Velferdsstaten - en snittet blomst

The cultural landscape around Billerud at Toten by Lake Mjøsa in August of 2025. Stock-bilde | Adobe Stock

"Thanks for letting me know about the book "Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment, by Phil Zuckerman"! His statement is absolutely rubbish, as before the Welfare State we had the Welfare Pietism, which was an extremely strong movement in the Scandinavian countries. In Sweden they had Carl Olof Rosenius, where his journal Pietisten was the by far most read magazine in Scandinavia, no newspaper came even close. Too they had the troubadour Oscar Ahnfelt, who sang the songs of Lina Sandell. These were really superstars in Scandinavia in the 19th century!

In Norway we had Hans Nielsen Hauge and the Haugianerne, where the respected historian Berge Furre ranks Hauge as the most important Norwegian of modern Norway, where nobody comes close. Hauge and his followers industrialized Norway and gave us freedom of movement, speech and gathering.

Unfortunately Welfare Pietism was replaced by the Welfare State after WWI and WWII, but it was the Pietists spirit, which was the foundation that made the Welfare State function for so long.

Anyway, the Welfare State was just a flower cut of from its roots, which was Welfare Pietism, and now it has withered and died. To live in Scandinavia now is an utterly Hell, with no meaning, belonging and community left at all!" - PermaLiv

Her kommer mer ved anledning...

"Oh, I forgot to tell, one time the enemies of Rosenianerne, the Pietist movement of Sweden, accused Oscar Ahnfelt for sedition. He then had to stand for the king, where the king wanted to hear him sing. The king was moved to tears, and just sent him away, telling Oscar Ahnfelt he and his companions could sing, play and work wherever they wanted in his kingdom of Sweden and Norway.

As I told you, the Welfare Pietists controlled the media and the narrative in Scandinavia of the 19th century, just like the Welfare State does today. They started publishers and factories, of which several still exist. So the Scandinavians probably were the most educated Christians of the whole world, when the Welfare State took over their good work.

Unfortunately Pax Islamica or dar al-salam seems to become the successor of the Welfare State, a steady slope downwards from the glorious days of the Welfare Pietists." - PermaLiv

Det kom visst litt mer med det samme, da jeg syntes jeg også burde nevne episoden hvor Oscar Ahnfelt sang for kongen, da denne episoden neppe er særlig kjent i den engelsktalende verden.

Ja, ja, det kommer vel litt til også ved anledning, får vi tro?