Is Political Correctness a Religion?

A Swedish political scientist named Katarina Barrling came out in 2024 with a book in Swedish that should be of interest to everyone who wants to understand our Western contemporary times: “The World’s Most Protestant Country” (“Världens mest protestantiska land”).

Barrling believes that modern Sweden’s political and ideological discussions are characterized by a strong religiosity and above all by a strong Protestantism. When Swedes believe that they must stand up for the right to asylum or that they must save the climate – under the leadership of the world-famous Greta Tunberg – they fall back into a Protestant way of thinking where everyone is responsible for his own salvation and where faith alone (“sola fide”) will lead to salvation and righteousness.

Katarina Barrling appears in many ways as a conservative thinker and the book’s message can be summed up in the idea that the religious should be handled by our traditional religions and that politics should be managed more rationally. But since the real religion, the Christian faith, has lost status and credibility in modern society, religious thought seeks new domains. Therefore, politics has become moral. Politics has become a matter of good and evil, of right and wrong, of decency and indecency, and of believing or not believing.

Sweden has long been regarded as one of the world’s most secular countries. On the famous map (world value survey) that the researchers Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel produced to illustrate the different cultural spheres that exist in the world, we find the special sphere that includes the Western European Protestant nations extended to the right. In countries such as Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, values ​​that highlight the individual at the expense of the collective are highly valued, as are values ​​that express individual self-realization rather than survival. And at the far end and up the map we find Sweden. No other country has gone as far in individual self-realization as Sweden. And thus, for example, religion has also lost importance.

Nevertheless, Katarina Barrling believes, Sweden is so strongly marked by religious thinking. But it is not the official religion that houses this thinking, but politics.

For 500 years, Sweden has been characterized by pure Lutheranism. Under the Swedish king Gustav I (who reigned between 1523 and 1560), the country abandoned Catholicism and embraced the teachings of Martin Luther. The king had a concrete and material interest in the Catholic Church not having any influence over Swedish politics and economy and that he himself and thus the Swedish state could get their hands on the church’s properties.

But perhaps it was also the case that Protestantism’s emphasis on work ethics and individual responsibility suited the Swedes. Perhaps it was no coincidence that Protestantism arose in northwestern Europe and became so successful there. However, over time, the Church of Sweden merged with the Swedish state and the two did not separate until the year 2000. Until then, all Swedes automatically became members of the Church of Sweden when they were born. Sweden had a state religion and according to the Swedish constitution the Swedish monarch must still profess the Lutheran faith.

But what makes everything more complicated is also that Sweden during the 20th century was at the forefront of the new modernity. The Swedes became less and less religious, less and less dependent on traditionalist thinking and traditional social ties. Many now associated Sweden with equality, female liberation and modernized sexual morality. And at the same time, Sweden followed an international trend where enlightenment, science and critical thinking increasingly displaced traditional Christian thinking.

Today there are many Swedes who have no contact whatsoever with any church. “Christians” are almost seen as a suspicious group in society who are not quite like the others and who can be made fun of. The Church of Sweden has lost many members (although the downward trend has now been somewhat reversed) and the formerly numerous evangelical free churches are no longer as numerous or active.

But, says Katarina Barrling, all this does not mean that the Swedes have abandoned religious thinking or perhaps even religious faith. Because concepts such as goodness, purity and faith still have an important role to play in Swedish society. Now, however, it is not on Sundays in church that you get to hear these words or encounter these concepts, but in everyday political conversation.

Swedish politics has long been characterized by what is called “political correctness”. This has applied to immigration, but also to climate work and gender equality. What Barrling means is that the politically correct has taken over the role that was previously filled by the religiously – or more specifically Christian and Protestant – correct. Now it is not in the formally religious sphere of society that the Christian ideals of the good, the right and the pure and naive faith are to be realized but in the political sphere and in the formally secularized social sphere in general.

Let’s take the example of the climate threat.

Climate change has long been described as a sign of an impending apocalypse. Doom is approaching. The last day is at the door. The flood of sin has begun to flow. Because of our ungodly living, the world will soon be flooded with a wave that will wash away our sins. But there is still time for repentance. We can still make improvements.

This message has been conveyed above all by a young and innocent child named Greta Thunberg. She is of course internationally known and has not only played a role in Sweden, but it is perhaps typical that she comes from a country where the religious has taken over the political.

Greta Thunberg’s message went roughly as follows. Salvation is possible. But we must get rid of our riches. We must believe in the prophet Greta, we must believe in the good. And there are no possible compromises. Good faith and good deeds will save us. And it is good that people are tormented by pangs of conscience. Because pure faith teaches us that we must not compromise. We must avoid flying, eating meat, consuming, heating our houses. To enjoy is to sin. To be rich is to sin. Poverty and renunciation are the way to salvation.

There are other issues where the religious component appears just as strong. Swedish migration policy was long governed by an unattainable ideal of boundless solidarity. Faith, hope and love were the ideas that governed politics. They believed in the good. One hoped for the best and the love for our fellow human beings would stand above all else.

Katarina Barrling believes that modern Swedish politics has been characterized more by Christian ideals than by the ideals that existed in Greco-Roman antiquity. According to Aristotle, the good is to be found in a beneficial balance between conflicting principles. Stoics and Epicureans tried in different ways to manage the world with the help of distance and moderation. This is missing to some extent in the Christian ethics based on the Sermon on the Mount because it in some sense advocates a one-dimensional goodness. Love and goodness shall conquer all.

Katarina Barrling urges, above all, not to make politics a religion. The art of politics cannot consist in practicing uncompromising principles of goodness. Politics is about making reasonable trade-offs. And sometimes politics even must be about compromising the good.

If we are to make a conservative interpretation of Katarina Barrling’s exciting book, it might be about the fact that no society can erase the religious from its soul. And therefore, it is perhaps better that our traditional religions may continue to harbor religious thinking, while politics may be just politics.