Overheard at the Swedish Church – or more reasons for God to hate Sweden

So it's about an hour until the Rapture, but I'm pretty sure there aren't going to be too many floaters here in Sweden. (if you haven't heard – look here).

As I wrote earlier, I don't spend a lot of time in church, or to be more honest I don't spend any time in church, unless it is a special occasion. But recently, I attended a family member's confirmation – and it was quite the experience.

Part of this church confirmation's program was to write and put on a skit demonstrating an important tenet of Christianity. The group chose The Ten Commandments and acted out each commandment to illustrate what we shouldn't be doing.

But at one point the reverend stopped and said 'This next part is a little controversial, but we agreed that children should have the freedom to express themselves.'

The Commandment? Don't take the Lord's name in vain.

The sketch? Two teenage boys who said something along the lines of 'Goddamn it, what the hell is this shit? This is some screwed up shit, God I've never seen anything this Goddamn shitty.'

And then, God steps onto the stage and says 'I really don't like it when you use my name like that.'

'Oh Sorry.” Say the boys. God hugs them.

Now, as a non-believer, I was embarrassed to hear this kind of language used in a church. I may use language like that a lot in my daily life, but I guess it just made me feel a bit sad. Like the Swedish church is trying so hard to be hip, they are willing to sacrifice their own beliefs.

But maybe it's just because, having grown up with the Religious Right in the US – I always have a hard time knowing where I stand with the Swedish church. See I know the RR just wants to save my soul, and they will do anything in their power to rescue me. OK – that's sweet of them, but I'm not interested.

The Swedish church? They just want me to hang out, have some coffee, maybe a cinnamon roll – but really, if it's not my community, I don't really get it.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a great apocalypse.

Socialism Will Be the Death of Economic Growth - SHHHH Don't tell Sweden!

If you believe what the American media, or at least the loudest bunch of people screaming in the US at the moment, socialism is the death of all that is good in our beautiful capitalistic world of free love or wait, that was free commerce.

And while I don't want to make this blog too political, the news from the Swedish business world this week sings a slightly different tune. I think this must be because someone forgot to tell the Swedes how terrible Socialism is for the market or something.

According to this article not only is the Swedish economy recovering from the latest financial downward spiral, it is growing by leaps and bounds, 5.5% growth for 2010. New jobs are everywhere. Companies are seeing a huge upswing in sales. The crown is strong. The economy is growing. 

All this despite the strong unions in this country, the high taxes, the five week vacations.

What could it be? A deal with the devil? (We already know that God Hates Sweden). Why do Swedes bother to go to work at all? When they could be lying at home on the sofa being cared for by their Nanny State?

 Things like this continue to frustrate a certain side of American politics, but not too much, because they never actually read about these things because FoxNews doesn't write about them.

OK, political rant over. And while I am highly skeptical of a sustainable growth in perpetuity - and the crazy amount of loans my generation is being saddled with due to the extortionist prices of housing - I am glad that things seem to be going well for Sweden.