Norway is increasingly secular. The numbers of registered "Christians" are massively inflated because until recently, you were enrolled in the state Lutheran church at birth unless your parents opted out. But on an average Sunday, those state churches play host to 2-5% of the local registered Lutherans. Actual practicing Christians are a…
Norway is increasingly secular. The numbers of registered "Christians" are massively inflated because until recently, you were enrolled in the state Lutheran church at birth unless your parents opted out. But on an average Sunday, those state churches play host to 2-5% of the local registered Lutherans. Actual practicing Christians are a (sizeable) minority, mostly in other Protestant denominations.
Norway has three main reasons for a lack of pushback:
1. The government has a high level of trust, and this is actually deserved in many ways. They don't govern by histrionics, but by teamwork and compromise. Corruption and crime are low compared to other countries, both in government and the populace at large. Their approach to Covid was actually much more reasonable than most western countries.
2. The unofficial "Law of Jante" which is basically a culture of social conformity. Norwegians don't like to stick out from the herd.
3. The average standard of living is much higher than most of the world, even among western countries, and resources are relatively evenly distributed. So people are generally very content with their lives and don't want to rock the boat.
So basically, Norway is already a social democratic nanny state in many ways, but it's been a pretty good nanny so far. But this means that the entire country is rolling along the rails towards totalitarianism, and most of the citizens are just admiring the scenery rather than trying to change directions.
Norway is increasingly secular. The numbers of registered "Christians" are massively inflated because until recently, you were enrolled in the state Lutheran church at birth unless your parents opted out. But on an average Sunday, those state churches play host to 2-5% of the local registered Lutherans. Actual practicing Christians are a (sizeable) minority, mostly in other Protestant denominations.
Norway has three main reasons for a lack of pushback:
1. The government has a high level of trust, and this is actually deserved in many ways. They don't govern by histrionics, but by teamwork and compromise. Corruption and crime are low compared to other countries, both in government and the populace at large. Their approach to Covid was actually much more reasonable than most western countries.
2. The unofficial "Law of Jante" which is basically a culture of social conformity. Norwegians don't like to stick out from the herd.
3. The average standard of living is much higher than most of the world, even among western countries, and resources are relatively evenly distributed. So people are generally very content with their lives and don't want to rock the boat.
So basically, Norway is already a social democratic nanny state in many ways, but it's been a pretty good nanny so far. But this means that the entire country is rolling along the rails towards totalitarianism, and most of the citizens are just admiring the scenery rather than trying to change directions.