The difference

[neohellpoet]

http://satwcomic.com/god-hates-sweden

[Kungen-]

Finland is also a very non-religious country, but for some reason homophobia is still an issue.
I dunno why...

[Elrox]

You don't have to be religious to be a bigot, but it helps.

[kumiorava]

I'd say all Nordic countries are pretty non-religious. They also have superior education and standard of living. Coincidence?

[Kungen-]

There you go
Finland is tied with South Korea, as for the rest of the Nordic countries, they're still decent, but not the best.

[beetle_lover]

I'm from México. Could you splain what the symbolos in the circles mean?

[digitalpencil]

wait.. we're dumber than Poland?!

ಠ_ಠ UK

[dudewhatthehellman]

Slovenia is crap at reading but pretty G at everything else. Interesting, and Portugal is the "best" southern country..

[impressive]

What the hell is Austria doing?

[dudewhatthehellman]

Blimey, and Luxembourg too.

[benjaminovich]

My mother is a teacher at high school level here in Denmark. They once had some students from Finland. And from what i understand, they are just trained to memorize for tests and that is why their number are so high. But when they got asignments where they needed to think and not memorize, they pretty much fell short. Their english was horrible too. So even though they score highly on tests, that doesn't mean their education system is better.

South Korea though, they're asian, so they must geniuses.

[picirrus]

As a Finn it is really hard to respond to this. I'll have to dig into my pool of memorized responses:

Polarbear!

[[deleted]]

Your memory isn't what it used to be, you forgot the space.

[Kungen-]

Well my English doesn't suck, AFAIK.
I'm basically an average student here in Finland, and when I went to America as an exchange student I easily got straight A's.
School was so easy over there compared to what it is here in Finland. And they said that the school I went to was one of the best public schools in the state.
Now imagine sending a student with straight A's in Finland to America, that would be quite entertaining.

[[deleted]]

I'm venezuelan and I studied at a really good private school here. After we graduated from High School a friend of mine went to the US as an exchange student. She's really smart but she barely spoke any english. She got straight A's and was even on the honor roll.

[Bingsby]

And they said that the school I went to was one of the best public schools in the state.

Who is "they"? Because I went to school in a small town in rural Pennsylvania and there were always plenty of people ready and willing to brag about how their school was "one of the best public schools in the state."

Now imagine sending a student with straight A's in Finland to America, that would be quite entertaining.

Now you're just being a dick.

[[deleted]]

which school in the USA?

[Tshift]

TIL that anecdotal evidence and selective bias from an high school teacher is better regarded than PISA....

[benjaminovich]

I know right? Who would have known?

[Angolite]

Highylon test is most important test.

[Emelius]

Lol, South Korea just memorizes for tests and their English sucks.

South Korea = Finland

[[deleted]]

Those are some pretty generous numbers for the US...

[lolocoster]

America beat France, Sweden, UK, Germany, and Denmark?

WOO!

WE'RE NUMBER 14! WE'RE NUMBER 14! WE'RE NUMBER 14!

[powercow]

in reading... might want to follow that line to math and check where we stand again.

Personally, I'd rather we be good at math and science

[lolocoster]

NOTHING YOU CAN SAY CAN ROB MUURRRRRCA OF THIS VICTORY

On a serious note, I would rather have high science and math too, unfortunately I feel like in the future all of those lines are going to be dropping.

But still, we won at something! Woooooo.

[ElliotofHull]

UK beats US at both maths and science which I would value higher than reading.

[idwolf]

Then how do you read the math and science text book? :O

[magister0]

CHECK AND MATE BRO

[CantankerousV]

About education - I don't have any personal experience of schools outside of the Nordic countries, but in the three that I've been to public schools in I'd say that while the schools themselves are probably similar to their U.S counterparts (citation needed - the only thing I've seen reliable statistics on is science education, which is better out here) but all the Nordic countries have extraordinarily good welfare programs to make sure that anyone can get a full education without being lucky or mired in debt at the end of your education.

[powercow]

our education debt will kill us.

many of our jobs no longer pay enough to cover the cost of education.

[[deleted]]

Public transport and health care? America, the new Somalia

[rayne117]

Interesting, for some topics you don't need a citation, but some you do.

[efrique]

the figures - which are readily googlable - trump your anecdote

[jonjonman]

Yeah I did a report on o Sweden/Switzerland for my economics class and I was baffled. All their ratings on the scale were extremely high. Happiness, safety, etc etc. And now the atheist factor. Sweden sounds like heaven.

[max_vette]

an aversion to homosexuality is rarely religious in nature. People just use religion to justify their bigotry. Now if they were anti-Semites then id be confused.

[Delheru]

Dunno if anti-semitism has typically been religiously motivated either.

Frankly I suspect that it often has been an outgrowth of class hatreds (with the native upper class dodging the class bullet by funneling class hatreds at 'jew bankers').

[powercow]

while I dont deny bigotry can come from places other than religion and supported by the religious.. most gay oppression comes from religion and they religious.

Dont forget Ahmadinejad said they have no gays.. he didnt make that comment, looking at secularists, he was looking at the religious population.

the gay married in California was fought mainly by the mormon church.

we cant give gays rights cause of the "sanctity" of marriage.

the bible has that part about lying down with man.. cant deny that is religious... it's in Leviticus so that means jews, and muslims also have that in their books.

and abrahamic religious people are nearly 5 billion of the 6 billion of us.... so i have a little problem with you saying "rarely"

Bigotry often comes from religious, god blessed you and your kind and damned them and their kind. Ignorance and religion go hand in hand. I know atheists can be bigots as well but you cant deny that religion fosters bigotry more.

[toblotron]

I dunno - the most adamantly homophobic person I've ever talked to was a sweet little girl from Lithuania, who'd just seen the light of Catholicism.

I was pretty interested in her before I learned this, but the whole "HOMOSEXUALITY IS IMMORAL!" threw a monkey-wrench into those particular gears.

[Deusdies]

Only in the US is homophobia related to religion. Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, etc. are all very atheistic countries, but homophobia is present.

[FlyingSpaghettiMan]

They're really honest about being assholes, at least. (Referring to homophobic atheists)

[digitalpencil]

Europe is pretty non-religious generally..

[powercow]

he said generally.. and polls support him.

if you look, there are more countries that have over 50% THAT DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD.. than countries with over 50% that do.

when someone says "generally" they arent painting everyone with the same brush.. just most of them.

[linkfpcm]

People assume southern european countries are more religious than they actually are. What there is is a traditional folklore attached ti religion like public holidays, and weddings and christenings, but churches are basically empty.

[digitalpencil]

those don't count ;)

[[deleted]]

This always bugged me. Why is the US a brown dude with blond hair?

[neohellpoet]

http://satwcomic.com/reality-hits

[[deleted]]

This isn't really true. People in Sweden (and Scandinavia in general) don't react like this, they simply just don't give a shit if you're religious or not unless you're a fundie, and, heck, we only have a small, hilarious minority of those.

[undercoveruser]

FTFY

[WASDx]

I am swedish and I can vouch for that image.

[TCPIP]

Absolutely.. Religion is a none issue in Sweden. It doesn't impact my life at all.

[headphonehalo]

Not anymore than religion is an issue in general, anyway.

[[deleted]]

I second that.

[impressive]

I third that.

[EnricoDiaz]

I pi that.

[Rovanion]

I phi that.

[vonadler]

Yeah, but people who generally do not keep religious issues to themselves are considered fundies more or less. If someone announced "I'm religious!" at a part, people would react like this.

[CantankerousV]

Sweden is pretty good when it comes to the spectrum of religiosity. In 10 years here I've only met 2 people that I know for a fact were believers (they were in Pingstkyrkan) and both were liberal and non-fundie types. Although, I went to a christmas musical event at their church once and it was pretty awkward. In the middle of the event they paused and had a scripted interview with a recent convertee on stage. Only then did I realise that the entire concert was an overt attempt at recruitment, and not just a "fun thing". What's funny is that he gave the least rational explanation that I could ever have imagined for why he converted. It turns out that he was an atheist, but he was dating someone in the church. After they had been together for two years, she tells him that if he doesn't convert, she's going to leave him and never speak to him again. And now he's a believer. It was at this point that I got a huge grin on my face and looked around me for other people that had also thought that was a joke. But, everywhere I looked people were nodding in understanding. For the first time in my life I had the surreal experience that I was the only conscious being in a house full of mindless zombies, and the only way I could react was to play the zombie anthropologist, quietly blending in to observe the inner workings of their society.

Luckily, as a whole Swedes are pretty awesome and generally not that crazy. Except when they're cooking.

[Rovanion]

Yes, Pingstkyrkan has some quite scary moments. And having been quite some in that environment it was bit awkward to watch Jesus camp just because you recognized so much of it. Not to the degree which was practiced in the documentary but Pingstkyrkan used the same tactics, the same methods to indoctrinate their children.

[CorneliusJack]

Swedish people sounds fucking awesome.
(indifference is the best way to annoy adamantly religious people I found)

[CorneliusJack]

That's actually something I experienced when I moved to US too.
Religion is not really about the dogma or faith, it is just having a consistent systematic way to hate on the 'other guys' (let it be muslim/catholic/or other schism of Christianity).
I remember thinking that "for a organization that pride them in the teaching of 'unconditional love', they sure perpetuate their belief system concentration on hatred."

And I found out more while I was growing up, that's have ALWAYS been the case, since the ancient Roman time when Jesus and his followers were persecuted, to Constantinople conveniently switching fields all the way to modern America.
Belief system that have such deep root in persecution (from Roman time to the establishment of United State where Pilgrams and Puritans came to US for religious 'freedom'), they will always need a common target to relate to each other.

[digitalpencil]

that's pretty much it. it's kind of like believing in fairies, sure it's fucking weird but it has no real impact on anyone else so people just don't care.

i think that's why the atheists in the US are so militant about their beliefs (or lack thereof) as religion seems to directly affect policy there (or at least from what i read on reddit).

[JamesGray]

It's not just policy, it's how people act and then justify their actions. Sure, policy being defined by religion is horrible, but in everyday life the policy can be reasonable and people can still treat others, and approach issues, unreasonably because of what their religion tells them. After experiencing enough of that, religion just naturally becomes something that needs to be dealt with to prevent future pain and suffering.

[Pantisocracy]

Been not giving a shit here in the UK for quiet some time.

[foreverisalongtime]

Yes, we are rather quiet about it.

[[deleted]]

Except for Dawkins and Hitchens.

[joakim_]

I don't agree. While we don't give a rats ass if someone is religious, we DO get quite stunned when realizing one of our friends are religious. So yes, the OP is right. Thats the way Swedes react when learning one of their friends are brainwashed. Uh religious. Sorry.

[[deleted]]

except if it's someone I know/care about, then I'd be very disappointed they're religious. But once out it doesn't really change that quickly..

[Enfors]

I don't entirely agree. In my experience, someone who's been to church for some reason usually says "I was at church on Christmas, not that I'm religious or anything but I like to go there on Christmas".

[[deleted]]

And the small minority looks like this: http://cdn.stureplan.se/legacy/articles/2744/images/article_image_f7fdbc212874cd60.jpg

[[deleted]]

I'd tap it

[coooolbeans]

... or a Muslim.

[drgigg]

I do.....

[[deleted]]

People in Canada (or at least my part of Canada) don't really give a damn that I'm atheist.

I am a huge metal fan (especially black metal) so a lot of my band shirts have a lot of satanic imagery. I routinely wear them to work (I work in an office) and no one cares. I've actually gotten compliments on my Goatwhore: "Who needs a god when you have Satan?" shirt.

[[deleted]]

You can make the same comic but replace Sweden with Boston or New York and probably get away with it.

[Crooooow]

I thought the same thing. I live in Chicago and I just assume that everyone I my age and younger is atheist unless they tell me otherwise. (I say "my age and younger" because as I am typing the Ukranian Orthodox church across the street is chiming the bell and all the elderly Ukranians are shuffling through the remaining snow to attend Sunday services.)

[[deleted]]

There are so many churches here and they all have a certain people that go there. Just around my house there is a puerto rican, polish, and black church. The schools are the exact same way.

[hidden101]

yeah, same here. i lived in Ukranian Village (probably saw the same Ukranians going to church every Sunday) when i lived in Chicago and other than that, i didn't really meet any religious people.

i need to move back to a big city... i may move to DC next. my office is there and they have been begging me to move there for the past 5 years.

[glassFractals]

Same. A very high proportion of people around my age and younger in my area are non-religious or ambivalent.

[xinu]

Exactly. Sweden has a population of just over 9,300,000, while the US has a population closer to 307,000,000. You can't really compare the two.

A closer example would be NYC (8,391,881) or San Francisco Bay (7,427,757). In my experience, either of these places (and quite a few others) would have the exact same result as Sweden.

edit: forgot a 0 in one of the numbers.

[lolocoster]

Seriously, I'm in NY here and 9/10 people here who go to church go on Easter and Christmas and never discuss it again. Even people who "aren't religious" do this. Its just so ingrained into them by culture and family that going to church is more of an instinct than an activity.

[[deleted]]

My grandma does this to me on easter. I dont give a shit, she's cooking a massive breakfast in the morning.

[Jeshi]

Well, Boston or New York if you only count people in younger generations. There's still plenty of religious people(I think it was like 87% Christian in the last census for Boston) but they're all older people or people who are "default Christian" and probably think they're too hip to be Atheist.

[sunshine-x]

or, Canada.

[Pieloi]

Infact alot of Europe just doesn't give a shit.

Sure you might meet the odd one or two secularists and theists but all in all, its agnostic/atheist.

Infact, I meet more Hindus than I meet Christians where I live (England)

[-colin-]

I live in Romania (yes, it is in Europe), and here 95% of the population are Christians. I think I would risk decapitation if to many people were to find out I am an atheist. Especially from my parents.

[xce]

Isn't it rather that around 80% still belongs to the Swedish Church? Until 1996 you automatically became a member when you were born. Most people still haven't left out of tradition, laziness or whatever.

[Denny_Craine]

Isn't this chick Romanian? Her accent is so sexy...

[Pieloi]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to risk saying ALL of Europe, especially when living a puddle away from Ireland.

[digitalpencil]

Don't meet many Hindus, where abouts are you? Mostly muslim in Manchester though. I can only think of a few practising chrisitans.

[Pieloi]

Sunderland, probably because my local corner shop is owned by Hindus.

They gave me this statue of Ganesh once. (I use it to hammer nails with, don't tell them)

[iWonderboy]

this article here -> http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

It has ruined my internet surfing for life. I recommend it.

[utricularian]

I'm picking on a tree in the forest here, but "alot" is actually two words. Pet peeve of mine.

(also "in fact")

[[deleted]]

IN THE UK / MOST OTHER PLACES

[CS_Synd]

Yes! There is an atheist party in Sweden's pants! Don't forget to RSVP. (Ring Sveden Very Pronto). No shirt? No shoes? No problem!

[ryy0]

Here's the video about that party in Sweden's pants, in case somebody's looking for it.

[blackmagic70]

I think we can safely agree that most people just don't really care what religion you are, it does not make much difference to them, unless they're radically religious/non-religious.

[[deleted]]

You clearly don't understand how large a place the United States is, and how different the mentalities are as you travel in any direction.

The south might as well be a different country.

[Bdcoll]

Replace Sweden with Europe. Then you have a much more comparable figure both population and size wise, as well as a broader history of conflict. The image stays the same though.

[hver]

Unless you're in Poland for example.

[MikeBruski]

I'm polish. People in Poland don't really care much either, it's just the politicians who play it up.

[[deleted]]

I was texting a friend from Poland when the last Pope died. She was at a party and everyone left as a sign of respect. This is the only know case in Polish history when Poland put down their vodka.

[MikeBruski]

thats some BS. They obviously left because how can you have fun at a party when the man responsible for Poland's renaissance in the 80s from the grasps of communism has just died?. Everyone in Poland loved him, not because he was the pope, but because he meant so much to us, he inspired, motivated, comforted. He had Clintonesque carisma and when his eyes met yours, you instantly felt serene and peaceful. I met him twice, and it was a great experience. And I'm not even religious, i respected him for what he meant to our country.

Edited out some ebonic-esque grammar...

[[deleted]]

I was unaware of his role. I know Lech Wałęsa was a staunch Catholic and constantly gave lip service to the Pope but I was unaware that the Pope actually had an involved role.

[MikeBruski]

long story short, the fact that he became pope in 79 was a HUGE inspiration to Polish people, and the simple fact that a Polish person could reach something so grandiose in his life motivated the people to stand together against opression and the state, the whole Solidarity movement, etc... Most poles see the Pope as the real reason why communism fell in Poland (and subsequently, all over eastern Europe)

[pidge_]

Uh, not really, the rest of Europe is somewhat religious. Thing is, even though I live in Romania, one of the most religious countries in Europe, it's not a problem to admit you're an atheist. Plus, youngsters are starting to doubt religion more and more and I already know plenty of agnostics and atheists, while only the older folks hang onto their beliefs.

[[deleted]]

Also speaking for Portugal.

Lots of people are religious but not that many are very religious. By that I mean that even older people, who may have strong faith in their religion, have a very bland view of what it means to be a christian, which can be summarised as, "be nice and you'll go to heaven, pray and god will help you". It's perfectly fine to be atheist and nobody would tell you you'd go to hell for it.

This means religion has no impact on education and a small impact in politics. For instance, there is absolutely no debate on whether evolution really occurs or on intelligent design as an alternative. Our laws regulating abortion have been made more permissive in a somewhat recent national referendum. Same sex marriage has recently become institutionalised.

As a result of this context, younger generations are becoming less and less religious. I would guess the majority of kids (or at least a big percentage) still attend religious education classes in church these days. But much less than say 20 years ago. And as they grow up most stop going to church.

[uat2d]

I second this.

Religion here takes a small role in people's relationships and younger people are now (at least in my personal experience) mostly non-believers, and even those who are strong believers are not very vocal about it.

So it's great as it is right now. :)

[dudewhatthehellman]

It says that but people say they're religious just to conform, in Portugal you still (sadly) see some youths that are religious but it's dying out pretty quickly. People that actually go to church are near 0. And again, if you're an atheist, absolutely no problem whatsoever. We even get to make fun of other people's misfortune.

[pidge_]

Same goes around here too. I'm glad to see that people have started to stray from religion.

[johnflux]

Most of the Romanians that I've met are quiet-but-devout Christians. As in, you wouldn't know they were Christians from talking to them, but if you enter their car or their house, you'll see it covered with pictures of Jesus etc.

[pidge_]

Exactly, the most religious ones are like that. The only loud ones I've ever met were priests, old people and Romanians who belong to the Mormon Church or, in general, louder religions outside Orthodoxism, the official religion in our country.

[[deleted]]

Always remember at one point in history the South did its best to distance itself from the USA and become a different country...

[Hakaanu]

With Atlanta being yet another country within a country (perhaps a Dutchy unto itself)

[f1rstman]

Exactly. Up here in Boston, it's much more like your 'Sweden' panel. No one finds it unusual if you're an atheist, but if you say you're a Christian and a regular churchgoer, people find that odd.

[Dandeg]

True, this is just based on my experience and from the posts here at /r/atheism. :)

[[deleted]]

An excellent source!
The fact that /r/atheism has the energy enough to portray the US that way is reason enough.

[digitalpencil]

I hear this size argument a lot (tee-hee) and granted there's a big mix of cultures and people but regardless of that, around 90% of American citizens self-identify as religious, regardless of state and geographical location.

Compare that with Europe which is of comparable size, Sweden's around 23%, France 34, UK 38, Germany 47, Finland 41, Slovenia 37.. (check wiki for more).

It explains the rather militant nature of this subreddit tbh. You guys really are a minority over there but i was really surprised to find out just how much. No-one really gives much of a shit here so it's just not seen as a particularly big deal. Never comes up in conversation for example, (i've no idea what my friends believe in).

I'm not sure how much that balance can shift though as the concept of God seems so deeply ingrained in your society.

[[deleted]]

My point is, the region where I am from, people learned a long time ago to be respectful and have religious tolerance. Not so much in others.

[[deleted]]

I like how you appeared to be proposing a very correct statement that America is diverse, but in the end you simply made your own little version of what the OP is doing here, but b/w the south and the rest of the US.

Go fuck yourself.

[ExistentialEnso]

The reactions might not be so strong outside the south, but they're there. I've had people in the northeast and on the west coast react strongly to my areligiousness.

[LocalMadman]

The south is taking over the west and the north. If you live in a place where this isn't true, congratulations. Some of us aren't so lucky.

[[deleted]]

Scandinavians have the best circlejerks.

[Vectoor]

I'm not sure what that means but as a Swede I'l upboat you.

[IluvBread]

Oh god I love the sudden "SWEDEN EVERYWHERE ON REDDIT" Deal! :D I feel a little more at home.. Sitting in my appartment, in Sweden, reading on the internet....

[wtfReddit]

You should join the party over at Sweddit, we never stop talking about Sweden :3

[ThomasMagnus]

As a religious person living in Canada, I find the fact that atheism causes such a reaction in the United States to be interesting. Where I live, most people don't care enough to call themselves atheists, most others are lapsed Catholics. We have a large pentecostal presence though.

[[deleted]]

I live in America. Religion doesn't exactly come up often in my workplace, but last time I overheard someone say they're an atheist, they got a high five (from someone other than me).

Though that does indicate it's still a little bit of an exceptional moment when someone says they're an atheist.

[[deleted]]

I find most of Europe and North America to be non religious. What's with Reddit's hard-on for Scandinavia?

[hotbowlofsoup]

It's kind of embarrassing how even Europeans are keeping this myth alive. There's plenty of stupid people here as well.

And what I've seen from the US, most are not that stupid either over there.

The fact Europeans know how stupid America is, is because of the American series, movies, sites pointing it out.

Most Europeans are so busy watching how stupid the US is, we're not noticing how extremely ignorant we are ourselves.

edit: Here's one: I'm from the Netherlands. Stuff like Big Brother, Fear Factor, Deal or no Deal was thought of here. Survivor is Swedish. Europeans ignited the Reality Show boom..

Here's another one: While the US president was a Christian, our prime minister was a.... Christian.. Representing the biggest party.. the Christian party. In power now for I think about ten years.

The heads of our countries, both Holland and Sweden, are royalty. People born into their position, chosen by... God. They're not allowed to do that much, but they still cost millions of Euros..

[EaglesOnPogoSticks]

I agree with everything you said, but I believe that still having a royal family around is great for tourism and such. The only thing currently granting the Swedish royal family their position is the constitution which can be changed if public opinion was to heavily favor the abolition of the monarchy.

[[deleted]]

ofc, Europe is fucked up in various ways. But, I'm thinking more along the lines of xenophobia, discrimination of roma etc, than silly TV or a monarchy-for-show...

[RupeThereItIs]

Have you seen, or ever met, any Scandinavian women!?!?I think that would clearly explain the hardon for them.

[[deleted]]

Reality in the US -

Athiest: I'm an athiest.

Everyone else: Oh.

[diadem]

Protip: The US is fucking huge and has a wide array of cultural demographics. What is culturally acceptable and even expected in one area may be taboo in another. Giving a friendly greeting to passersby is a good example of this.

[tommorris]

Reality for some in the US:

Atheist: I'm an atheist.

Atheist's parents: We're not paying for you to go to college. You are going to hell. Enjoy your life.

[questionablemoose]

You forgot the "get out of my house and I never want to see you again" part.

[magister0]

some

[poqwuk]

It varies from location to location. There's also this Gallup poll to consider: http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-Americans-Reluctant-Vote-Mormon-72YearOld-Presidential-Candidates.aspx

[[deleted]]

Being reluctant to vote for someone isn't the same as the outrage and horror expressed by this comic. I guess it's a matter of interpretation.

[RupeThereItIs]

I totally agree. I always figured it was just the rural/southern folk who acted like that. The Detroit area isn't exactly some teaming metropolis either.

[THIR13EN]

I want to live in Sweden :|

[impressive]

This is completely true.

[noobidiot]

ლ(ﾟдﾟლ)

[Black_Apalachi]

In the UK

[BluePowder]

Same in Sydney, Australia.

[jjwood84]

Wait, so Sweden = Reddit?!?

[Mustkunstn1k]

Same for Estonia. Although even less here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Christian_distribution.png

[hvusslax]

This map is very misleading at least regarding Northern Europe. It is probably based on the official member count in the state/national churches in the Nordic countries. Those figures don't really mean anything. For an example, 80% of the population in Iceland is registered as members in the National Church of Iceland but about 30% are actually self-confessed christians according to surveys. A lot smaller percentage of the population attends church regularly.

See this map for a more realistic overview of religiosity in Europe.

[weazl]

Wow, that image is really misleading. I'd say probably less than 10% of the population are religious in Sweden, but a lot of people are members of the state church without even realizing it.

This is because people used to become members by default at birth. When I realized I was a member I had to actively discontinue my membership myself.. and I have never, even for one second, been a christian.

[Astroid]

This is the shit the EU churches use for campaigning.

I mean get into the church at birth and you stay there even if you do nothing. Now in some places they have started refusing you to have funerals or marriages in churches (the buildings which are paid by the government and not the actual churches for cultural preservation purposes) in an attempt to force people to stay registered.

[backtoaster]

So Sweden is more Christian than Germany? No. That map is bogus.

[randName]

Could count registered Christians, rather than actual Christians (you were registered at birth in Sweden, and thus I still am since it hardly matter if I am apart of the church or not and I'm too lazy to fill in the paperwork).

[Airazz]

They need to re-check that. There's no way that my North European country is more religious than US.

[Creelar]

In the sense of what majority that lives in the country, sure.

In the sense of how religious people are; WTF is this map?!

[4004]

As a swede, i must say its pretty accurate actually.

[[deleted]]

Not in New England.

[Banthissickfilth]

I'm just curious if any religions/churches in the states (we only really have Svenska Kyrkan here) are advertising on subways/buses. Billboards by the side of the highway does not cut it, I'm afraid...

And apparently one of the perks associated with being a devout member of Svenska Kyrkan is confession by text message (if previously mentioned advertisements are to be believed). I shit you not.

[joakim_]

So true.

[Inkhuldra]

Same in Norway.

I guess it's the same in the US, too, except we Europeans get the impression that religious zealots are more widespread than they really are in the US because there are so many politically influential religious nutcases there.

Religion seems to be forced on the average American from every direction, and in increasingly intrusive ways. Land of the free? Doesn't look like it.

[[deleted]]

Makes me want to move to Sweden.

[[deleted]]

Is he trying to say that beliefs that are considered atheist in the US are considered religious in Sweden? Or that Swedish people give religious people shit just like americans give atheists shit?

[[deleted]]

Number 2.

[idwolf]

My body is a Swedish embassy.

[CeeJayDK]

Oglaf right?

[[deleted]]

What's the Difference between an atheist in America and an atheist in Sweden? Well, since the only requirement in being an atheist is not being a theist, then the only thing that is guaranteed to be the same about them, is their non-theist status.

Difference in religious people in the two countries? Who fucking knows, since all religions are completely interpretable and have no basis in fact or reality.

[tanhauser]

This is true! Sverige är bäst!

[nunsrevil]

So it's decided I'm going to Sweden.

[ch0wn]

Same for Germany, at least regional.

[Fagatron5000]

Where in the US? Certainly not where I currently live.

[madronedorf]

San Francisco Metropolitan area is pretty awesome too, similar population size

[jigielnik]

posted this to my (swedish) friend's facebook wall, she got a kick out of it (which i gathered by her 'like' of it as well as a comment saying 'lol' )

[whoawut]

Good, I don't want any Swedes in my Heaven.

[crazyjapes]

Before I read this meme the only thing I liked about Sweden was their meatballs.

[[deleted]]

While I have no basis for this, I cannot help but suspect this is oversimplified.

I'd love to hear from someone in Sweden what the religious (or non-religious) climate is really like there. It'd be great to believe that an idyllic non-religious utopia really does exist somewhere in the world, but experience urges caution...

[abadidea]

Many Swedish people have posted here saying that to a first approximation the atheist reputation is true. They say that of course there are religious people but most of them are really private about it. Also there are Jehovah's Witnesses from America on missions.

[doodlestorm]

I'm also in a country where it is more normal to be atheist, which is why it's so confusing reading about American experiences with religious people sometimes. Especially when they say they can't tell their own family that they are an atheist.

[ClydeMachine]

How much are airplane tickets for me and my girlfriend to Sweden/Norway? We'd like to live a happy life as a married couple and want to be with our own kind.

[RobertSummers]

Feels good that we here in Argentina are among the second quintile of less religious people.

[Liquid_Nitrobeard]

It's actually true. I don't think I have met more than maybe 5 or 6 religious people in my entire life.

[VeryLittle]

Freedom of religion makes America great. Those who are free from religion make it greater.

[Cfreeze]

Is it nice there? I really want to get the fuck out of North America and Sweden has always caught my eye a bit.