheist or agnostic. I finally figured it out - I am apathetic!
Josh Alverson I would agree it would piss them off more. but i know for fact no gods exist and i enjoy researching the subject. that's why i watched this video.
Hi John, I just watched the excerpt and really liked it. I would love to see the full episode with English subtitles - will watch for it to be uploaded. Loved the pastor's reactions, and the graph showing the influence of religion on Nordic people vs. Americans was enlightening.
A new episode in the series is now published. It's about gender equality and gender roles in the Nordic society. Maria Kopchenova from Russia meets a Finnish feminist and a Danish masculinist. But what exactly is snow ploughing with a gender perspective? That, and much more, in The Norden - Gender, here: ua-cam.com/video/vMdfQ2MXHB0/v-deo.html
Number One I'm more of a Norway person.. Though I am open to FInland. Not a big fan of Sweden but got a few Swedish friends. But they all live in Singapore now.
If Hawaii wasn't so freaking awesome apart from the religious fundamentalists, I would get me to one of these sane countries in a heartbeat. As a Canadian, though, I've had enough winter to last me for a lifetime.
Hey, thanks for the comments - I interpret them as positive... :) I'll do my best to get the complete episode with English subtitles uploaded in the near future. No promises, but I'll try. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it, feel free to spend 27 minutes with another episode of this series: The Norden - Nordic Prisons Here, James Conway, an American retired Superintendent from Attica Correctional Facility in New York, visits four Nordic prisons. He gets some surprises along the way.
John Stark please a version of this episode with spanish subtitles. (Sorry for my english). Por favor una versión de este episodio con subtítulos en español. Gracias
I can't wait to see more of this series with English subtitles! It's a very interesting concept, and as a leftist secular type living in Texas, I'm sure the other episodes will be equally illuminating. A lot of people in this country could really stand to have an experience like this.
Okay, so I'm from Georgia as well, and I've never believed in God. However, growing up in the Southern U.S., I've seen WAY worse than this pastor. His beliefs may be uninformed, ignorant, and clouded by a religious upbringing, but honestly, he was pretty respectful of what the other people were saying. I've seen many people here in the South who literally start screaming as soon as you threaten their beliefs. Maybe my standards are exceptionally low since I've lived in this area my whole life and seen some pretty outrageously stupid people, but this guy isn't so bad. If he had been born somewhere else, he could have quite possibly become a very open-minded individual who supports gay marriage, among other things.
You know, I have some respect for this pastor in inquiring about the beliefs of people in other cultures. As shocking as he’s finding it, coming from his strictly religious background, he’s attempting to empathise. Props for that.
I'd LOVE to see the full Religion episode. I'm an atheist living in the buckle of the Bible Belt (Oklahoma), and it's really interesting to see how secular cultures live.
It's painfully embarrassing thinking that this is how developed progressive countries see Americans. We are not all like this guy here, please be aware many of us are trying to make dangerous people like this guy a minority.
You can always find hints as to why people are the way this american evangelist is. Like at the very end, he felt bad about not having a single structure to guide us all, and he is afraid and feels a lot of anxiety towards uncertainty.. I don't judge him for that at all, or his way of thinking, because he is fighting a existential angst that many of us go through. He's just been trained differently, and it's a shame his ideas are too simplistic to actually have him live through his life is general peace. And I'm guessing that peace of mind is what he's after in his scary and dark perception of the world. There's so much more to think about and see, that can possibly make you feel better, like loving your fellow man, and coexisting with other good folks, which is what mainly comes out of Jesus' teachings.
the problem with him is this: he will use this video to show to his congregation. They will continue to stay brainwashed. Their kids will be like "I ain't neva going to Europe it seems so full of evil" they will never leave that bubble. It's absolutely scary thought to fanthom, but this man controls the lives and destinies of hundreds of other people.
There are always, always, exceptions. This mans bullshit will drive the intellectuals away, and in the end, be it a 100 years or more, they will prevail, because you can't silence what is right for too long.
Agreed, maybe it's not his fault. Or maybe he could grow up a little and think for himself instead of taking everything as he was taught it is. I don't know....
This looks really interesting. I would love to see full episodes with English subtitles! I really hope you get the chance to do that. Keep up the good work!
society and cultures evolve in a similar way like organisms, and the same way we find all kinds of inbetween steps of evolution today from bacteria to human beeings, we can find all kind of cultural and religious forms from tribal families to hightec societies. The US american society has preserved a lot of the ancient religious habits and ideas from the old europe when it seperated from the european society, while in Europe itself new philosophical ideas and social concepts transformed the society and thinking. In the MiddleEast or North African Desert a mindset of a premiddleage tribal society was preserved and in the Amazon Rainforest or African bush we find people stil totaly naked living in leaf huts, which belief in the spirits of their ancestors and hunting-magic. It is interesting to watch how these different evolved cultures interact with each other and how the gaps between them which shaped them are now closing and a global culture emerges.
Evolution is faith based and has no evidence to prove it? Seems that the education in America leaves a lot to be desired on. Not saying that all Americans are like this pastor, but it seems that the most ignorant tends to be the noisiest too, and that their noise drowned out those who are educated and knowledgeable of the subject.
John Stark Thanks John . I watched it and enjoyed it . I have made disparaging remarks towards the Pastor on excerpts and they might have been unduly mean spirited but the full documentary showed the man in a different light I am not on Facebook or Twitter so I do You Tube essays and commentary.I grew up in the USA South in the Christian faith and was devout. However Vietnam and scientific education as well as outside cultural influences have made me a secular person but I am not a full blown atheist or even agnostic . I define myself as Jeffersonian because I share this Founding Father's views on religion. Anyway Good Job on this and although I will probably not be able to visit Denmark I salute the land that gave us Hans Christian Anderson but there is only one thing about modern Scandinavia that puzzles me ----- What is it with you guys and Ibanez guitars ?
John Stark Thanks for responding. Keep up the good work . I grew up Southern. Do like the British Rock from the 60's and 70's - Trex, Cream Yardbirds etc.-- but I also love ABBA . I play mostly acoustic and am fond of Taylor guitars for flatpicking and Gibsons for slide and fingerpicking My amateur play list consists of anything my limitations will let me do. From Proud Mary to Lucky Man by ELP.
I was born and raised in the bible belt of Sweden. I've never met any christian outside of church. We never get through discussing politics when we are drunk and then we pass out. True story.
Notice how McLain is taken aback when one of the theists acknowledges Allah as God instead of giving the expected Judeo-Christian answer. He seemed unprepared to handle the concept, which certainly shows a lack of depth in his training---or a touch of bigotry?
He doesn't believe in the theory of evolution, but apparently he had not problem believing in the theory of lift that got him from the United States to Scandinavia.
Excellent Clip, captured the 'essence' of McLain rather well in my opinion. As is typical of many of these 'made in USA' pastors, an extreme obsession with the LGBT Community - as a targeted group of 'sinners' out of their particular religious way of thinking. An interesting program, I look forward your posting the full episode.
***** "Once it was blacks. Then it was women. Then it came turn for the communists. Now it's the LGBT people with atheists/non-believers occasionally mixed in." Your message is quite clear.
Funny how people say that atheists are just neck beards or rebellious kid. look at all the people saying no to the question "Do you believe in god" especially in the full version of this show. Do any of them fit the description?
For more information, Phil Zuckerman wrote the book "Society without God" some years ago (2006 I believe), where he wrote about the views on religion amont Danes and Swedes. Contrary to what is protrayed here. In 2010 two Danish professors did evaluate on information on Danes relationship to the Danish Church (Lutheran-Evangelical). They concluded that more people found the Church of importance than in 1986. Not that Danes would listen to the advice giving from a pastor, but they would listen to what a pastor has to say in a matter, and then make their own discission, which may be complete opposite of the policy of the church, but just that the more Danes care to ask the Church is also a sign of at least respect. While having said that, the numbers of people being a member of the Danish Church is shrinking, and there is no sign that Danes are joining other denominations or religious faiths. Some studies also show, that a large minority of members, are members of cultural reasons, not religious ones, since they denounce God. But it is just nice going to church at christmas or weddings. And the numbers of members of the church have dropped annually. Once almost 90 % of Danes were a member of the church. Today we are below 80 %, and there is no sign that things are going to change.
Do you believe in God? - Is not a fair question. A Nordic person might as well ask you: Do you trust someone you've never met before? This is something we can and do in the nordic countries just as much as you believe in God.
This is why when people ask me, "Do you wanna move abroads?", I think "Well it would be nice with some sunnier days... but... uh... *this video explains the rest*"
I love how at the end he talks about how in Sweden there is no "fundamental base" and you can kind of just "believe whatever you want" ...little does he know that this is one of the principles upon which the United States was founded -_-
Evolution can't be proven? WHAT?! he's thinking about a hypothesis, a theory in science is different than a theory of any other subject. this man is dangerous... Im Swedish and proud of it!
Documentary is called "The Norden", yet does not mention, picture(mapwise in "norden") nor have any footage from Norway or Iceland... Other than that, i will watch the doc
øyvind sollien Hey, thanks for watching. Norway is not included in this episode regarding religion, but in several of our other episodes - such as the one on prisons: ua-cam.com/video/HfEsz812Q1I/v-deo.html
I am a firm believer in God but there's a difference in believing versus thinking your views are superior and not being able to figure out the Bible has been "translated" by men with agendas and biases to justify. 99% of the time online I find myself siding with the Atheist.
Firena0 Hey Firena0. In every episode we visit three Nordic countries. In this particular one, we visited Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Rest assured that Norway is included in several other episodes - such as this one: ua-cam.com/video/HfEsz812Q1I/v-deo.html
Well that explains, Just had a look at the prison episode. However, I see several of the Nordic representatives on these videos struggle with the English language. Not to critizise their language skills, but it does hinder them in getting their arguments across due to lack of words and phrases. I have noticed this is several instances in both episodes, and I think The Norden would be improved by allowing all to speak their native tongue and translate later. Even if it makes the actual conversations a bit more bumpy. After all, the show aims to give an outsider an understanding of a piece of our society, and this way that understanding would be even clearer.
What I've heard and seen in life has led to me question Gods existence but not deny it, I'm not sure if he exists or not but I believe that there might be something there.
A great deal of the frustration with this project for me came from the fact that a native English speaker was posing question to non-native English speakers - clear speakers obviously but not wholly fluent, rather halting and, it seems to me, not entirely able to answer McLain's questions in the manner in which they deserved to be answered. So, for example, Leif Jansson, when faced with the same tired old creationist nonsense about evolution at 3:20 (it's a faith position; it's unproven; nobody was there to see it; there are no missing links, yadda yadda yadda) could and should have been able to have given clear, detailed, accurate response to each of these challenges. McLain should have been in England, in many ways equally as non-religious as Scandinavia.
Steve Payne Hey Steve, thanks for watching! Some of the issues you mention are perhaps cleared up a bit better when you watch the full episode, available with English subtitles here: ua-cam.com/video/W-kANR1vJkMB/v-deo.htmlest regards,John
I'm Norwegian and it's my impression that there are very few ethnic Norwegian (real)christians left. I think they are still found in certain communities in southern and western Norway, other than that they are very thinly spread throughout my country. I remember watchng a documentary some years back where it was revieled that even many of those who say they believe in God and see themselves as christians haven't really thought much about it, and they never go to church. Funnily enough, on Christmas Eve the churches are packed full. The explanation to this however is that it's been a tradition in many families for generations to visit church before having christmas dinner. Just like most atheists here still marry in church and get their children christned. It's tradition, not faith.
Is it just me that find it incredible funny that the direct translation in the nordic languages is "The the scandinavia" because Norden alone means "the scandinavia" or "the nordics" so if you put "the" before Norden it translates to The (the nordics).
How exact is that percentage of believers in Sweden? I wish that indeed it was just 16% but I'd say that there are other factors that would surely inflate that number.
That depends on how you define the term. Regular believers is not more than 5-10 percent, maybe, but ~80 % believe in some kind of supernatural "force" or karma. The rest are self-identifying atheists (including myself).
I was raised Catholic, now atheist. And people have asked me “well what if your wrong and god and heaven is real?” I always answer I’m not worried. I’ll admit I was wrong and wouldn’t be worried for judgement as I love a moral life. And a question I’ve asked religious people is, what if these “rules” or “laws” in the bible are a morality test. Will we just blindly obey no matter how insane or evil the “written work” is. Or will we think and decide to be moral and kind. Could this be a test to see who is a blind yes man, incapable of developing empathy and understanding. Or to see who chooses live with humanity in their life. See I’m not worried if I’m wrong, I’m getting in. Because I’m a good person with flaws. Are you sure you’ll get into heaven blindly obeying outdated horrific words in a book?
A simple man can live not knowing God and still be kind to his brother... ... A religious man may know God yet still judge his brother. Who makes it through that eye of the needle?
MaMastoast To answer your specific question - yes, I do realize that it's like saying "The The North". It's just a simple play on words by mixing English and Swedish, so it doesn't have to be taken so seriously :) Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it!
Tantalus Clan Im sure its also that in swedish yea, im danish so I that's where I'm coming from :). German and the scandinavian languages (danish and norwegian in particular) are funny becuse they have a lot of words which are almost the same but often mean something sliiightly different
I wonder how difficult it is for an American to emigrate to Scandinavia? I know it's no cake walk to emigrate to Canada or Australia, but people can float right into the states. Aggravating, to say the least.
It's like they dropped a guy from the stone age into the future.
Welcome to civilisation Marty.
xD
"If there is no god then why should I believe in him?" Love it!
That's a quite common response here in Sweden. Sometimes I can't deny it: I freakin love my country.
Full support from your neighbour country Norway!
Bjørn B I've actually never been to Norway. It looks so damn cold. :3
The thing is though you can't really absolutely know if there's a God or not, but of course in your personal perspective you can say there is or there is not a God in your context. It's not like you have explored the whole universe and possibly outside of it at all times and have definite knowledge about the existence of a God. On the other hand you might accept any idea about anything as the truth and that would be foolish.
@@Patralgan I don’t want to sound mean, but your comment is pretty obvious and not like something no one has ever thought of before. My response to it is simple: If there’s no evidence for the existence of something-even if there is no existence for its nonexistence either-it is reasonable to effectively treat it as nonexistent by default. After all, you can never definitely prove or disprove the existence of alien life (at least not yet), and either way it does not make a difference in your life, so why bother preparing your life for the possibility that alien life exists (unless that is literally your job/main profession)? Similarly with religion, there is no evidence that God does or can do anything to you, so why set aside the time to devote to a God that has never definitively affected your life or communicated with you (hallucinations and attributing your own inner voice to God don’t count)?
If you insist that God is real, I won’t hold that against you. But if that belief of yours interferes with progress of our species in terms of science, ethics, etc., that’s when there is a problem.
I like how the Georgian pastor changed a little towards the end. It's like he realized that not everyone needs a religion to properly function and move through this life. He grew some, and that warms my heart.
Did anyone find the tiniest bit of irony in that the American pastor declares that hell, god, heaven, etc., are all true, while evolution (which is likely the most well supported scientific theory in the history of mankind) is defined by him as something "unproven requiring faith."
most people did. If anyone didn't find anything odd with what he just did, I would say they don't have a brain. Cognitive Dissonance is a bitch though. It's why racists are still racists assholes even after learning that the people they hate aren't all that bad and they have things in common. Hateful ideologies are imprinted into people from childhood. I don't think it's impossible to break free of the brainwashing, but it is difficult and it causes a lot of people to end up like the pastor. But atleast he actually left the American South and went across the pond to see a different perspective. But I know he's learned very little from the experience, or the experience made him bunker deeper into his beliefs. TRust me you can't win with fundamentalist. They believe that the world is living in sin already, this trip proved it to him and his followers.
@@lordblazer I disagree. If you watch the full documentary, towards the end, the pastor makes a remark about how, even in the depths of “atheistic Scandinavia”, he could hear the Christmas music being played in stores, the carols, etc., and he attributed that to his theme of “Christianity is still alive and the hope for the salvation of souls is still alive”. That to me seems like a “coping mechanism”-where he has to try to convince himself that not all is lost after a disheartening look at the dying state of Christianity in a certain part of the world. He’s trying hard to be optimistic, not to wallow in the mentality of “the end times are near” and “the world is full of sin”.
No.
@@cameronjohnson9910 Yeah. Sad, ridiculous, and predictable, but not 'ironic'.
@@ZhangK71 Keeping the Yule in Yuletide.
I hate when they say "Evolution has not been proven". "No one was there to witness it." "There are missing links". I mean how stupid can one get. Evolution has been proven thousands of times over, and there are no missing links.
exactly :P haha
HitManHey
I was there, shit was cash
When Darwin wrote the theory of evolution they maybe had about 10% of the links. But that is still a very good indication of how things work. Today we may have about 70 - 80%. Looking at those ancestors, you would have to be a monimental fucktard to not see how we evolved! I saw a vodeo with Richard Dawkins where someone said "You don't have any evidence" and he said "Yes, we do. I have then here in the basement" (They were at a museum) and the creationist just kept talking and didn't want to come see the evidence.
Hörður Heimisson I think you're thinking of the video Richard Dawkins vs. Wendy Wright.
kandicebabi That's the one...
North Europe is where my compass points to.
Sorry Texas, Saudi Arabia is not my "heaven".
I am Swedish and live in the States. Watching this made me so proud of my country. Hopefully I can move home soon. For the moment a trip home once a year makes me feel sane again.
Producer of the documentary series here. I'll do my best to get the full episode with English subtitles uploaded here in the near future. I'll get back to you on that! Meanwhile, if you're interested in seeing the full episode with the voiceovers and graphics in Swedish, then it's available here: arenan.yle.fi/tv/2199722
This is an absolutely brilliant idea and I also found it rather hilarious. Congratulations.
Hi John. Great documentary! Can i watch it somewhere with English subtitles?
Zita
Hey Zita, thanks! The full episode is not yet available with English subtitles, but I'll try to get it uploaded in the near future!
Please do mate. Do you have any kind of funding going on (like crowdfunding)? I would definitely support your work!
I am very interested in this documentary from this excerpt; I'll be sharing this with many friends and family if we can get the episodes with the English subtitles! Thank you for this!
The full episode on religion, with subtitles in English, can now be seen here: ua-cam.com/video/W-kANR1vJkM/v-deo.html
That's just the link to this video:(
NeoSeymour
Sorry, fixed the link now! Thanks :)
Ah, Sweden, the land of rationality and snow.
The soon to be Islamic Republic of Sweden.
..if it wasn't so dam cold ..I'd move there......
***** it doesn't happen that fast, the way things are going, Sweden will be Muslim in 100-200 years, no doubt about it.
François Royal
Spoken like a true xenophobic bitch
Josh Alverson The same happened with Africa and Christianity, whenever a religion is brought into an area so heavily, it will change. You can call me a kook, or whatever. It's simply the facts, whether you like it or not. The problem with Sweden is, it is way too "open-minded".
2:00 Both McLain and the Danish priests are making sound like the Danish government forced same-sex marriages on the church, which isn't quit true. What actually happened, was the government allowing the church to preform same-sex marriages. The individual priests can still chose not to preform the marriages, if they go against his or her believes.
Can they choose not to wear the Shakespeare collars? Seriously, am I the only one who got a kick out of that?
lukus black Nope. They have wear that.
I swear to you, no matter how strongly I believed in the religion, I'd switch careers for that fact alone.
***** This is making me jealous of Scandinavia >_>
Jacob Lively Yeah, I'm pretty happy I happened to be born in Denmark. Now If we could just get church and state separated and remove the seldom used blasphemy law.. That would be great!
Hey all,
a new excerpt of another episode is now published. LAPD cop Peter Whittingham visits Finland, Sweden and Norway. How does the Nordic police treat suspects? What equipment and firearms do they carry? That, and more, here: ua-cam.com/video/8zEixWYqPVA/v-deo.html
One of the problems related to religions is the way they condemn people. You are a sinner, you are bad, you are not worthy...some religious people tend to focus solely on moralising people and their behaviour as if they personally knew what is right or wrong.
It is just such a strong contrast between people whom call you a sinner and with those whom say God loves you (and don't condemn you). I like the religious people whom leave the moralising part to their God. If God is to judge us then fine, but as long as you aren't the God don't go around judging people to hell.
SBlack
Good points!
What is it called when your position actually is right, but you're condemning people's way of life? Pretend that the side that calls for education, curiosity, imagination, accuracy, skepticism, honesty, transparency, logic, verification, falsifiability, sound epistemology, rationality, logic, and mathematical support wherever possible, is actually the side that is right. What is it called when they are trying to help the credulous, illogical, uneducated people who think the world was made in 6 days?
so an atheistic society that allows gay marriage should be a horrible place to live...right? Not according to just about every measure you could apply.
Right. Because Sweden is a horrible place to live in **rolling eyes**
TheLeftLibertarianAtheist
Well yes. Sweden is full of Swedes. Altough they have a really good eastern neighbour...
People clinging to tradition...
It's not so much that the religious aren't intelligent, it's that they're stubborn.
And the religious people stick together and reinforce their diabolical view points
*****
so the traditional smoking of the ham and salmon my family has every year has outlived its usefulness? I like smoked ham, I liked smoked salmon!! (dunno why I was trying to make this a Friday meme)
I must admit that my country is awesome, despite its holes. This is one thing that I love about Sweden. No religious nuts.
That's being awfully kind Just look at the numbers. Scientist 90%> believe in no god. prisoners 90%> believe in god.
phdonme1 what have scientists and prisoners have anything to do about religious people in general. i don't get it. explain yourself.
I'm just so pleased about this video. Why is that. Because I see how offended he is by his face and that he can't do much about that. Northen people evolved a lot, saxonian nations and secularity installed there succesfully with little problems. Freedom of speech and thinking is something respected and this guy has to deal with it as much as he wants to convert them.
We know very well how americans are trying their best to make their people all quiet and docile by believing in their stupid divinity or w/e it is, but these are proven to be much more advanced cultural and intellectual civilizations. Mostly because they thought themselves to think only for themselve.
You can clearly tell he is holding a lot of hate speech to be released and he even admits that he has to skip a lot of his stupid scripture regarding homosexuality. Sin or not, they are people and they need love to and their happiness, so deal with it, buddy.
Way to go finish peopl! Hats down.
Also I like how he hears from the black guy saying that he is muslim and he almost freaks out like "Muslim?!?". Yeah bitch, he has a imagary friend like you, but he ain't going on the street asking stupid questions.
Totally agree! Another reason to love the Nordic people
if there so bad why does god allow them to exist
Tim John same 1,diff. interpretation, diff. name for same thing
93ImagineBreaker Yea, people tend to name their imaginary friends different.
John, what a great thing you have done here! We all need to expand our minds and perspectives by learning from others who do not think, believe or live as "we" do. Bravo!
defensebydesign Thanks for the kind comment, we appreciate it!
Seriously respects for you to have the courage to come and talk to us in the Scandinavian countries. I hope that you learned something from how we see these things here and was not offended by the cultural differences when it comes to religions. Because religious or not, we are all human beings foremost.
I myself am an atheist, but my mother and best friend are religious and that is completely, 100% fine to all of us. Heck, I even do charity work with religious organizations despite them knowing about my atheism. What matters what we, as human beings do, say and think. Not so much what our personal beliefs of one particular thing is.
Oh yeah and greetings from Finland.
It is unbelievable how awesome Scandinavia is. I really hope there is a way to see every episode of this series with English subtitles.
I feel really bad that I never learned to speak Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or Finish. Had I done, I would certainly be living in one of those countries.
You don't have to. We speak English too. :)
I am defiantly going to watch this show. The pastor's reactions to open mindedness is priceless.
You have to give him some props for stepping outside his american bubble and going to a far more secular country and seeing for himself that these people haven't destroyed themselves with their godless ways.
I agree with you. I hope it helps him open a dialogue with fellow Americans who happen to be atheist.
Top Gallant Dont be an atheist be an apatheist, that pisses them off even more -somehow.
Josh Alverson
Yeah, it took a long for me to realize the answer... I kept asking myself if I was atheist or agnostic. I finally figured it out - I am apathetic!
Josh Alverson I would agree it would piss them off more. but i know for fact no gods exist and i enjoy researching the subject. that's why i watched this video.
Thank you for taking the time to produce the prison episode with English subtitles. I'm excited for future episodes.
Hi John, I just watched the excerpt and really liked it. I would love to see the full episode with English subtitles - will watch for it to be uploaded. Loved the pastor's reactions, and the graph showing the influence of religion on Nordic people vs. Americans was enlightening.
Thanks for the kind words! As mentioned, I'll do my best to deliver :)
The full "Police" episode of this documentary series is now published here, with English subtitles: ua-cam.com/video/jbM9uCxEJDM/v-deo.html
And he just proved he doesn't understand evolution by his statement.
A new episode in the series is now published. It's about gender equality and gender roles in the Nordic society. Maria Kopchenova from Russia meets a Finnish feminist and a Danish masculinist. But what exactly is snow ploughing with a gender perspective? That, and much more, in The Norden - Gender, here: ua-cam.com/video/vMdfQ2MXHB0/v-deo.html
This is amazing, I'd like to watch plenty more of it, with english subtitles.
Great concept, great execution.
Looking forward to more episodes.
Evolution has indeed been proven, speciation has been observed.
3:33 "I have no need of a God."
* sips coffee *
Anybody else want to move to Sweden?
Yes lets move to Malmo with the other new immigrants, should be fun.
Number One
I'm more of a Norway person.. Though I am open to FInland. Not a big fan of Sweden but got a few Swedish friends. But they all live in Singapore now.
If Hawaii wasn't so freaking awesome apart from the religious fundamentalists, I would get me to one of these sane countries in a heartbeat. As a Canadian, though, I've had enough winter to last me for a lifetime.
If I weren't an old man some European countries look better.
No, living in Finland is good enough ;)
Lived in sweden since 2008, proud of you guys. so accepting and tolerant. Very different from bavaria, Germany which is like germanys texas
Holy hell can we please get the full episode?!
Hey, thanks for the comments - I interpret them as positive... :) I'll do my best to get the complete episode with English subtitles uploaded in the near future. No promises, but I'll try. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it, feel free to spend 27 minutes with another episode of this series: The Norden - Nordic Prisons
Here, James Conway, an American retired Superintendent from Attica Correctional Facility in New York, visits four Nordic prisons. He gets some surprises along the way.
John Stark please a version of this episode with spanish subtitles. (Sorry for my english). Por favor una versión de este episodio con subtítulos en español. Gracias
ecsman88 chuchosapiens Here's the full documentary on religion, with English subtitles (sorry, no Spanish...) The Norden - Religion
I can't wait to see more of this series with English subtitles! It's a very interesting concept, and as a leftist secular type living in Texas, I'm sure the other episodes will be equally illuminating. A lot of people in this country could really stand to have an experience like this.
Okay, so I'm from Georgia as well, and I've never believed in God. However, growing up in the Southern U.S., I've seen WAY worse than this pastor. His beliefs may be uninformed, ignorant, and clouded by a religious upbringing, but honestly, he was pretty respectful of what the other people were saying. I've seen many people here in the South who literally start screaming as soon as you threaten their beliefs. Maybe my standards are exceptionally low since I've lived in this area my whole life and seen some pretty outrageously stupid people, but this guy isn't so bad. If he had been born somewhere else, he could have quite possibly become a very open-minded individual who supports gay marriage, among other things.
Yep. To be religious most people have to have been caught young.
Why not show the footage after he exclaimed, "Muslim!", in horror?
Might aswell rename this clip into "14th century christian meets modern civilisation"
so great thanks for producing this
as an American, it's sad that we have not yet progressed like this
please make more
You know, I have some respect for this pastor in inquiring about the beliefs of people in other cultures. As shocking as he’s finding it, coming from his strictly religious background, he’s attempting to empathise. Props for that.
I'd LOVE to see the full Religion episode. I'm an atheist living in the buckle of the Bible Belt (Oklahoma), and it's really interesting to see how secular cultures live.
Sadly, year by year, there are more and more people in the Nordic countries who do now believe in God (Allah).RIP rational humanism.
Cannot wait to see the full version, thanks for the upload
It's painfully embarrassing thinking that this is how developed progressive countries see Americans. We are not all like this guy here, please be aware many of us are trying to make dangerous people like this guy a minority.
You can always find hints as to why people are the way this american evangelist is. Like at the very end, he felt bad about not having a single structure to guide us all, and he is afraid and feels a lot of anxiety towards uncertainty.. I don't judge him for that at all, or his way of thinking, because he is fighting a existential angst that many of us go through. He's just been trained differently, and it's a shame his ideas are too simplistic to actually have him live through his life is general peace. And I'm guessing that peace of mind is what he's after in his scary and dark perception of the world. There's so much more to think about and see, that can possibly make you feel better, like loving your fellow man, and coexisting with other good folks, which is what mainly comes out of Jesus' teachings.
the problem with him is this: he will use this video to show to his congregation. They will continue to stay brainwashed. Their kids will be like "I ain't neva going to Europe it seems so full of evil" they will never leave that bubble. It's absolutely scary thought to fanthom, but this man controls the lives and destinies of hundreds of other people.
There are always, always, exceptions. This mans bullshit will drive the intellectuals away, and in the end, be it a 100 years or more, they will prevail, because you can't silence what is right for too long.
Agreed, maybe it's not his fault. Or maybe he could grow up a little and think for himself instead of taking everything as he was taught it is. I don't know....
This looks really interesting. I would love to see full episodes with English subtitles! I really hope you get the chance to do that. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Ben, I appreciate the kind words! Working on getting more stuff out to you guys. Thanks for watching!
I've watched this and the prison video. Amazing work. Amazing country. I look forward to the full episode with English subtitles.
I really wish I could live in Europe with the sane people...
Scandinavian countries seem to be fantastic places with their socialized medicine, socialized college, and scientific viewpoints on the world!
society and cultures evolve in a similar way like organisms, and the same way we find all kinds of inbetween steps of evolution today from bacteria to human beeings, we can find all kind of cultural and religious forms from tribal families to hightec societies. The US american society has preserved a lot of the ancient religious habits and ideas from the old europe when it seperated from the european society, while in Europe itself new philosophical ideas and social concepts transformed the society and thinking.
In the MiddleEast or North African Desert a mindset of a premiddleage tribal society was preserved and in the Amazon Rainforest or African bush we find people stil totaly naked living in leaf huts, which belief in the spirits of their ancestors and hunting-magic.
It is interesting to watch how these different evolved cultures interact with each other and how the gaps between them which shaped them are now closing and a global culture emerges.
Evolution is faith based and has no evidence to prove it? Seems that the education in America leaves a lot to be desired on. Not saying that all Americans are like this pastor, but it seems that the most ignorant tends to be the noisiest too, and that their noise drowned out those who are educated and knowledgeable of the subject.
John I enjoyed the excerpts but I want to see the whole documentary .
eugene poteet The whole episode can be seen here: ua-cam.com/video/W-kANR1vJkMT/v-deo.htmlhanks for watching!
John Stark Thanks John . I watched it and enjoyed it . I have made disparaging remarks towards the Pastor on excerpts and they might have been unduly mean spirited but the full documentary showed the man in a different light I am not on Facebook or Twitter so I do You Tube essays and commentary.I grew up in the USA South in the Christian faith and was devout. However Vietnam and scientific education as well as outside cultural influences have made me a secular person but I am not a full blown atheist or even agnostic . I define myself as Jeffersonian because I share this Founding Father's views on religion. Anyway Good Job on this and although I will probably not be able to visit Denmark I salute the land that gave us Hans Christian Anderson but there is only one thing about modern Scandinavia that puzzles me ----- What is it with you guys and Ibanez guitars ?
eugene poteet I play Fender, Squier and Hagström guitars - never understood that Ibanez thing either :)
John Stark Thanks for responding. Keep up the good work . I grew up Southern. Do like the British Rock from the 60's and 70's - Trex, Cream Yardbirds etc.-- but I also love ABBA . I play mostly acoustic and am fond of Taylor guitars for flatpicking and Gibsons for slide and fingerpicking My amateur play list consists of anything my limitations will let me do. From Proud Mary to Lucky Man by ELP.
Excellent video. Looking forward to the full episode.
I was born and raised in the bible belt of Sweden. I've never met any christian outside of church. We never get through discussing politics when we are drunk and then we pass out. True story.
The prisons episode was great, i can't wait to see this one !!!
Notice how McLain is taken aback when one of the theists acknowledges Allah as God instead of giving the expected Judeo-Christian answer. He seemed unprepared to handle the concept, which certainly shows a lack of depth in his training---or a touch of bigotry?
I thought that too. for now I would just assume that he had been asking a lot of people and he had not found a Muslim yet.
Christian Santana
Maybe so. But to me he seemed disconcerted rather than intrigued. Maybe I'm just being cynical....
Stuart Herring no I feel you a bit though maybe some context would help
John, thanks for putting these up. When will the religion one come out, do you think?
He doesn't believe in the theory of evolution, but apparently he had not problem believing in the theory of lift that got him from the United States to Scandinavia.
Excellent Clip, captured the 'essence' of McLain rather well in my opinion. As is typical of many of these 'made in USA' pastors, an extreme obsession with the LGBT Community - as a targeted group of 'sinners' out of their particular religious way of thinking. An interesting program, I look forward your posting the full episode.
***** The truth is that the society evolves, and thanks Thor for that! Even Conservatives like you can stop it.
***** "Once it was blacks. Then it was women. Then it came turn for the communists. Now it's the LGBT people with atheists/non-believers occasionally mixed in."
Your message is quite clear.
0:52 Why is the swedish name for Finland's capital used? Instead of Helsinki?
pygmis The Swedish name for Helsinki is Helsingfors.
Very interesting. I think I will watch the entire episode. Thank for sharing!
This looks brilliant.
I wonder if he'll have an epiphany when he gets home?
Funny how people say that atheists are just neck beards or rebellious kid. look at all the people saying no to the question "Do you believe in god" especially in the full version of this show. Do any of them fit the description?
Would he deny verses like Matthew 10:34-37?
A caveman visiting a 21st century civilization.
For more information, Phil Zuckerman wrote the book "Society without God" some years ago (2006 I believe), where he wrote about the views on religion amont Danes and Swedes.
Contrary to what is protrayed here. In 2010 two Danish professors did evaluate on information on Danes relationship to the Danish Church (Lutheran-Evangelical). They concluded that more people found the Church of importance than in 1986. Not that Danes would listen to the advice giving from a pastor, but they would listen to what a pastor has to say in a matter, and then make their own discission, which may be complete opposite of the policy of the church, but just that the more Danes care to ask the Church is also a sign of at least respect.
While having said that, the numbers of people being a member of the Danish Church is shrinking, and there is no sign that Danes are joining other denominations or religious faiths. Some studies also show, that a large minority of members, are members of cultural reasons, not religious ones, since they denounce God. But it is just nice going to church at christmas or weddings. And the numbers of members of the church have dropped annually. Once almost 90 % of Danes were a member of the church. Today we are below 80 %, and there is no sign that things are going to change.
Do you believe in God? - Is not a fair question.
A Nordic person might as well ask you:
Do you trust someone you've never met before?
This is something we can and do in the nordic countries just as much as you believe in God.
Scandinavians will no doubt find this lost soul from Georgia to be interesting and amusing, as do I.
I've always thought the Scandinavian countries to be the most progressive socially in the world.
The last comment from Marty Mclain is how it should be everywhere - believe what you want. I say try to do your best for yourself and for others.
This is why when people ask me, "Do you wanna move abroads?", I think "Well it would be nice with some sunnier days... but... uh... *this video explains the rest*"
I love how at the end he talks about how in Sweden there is no "fundamental base" and you can kind of just "believe whatever you want"
...little does he know that this is one of the principles upon which the United States was founded -_-
Is that Stuart from MADtv brother 4:40 ?
Evolution can't be proven? WHAT?! he's thinking about a hypothesis, a theory in science is different than a theory of any other subject. this man is dangerous... Im Swedish and proud of it!
Man, life's so unfair, why couldn't I be from Scandinavia?
It actually makes me smile to see America heading this direction, where more and more citizens are no longer needing religion or faith. :)
Documentary is called "The Norden", yet does not mention, picture(mapwise in "norden") nor have any footage from Norway or Iceland... Other than that, i will watch the doc
øyvind sollien Hey, thanks for watching. Norway is not included in this episode regarding religion, but in several of our other episodes - such as the one on prisons: ua-cam.com/video/HfEsz812Q1I/v-deo.html
I am a firm believer in God but there's a difference in believing versus thinking your views are superior and not being able to figure out the Bible has been "translated" by men with agendas and biases to justify. 99% of the time online I find myself siding with the Atheist.
"If there's no god, why should I believe in him?"
What a comment.
Is that true that the Netherlands' Government forced religions to marry same Sex couples in the church? I can't believe it.
Not sure, I'd have to look it up. It does seem a little bit crazy.
The Norden, and Norway is not included?
Firena0 Hey Firena0. In every episode we visit three Nordic countries. In this particular one, we visited Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Rest assured that Norway is included in several other episodes - such as this one: ua-cam.com/video/HfEsz812Q1I/v-deo.html
Well that explains, Just had a look at the prison episode. However, I see several of the Nordic representatives on these videos struggle with the English language. Not to critizise their language skills, but it does hinder them in getting their arguments across due to lack of words and phrases. I have noticed this is several instances in both episodes, and I think The Norden would be improved by allowing all to speak their native tongue and translate later. Even if it makes the actual conversations a bit more bumpy. After all, the show aims to give an outsider an understanding of a piece of our society, and this way that understanding would be even clearer.
What I've heard and seen in life has led to me question Gods existence but not deny it, I'm not sure if he exists or not but I believe that there might be something there.
John, this is so incredibly excellent! Great idea!
I know this is a dumb comment that only exposes my ignorance, but the neck-thing at 1:30 made me laugh.
pope's hat is funny as well but we got used to it. Same goes for every other religious head gear
Its called a pibekrave in danish, ruff in english. It was fashion in 1580 - 1630. Priests in Denmark has continued to use it as a sign of office.
R3ika- I recognized it from Old Paintings....
A great deal of the frustration with this project for me came from the fact that a native English speaker was posing question to non-native English speakers - clear speakers obviously but not wholly fluent, rather halting and, it seems to me, not entirely able to answer McLain's questions in the manner in which they deserved to be answered. So, for example, Leif Jansson, when faced with the same tired old creationist nonsense about evolution at 3:20 (it's a faith position; it's unproven; nobody was there to see it; there are no missing links, yadda yadda yadda) could and should have been able to have given clear, detailed, accurate response to each of these challenges.
McLain should have been in England, in many ways equally as non-religious as Scandinavia.
Steve Payne Hey Steve, thanks for watching! Some of the issues you mention are perhaps cleared up a bit better when you watch the full episode, available with English subtitles here: ua-cam.com/video/W-kANR1vJkMB/v-deo.htmlest regards,John
I'm Norwegian and it's my impression that there are very few ethnic Norwegian (real)christians left. I think they are still found in certain communities in southern and western Norway, other than that they are very thinly spread throughout my country. I remember watchng a documentary some years back where it was revieled that even many of those who say they believe in God and see themselves as christians haven't really thought much about it, and they never go to church. Funnily enough, on Christmas Eve the churches are packed full. The explanation to this however is that it's been a tradition in many families for generations to visit church before having christmas dinner. Just like most atheists here still marry in church and get their children christned. It's tradition, not faith.
Is it just me that find it incredible funny that the direct translation in the nordic languages is "The the scandinavia" because Norden alone means "the scandinavia" or "the nordics" so if you put "the" before Norden it translates to The (the nordics).
For a moment I thought the guy at 4:15 was Fernando Torres.
Where can I find the full doco?
It's not yet available with English subtitles, but I'll do my best to get that uploaded in the near future!
Please do, that will be fantastic.
7Ghos
Here you go - the full episode with subtitles in English:
The Norden - Religion
Thank very muchly, much appreciated
How exact is that percentage of believers in Sweden? I wish that indeed it was just 16% but I'd say that there are other factors that would surely inflate that number.
That depends on how you define the term. Regular believers is not more than 5-10 percent, maybe, but ~80 % believe in some kind of supernatural "force" or karma. The rest are self-identifying atheists (including myself).
Watched the link arenan.yle.fi/tv/2199722 The documentary needs no translation to be understood IMO.
I was raised Catholic, now atheist. And people have asked me “well what if your wrong and god and heaven is real?” I always answer I’m not worried. I’ll admit I was wrong and wouldn’t be worried for judgement as I love a moral life.
And a question I’ve asked religious people is, what if these “rules” or “laws” in the bible are a morality test. Will we just blindly obey no matter how insane or evil the “written work” is. Or will we think and decide to be moral and kind.
Could this be a test to see who is a blind yes man, incapable of developing empathy and understanding. Or to see who chooses live with humanity in their life.
See I’m not worried if I’m wrong, I’m getting in. Because I’m a good person with flaws. Are you sure you’ll get into heaven blindly obeying outdated horrific words in a book?
how can I watch this?
"You had to have same-sex marriage in the church?" They're like: u stupid?
Will God judge you by how you treated your brother...
... Or will He judge you by the depth of your faith through which you judge your brother by?
A simple man can live not knowing God and still be kind to his brother...
... A religious man may know God yet still judge his brother.
Who makes it through that eye of the needle?
Is the title supposed to be ironic? "The Norden"?.... You do realize thats like saying "The The North" right?
MaMastoast To answer your specific question - yes, I do realize that it's like saying "The The North". It's just a simple play on words by mixing English and Swedish, so it doesn't have to be taken so seriously :) Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it!
+John Stark
Oh, so "Norden" is Swedish for "THE north"?
Because in German, "Norden" actually means just "North". So, "The Norden" still works :-D
Tantalus Clan Im sure its also that in swedish yea, im danish so I that's where I'm coming from :).
German and the scandinavian languages (danish and norwegian in particular) are funny becuse they have a lot of words which are almost the same but often mean something sliiightly different
Don't you love it how at the first chance he gets he calls evolution faith.
Makes me think he wasn't there necessarily to listen but to preach.
Countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark with high percentage of 'unbelievers' are actually thriving and very successful
Its sad that the thing he says is the worst thing that he could do is actually the best thing he could do.
Worst part is that when that dude dies he won't know he was wrong. :/
Why would he think that copying guy was christian?
I wonder how difficult it is for an American to emigrate to Scandinavia? I know it's no cake walk to emigrate to Canada or Australia, but people can float right into the states. Aggravating, to say the least.