2015-02-02T19:01:11-05:00

In the once firmly Lutheran nation of Iceland, some residents are erecting a temple to the Norse gods. (more…)

2013-02-16T09:20:48-05:00

Iceland, a Lutheran country, steps up on an issue hardly anyone else is touching:

The government is considering introducing internet filters, such as those used to block China off form the worldwide web, in order to stop Icelanders downloading or viewing pornography on the internet.

The unprecedented censorship is justified by fears about damaging effects of the internet on children and women. (more…)

2024-06-21T15:55:59-04:00

Louisiana has passed a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in all of the state’s classrooms.  In 1980, the Supreme Court overturned a similar requirement  in Kentucky, but that was before 2022 when the court threw out the principle that was the basis of that decision, the “Lemon Test,” which requires laws regarding religion to have a secular purpose,  neither advance nor inhibit religion, and avoid the state becoming “entangled” in religion.

Reportedly, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry pushed the new law in order to find out where the post-Lemon court will draw the lines.  He said that he “can’t wait to be sued,” and a number of groups are lining up to oblige him.

The opponents of the requirement are saying, of course, that the new law violates the separation of church and state and that it amounts to an “establishment of religion” in violation of the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

So does posting the Ten Commandments establish Christianity (perhaps Reformed Protestantism, if the non-Catholic and non-Lutheran numbering is followed)  and, presumably, Judaism (which has a different numbering still) as Louisiana’s official religion?

In discussing the controversy, Natan Ehrenreich at National Review draws on a new book on the Establishment Clause by two legal scholars, Nathan S. Chapman and Michael W. McConnell, entitled Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience.

They say that at the time of the founding the establishment of a religion, which was pretty much the norm in Europe, involved six specific characteristics.  In countries with a state church, the state. . .

(1) exercised control over doctrine, governance, and personnel of the church;

(2) had laws mandating compulsory church attendance;

(3) provided financial support to the church;

(4) prohibited or restricted worship in other churches;

(5) made use of church institutions for public functions;

(6) restricted political participation to members of the established church.

Thus, in the Church of England of the time, the state supervised doctrine, appointed bishops, and assigned clergy to parishes.  It enforced laws requiring attendance, citing Luke 14:23, “compel them to come in.”  It fully financed the church.  It forbade Catholic services and those of Protestant separatists (which is why the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock).  The Anglican church was fully involved in coronations, state funerals, the opening of Parliament, and other state ceremonies, as is the case even today.  And only Anglicans–not Catholics or Protestant separatists–were allowed to hold public office, vote in parliamentary elections, or attend the universities.

To be sure, by the late 18th century, some of these practices were toned down.  The Toleration Act of 1688 allowed for non-Anglican Protestants, as long as they were licensed and did not meet in private homes.  Catholics were gradually granted toleration beginning in 1778, when they were allowed to worship publicly, and continuing through the 19th century, when they were allowed through various laws to hold office, enroll in universities, and the like.  But even today many of those original characteristics apply to the Church of England.

Other nations had their own state churches that had the same or similar characteristics.  Where Catholicism was the state religion, the church hierarchy had the responsibility of appointing bishops and assigning priests to parishes, but the state generally was allowed to make recommendations that were usually followed.  Switzerland and the Netherlands had Calvinist state churches.  The various principalities of Germany had their own state churches, with some being Catholic, some being Reformed, and some being Lutheran.

The Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland had Lutheran state churches.  For much of their history, no other churches were allowed.  As a result, the Lutheran cultural influence is said to be greater in Scandinavia than in Germany, which was home to a number of other religious traditions and smaller state churches.  That would change, somewhat, with the rise of Pietism in the 19th century, though that movement for the most part stayed within the context of Lutheran churches.  And, of course, the state churches, under the control of the secular authorities, would become more and more secular themselves with the advent of theological liberalism.

Here is my question, which perhaps some of you can help me with.  How can Lutheran state churches be justified given the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms?  They must have been, since many orthodox Lutherans operated that way, before the mechanisms of the state church led them to become liberal and secularist.  That began to happen as early as the 18th and 19th centuries, as we see with the “Old Lutherans” who would leave the state church and come to America, eventually founding the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Back to our main topic, Ehrenreich believes that if the Supreme Court justices are truly “originalists” in their interpretation of the Constitution, they will rule that posting the Ten Commandments does not constitute an establishment of religion.  After all, it has nothing to do with the six defining characteristics of a religious establishment.  Nor would prayer in school, displays of religious symbols, certain kinds of funding, and other contentious issues involving the relationship between church and state.

Do you think the Justices will rule in that way?

Some conservatives–the Catholic integralists and Reformed and Pentecostal dominionists–think that America should have an established religion.  Do you think they would like their churches being subject to those six characteristics of state churches?

It seems to me that, judging from history, state religions do not generally, in practice, mean that the religion rules the state.  Rather, the state rules the religion.

 

Photo:  Coronation of Charles III by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2024-02-09T16:48:39-05:00

Taylor & Toby, Iceland builds a pagan temple, and something else churches have stopped teaching about.

Taylor & Toby

Before Taylor Swift became a pop music super- nova, she had a significant career in country music.  I remember seeing her on a country music award show in 2006, a 17-year-old from a small town singing her first big hit Tim McGraw,  a saga of young love played out to the soundtrack of the country crooner on the radio.  After her performance, she stepped off the stage to introduce herself to McGraw sitting in the front row (“Hi, I’m Taylor”), not forgetting to also shake the hand of his wife Faith Hill.  Staged, of course, but it was heartwarming and the teenager was obviously star struck.  (You can hear the song and see the moment here.)

She was discovered at the age of 15 by Toby Keith, who died last week of stomach cancer at the age of 62.  He signed her to his new record label, where she became a huge country star.  After experimenting quite a bit with country pop, in 2014 she recorded 1989 (named after the year of her birth), billed as “her first official pop album.”  From that time forward, she left country music behind for an even bigger career as a pop singer and songwriter.

But she would not have come this far if Toby Keith hadn’t given her her start.  It would be classy to issue a statement of some kind on the occasion of his death.  But, so far at least, she has said nothing.  The word is, she became alienated from Keith because of her fight with his record label over control of her songs, though Keith had sold out his share of the company a long time ago.  Or that she resented Keith’s macho patriotism and his feud with the Dixie Chicks for criticizing George W. Bush and the Iraq War.

She is getting criticism for her silence on the death of her former mentor.  Maybe she’ll relent after the distractions of the Super Bowl.  If you hear anything, let us know in the comments.

Iceland Builds a Pagan Temple

The dominant religion in Iceland is Christianity, mostly of the Lutheran variety,  though that often means the Lutheran-in-name-only of the liberal state church.  The second-most-practiced religion is Ásatrú, a revival of ancient Norse paganism.

Now the first pagan temple in 1,000 years is being built in Iceland.  It’s a modernistic structure, reminding me of the mainline Protestant church buildings that were put up in the 1960s.  Here is how an article on the temple describes it:

The mostly concrete structure of the 800-square-meter (8,600-square-foot) hof is already largely completed. Meant to evoke the journey into the Norse underworld, the temple is designed as a circle dug into the hill. Apertures in its domed roof, made of an open steel structure, will allow sunlight to illuminate the open hall below, where weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals will be held.

The first area to open will be the sanctum, or sacred space, which, along with space for “social facilities,” makes up about half of the building. Some of these facilities are ready, but the dome over the sanctum itself is still being built. The second phase, expected to be completed in 2026, will include more social facilities, a library, cafe and feast halls.

But this sounds like a mainline Protestant church!  “The primary religious ritual in Norse religion,” Wikipedia informs us, “appears to have been sacrifice.”  These included the sacrifice of both animals and human beings.

If this is an authentic pagan temple, where is the sacrificial altar?  Where are the pens for the dogs, oxen, cows, and other animals awaiting sacrifice?  Where are the rooms for the men, women, and children who will be offered up to the Norse gods?

This alleged revival of a pagan religion seems to be at best a highly liberal, highly non-traditional version of Ásatrú.  In fact, in its apparent beneficence it seems to have borrowed quite a bit from Christianity.

The article on the temple quotes one of the religion’s priests: “As for doctrine, ‘there is no revealed truth or strict commandments, only “polite recommendations.”‘”  How is that different from mainline Protestantism?  Or the Icelandic state church?

 Something Else Churches Have Stopped Teaching About

Emily Belz, whom I know from my days with World Magazine, now works for Christianity Today.  On the occasion of the SuperBowl, she was assigned to write about how churches address the vice of gambling.  In a newsletter (which I can’t find online), she tells the tale:

This week I tried to report a story on churches addressing sports betting around the Super Bowl, and I failed because there wasn’t much to report. I reached out to one organization I heard was working on the issue, and its representative asked whether I might want to do a story on human trafficking instead. I asked a large Christian counseling school if one of its faculty could talk about gambling addiction, and it said it didn’t have anyone who could speak on the topic. I asked a large church in Las Vegas, where the game is being held, and it also didn’t have resources. When I reported on this issue back in 2022, many of the Christian advocates against gambling were retired.

The story I couldn’t write because of lack of sources shows how disengaged the church is on this issue, which is what the research we published today from Lifeway shows.

The article Christianity Today finally came up with, a report from the Baptist research group Lifeway,  found that 55% of evangelical pastors believe gambling is immoral, but hardly any of them are teaching that to their congregations.

What do you think of that?  We Lutherans don’t usually make a big deal of lifestyle issues, such as drinking and smoking, that are not condemned as sinful in the Scriptures.  The Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) studied the matter in 1996 and issued a document entitled Gambling that takes an interesting approach.  It lists the actual sins that gambling can lead to: “Gambling encourages the sins of greed and covetousness.”  “Gambling works at cross purposes with a commitment to productive work.” “Gambling promotes the mismanagement of possessions entrusted to us by God.”  “Gambling is a potentially addictive behavior.” “Gambling threatens the welfare of our neighbor and militates against the common good.”  “Gambling undermines absolute reliance on God for His provision.”  (Though some gamblers I’ve heard ascribe their winnings to God blessing them.)

But the CTCR stops short of saying that all gambling, in itself, is sinful:

To safeguard the principle of Christian liberty, and in faithfulness to the sola scriptura principle, we must refrain from declaring that each and every act of gambling is in and of itself contrary to the Word of God and therefore sinful. This is not to diminish the potential for wrongdoing in the lives of those who gamble, but it is to say that individuals will need to exercise careful discernment in light of the scriptural concerns such as those raised in this document.

2024-01-19T17:25:16-05:00

The Supreme Court has just heard a case that might undo what has been called a “constitutional revolution.”

Forty years ago, in 1984, the Supreme Court issued a ruling called the “Chevron deference.”  In the case Chevron U.S.A. v. National Resources Defense Council, the court ruled that when laws are vague or ambiguous, federal agencies may decide how to apply them.  And that, in the words of the opinion written by Justice John Paul Stephens, “agenc[ies] may . . . properly rely upon the incumbent administration’s views of wise policy” Furthermore, courts should defer to the expertise of those agencies and not overrule their decisions.

The result has been a dramatic empowering of the federal bureaucracy.

According to Peter Wallison, a White House counsel under Ronald Reagan, the Chevron deference is “the single most important reason the administrative state has continued to grow out of control.”

Legal scholar Gary Lawson called it “nothing less than a bloodless constitutional revolution.”  This is because agencies of the Executive Branch can now issue regulations that have the force of law.  Even though the Constitution invests lawmaking powers solely in the Legislative Branch.  And whereas the Judicial Branch can overturn laws passed by the legislature, it “defers” to the equivalent laws imposed by the Executive Branch.

Making it worse, the Legislative and Judicial branches are fine with that.  In the words of a Wall Street Journal editorial [behind a paywall], “It’s not too much to say Chevron has corrupted all three branches of government. It lets Congress abdicate its duty to write clear laws, the bureaucracy to grab more power, and the courts to abandon their normal method of judicial review.”

The editorial adds, “Time for the High Court to restore constitutional equilibrium.”  That time may have come.

The court has heard arguments in two related cases, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce, in which two small New England fishing companies brought suit against its regulators.

The fishermen had to have monitors on their boats to make sure they were following all of the regulations.  They also had to pay the monitors, a sum that came to $780 per day, plus their food.  “I can’t even afford sometimes to pay my crew $780 a day,” complained one Maine fisherman, “but we’re paying monitors.”

Compounding the problem is that these monitors are typically not trained and experienced sailors, and yet working on a fishing boat is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.  “These guys are the ones that are fresh out of college,” said one skipper. “They got a couple of weeks of training online, and then they were brought out to sea with me, where I was responsible for keeping their safety.”  Once his boat was nearly blown on its side during a storm and he was on the verge of ordering his crew to abandon ship.  He would have had “to go down into the vessel to go after a child who’s having a panic attack.”

A story about the plight of the fishermen tells about the effects of this kind of over regulation.  From 70-85% of the seafood Americans consume is imported.  The article quotes some of the fishermen:

“It’s ridiculous that Icelandic fishermen can be off the coast of Iceland catching fish and then it goes on an airplane, lands in Boston, and becomes the fish and chips special at your local restaurant, when there’s perfectly good fish from the United States caught locally,” Odlin said. . . .

“The New England fishermen are the most regulated fishermen in the world, but you, the U.S. consumer, are buying product from nations that do not abide by those regulations,” Leeman said. “We’re getting killed for the sake of going green, but nobody else is.”

It isn’t that the fishermen are opposed to all regulation.  They just want it to be sensible, and they want to be involved:

Odlin said fishermen know best how to regulate the industry — and have a major interest in doing so.

“The last thing a fisherman wants to do is run out of fish,” Odlin said. “We want fish forever for our kids, for us.”

In the oral arguments, the justices seemed to be sympathetic to the fishermen and seemed open to the idea of overturning the Chevron deference, though others indicated a desire to preserve it, which is the position favored by the Biden administration. Some of the justices have previously spoken against it.  So there is a good chance Chevron will be overturned, though we probably won’t know the decision until the summer.

If it is, our three branches of government will suddenly have to start doing their jobs.

 

Illustration:  AI image generated by rawpixel, royalty free

2022-09-29T20:52:01-04:00

As we were discussing the Scandinavian economic system and the Lutheran perspective on politics, I stumbled upon a fascinating article, which led me to some other fascinating scholarship on the Lutheran influence on the distinctive Nordic combination of individualistic capitalism + a generous welfare state funded by high taxes.

It seems that there is, indeed, a distinctly Lutheran approach to capitalism that is different from the Calvinist approach to capitalism as practiced in the English-speaking world.  And a key factor is the difference between the Lutheran and the Reformed doctrine of vocation!

The article is by Mads Larsen of the University of Oslo and is entitled The Lutheran Imaginary That Underpins Social Democracy.

The word “imaginary,” as a noun, is a term in the social sciences meaning “the set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group and the corresponding society through which people imagine their social whole.”  We might say, using a more familiar term in Christian circles that means about the same thing, “world view.”

It has been said that if you want to look for Lutheran influence, we should look not to Germany–which was home not only to Lutherans but also Catholics, Calvinists, and Union churches that forced Calvinists and Lutherans together at the expense of both of their distinctives, as well as many other religious groups.  But in Scandinavia, for centuries after the Reformation, Lutheranism was just about the only form of Christianity that the Nordic monarchs allowed.  So the distinctly Lutheran cultural influence can be seen.

Larsen discusses the success of the Nordic model and how many Americans admire it, while confusing it with socialism.  But he says that it is not easily exportable because it is grounded in a specifically Lutheran worldview, which looks at economics and political systems in a different way than is common in countries shaped by Catholicism and Calvinism.  He writes, citing the work of other scholars [go to the link for the reference list],

Research reveals that the Nordic Model is undergirded by Lutheran norms and values (Stenius, 1997Kildal and Kuhnle, 2005). The Protestant creed that was nationally embraced only in the Nordic region promotes strong work ethics, egalitarianism, togetherness, and civil duty. These values result in high labor force participation, but also motivate a willingness to cooperate closely at the national level, and to pay high taxes to ensure economic independence for a higher proportion of the population than what is the case in cultures with a Calvinist or Catholic heritage (Kahl, 2009).

Under medieval Catholicism, salvation was, for all practical purposes, by good works, and perhaps the easiest way to rack up good works was by giving alms, so that the poor would line up after church services for the people to give them something.  Luther  taught that we are not saved not by the rote performance of good deeds but by faith in Christ’s atonement for our sins.  Taking care of the poor, Luther taught, should be the concern of the secular government, not the church, as such.  Luther’s view of the priesthood of all believers , which promoted the equality of individuals from all walks of life, was complemented by his teachings about the responsibilities of the state.

Martin Luther promoted that classes be united in a “priesthood of believers.” Such an egalitarian community was to be led by a king who, as head of a powerful state church, should secure every subject’s salvation, but also their education and well-being. The state was meant to “guarantee the existence of a just society,” thus unifying spiritual and secular care. Everyone was responsible for contributing to a state within which all people, from king to beggar, are united by the “common good.” In Catholic societies, the Church was responsible for the poor. Their imaginary promoted that rich people give alms to ease their own way into heaven. The Lutheran safety net was a secular, local, and communal responsibility grounded in “neighborly love” (Lausten, 1995). To provide for those in need, the Lutheran Church, the rich, and regular people pooled resources in a “common fund,” which was the practical expression of poverty relief as a shared responsibility (Tønnessen, 2017).

That “neighborly love,” of course, is at the heart of the doctrine of vocation.  Luther stressed the importance of work, but its purpose is not self-aggrandizement but helping others.

Luther was more skeptical of business ventures and wealthy people. His “employment ethic” contrasts the Calvinist “work ethic.” Instead of promoting hard work to succeed economically, Luther emphasized that employment itself is paramount, as any job can help people feel a sense of ordinariness, fulfillment, and moral satisfaction (McKowen, 2020).

That’s a striking dichtomy:  Luther’s “employment ethic” vs. Calvin’s “work ethic”!  As Max Weber shows, Calvinists often saw wealth as a sign of God’s favor.  Whereas Luther warned against the dangers of wealth.  The Calvinist view of vocation tends to focus on self-fulfillment, employing one’s talents, honoring God, and the moral imperative of the “work ethic.”  Luther’s view of vocation emphasizes how God works through us to provide what others need and that the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve our neighbors.

So in a culture shaped by the “Lutheran imaginary,” workers of all kinds feel an obligation to not only work hard but to care for their fellow citizens and don’t mind paying lots of taxes to enable their government to take care of everyone.  Larsen insists that this is a “liberal” model, valuing individualism, free market economics, and personal freedom–not socialist, and certainly not Marxist, since it emphases co-operation between all levels of society, not class conflict.  “From a liberal perspective,” he comments, “the Nordics’ large-government, high-taxation model restricts individual freedom. From a Nordic perspective, this model makes meaningful freedom possible for more individuals in a given population” (Hänninen et al., 2019).

Larsden supports his thesis by explicating a number of Scandinavian novels and films, which depict a conflict between “good Lutheranism vs. bad Calvinism,” both portrayed in terms of their attitude towards the poor and their social responsibilities.

It turns out, a whole book has been written on this subject, one that connects the dots between Lutheranism and the modern “social democracy.” It’s entitled Lutheranism and the Nordic Spirit of Social Democracy: A Different Protestant Ethic (2017) by University of Maryland political economist Robert H. Nelson.  (See the review by Mark Mattes.)

He goes so far as to engage Max Weber’s pioneering study The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.  If Calvinism gave us capitalism, as Weber argued, Larsen says that Lutheranism gave us social democracy.

And yet, Larsen says that social democracy as practiced in the Scandinavian countries amounts to “secular Lutheranism.”  That is to say, the supernatural dimension of the theology has faded with the prevailing secularism.  But the social teachings of Lutheranism remain.  Indeed, they take the place of the supernatural church, with citizens finding meaning and transcendent purpose in caring for others and in their social solidarity.

It is as if they are taking Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, but they reject the Eternal Kingdom–with the Gospel, the Word of God, and salvation for everlasting life–while still living in accord with the Temporal Kingdom–with vocation, love of neighbor, and its ideal of benevolent government.

Secular Lutheranism is emphatically not the same as religious Lutheranism.  Justification by grace through faith is the article upon which the church stands or falls.  A so-called Lutheranism without the Gospel is an empty shell.  Social democracy without the faith that originally inspired it is also an empty shell.  One wonders how long it can be sustained without any kind of spiritual foundation.  It becomes just another moralism, another confusion of Law and Gospel, another mingling of the Kingdoms, breeding complacency and self-righteousness and evading the need for salvation by Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, many Americans, both conservatives and progressives, are searching for an economic system that is both free and humane.  Combining free markets with caring for others is the model that many  people today are looking for.  The answer may lie not in Lutheran socialism, but in Lutheran capitalism.

 

Photo:  Nordic Flags [clockwise from left: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, & Iceland] by miguelb from Prince Rupert, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

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