Ed Keer | nordic news
Here are stories I've collected from the Swedish press and translated for your enjoyment.
- Wanted children-didn't know how it was done
- Fewer Swedes believe in heaven and hell
- 'Negro ball' is offensive but Sk�ne bakery is not fined
Wanted children-didn't know how it was done
After 8 years the married German couple gave up. Their desire to have children brought them to a fertility clinic in L�beck. But the examination showed that neither the husband or the wife had any medical conditions that would make them infertile.
"When we asked them how often they had sex, they looked confused and asked us what we meant," said a spokesperson from the clinic.
According to the clinic, the husband (36) and wife (30) had grown up in a religious environment and didn't know what a married couple should do if they wanted to have children. The couple is now taking sex education courses while the university clinic in L�beck looks for other couples in the same situation.
March 19, 2004
Aftonbladet
Fewer Swedes believe in heaven and hell
Only a small majority of Swedes who are active believers believe in heaven. Even fewer believe in hell.
Demoskop has asked nearly 1800 swedes about their beliefs about the afterlife. Among those who answered who were active faithful, 47 percent answered that they did not believe in hell while 18 percent were uncertain. 53 percent do not believe that Satan exists.
In the same group of active believers, 85 percent believe in god. Only 82 percent believe that Jesus existed according to the research that was published in the newspaper Nya Dagen (New Day).
On the question of heaven, 64 percent of the active believers think it exists. 60 percent believe in a life after death and 57 percent believe in an undying soul.
Theologians interviewed by the newspaper were not surprised that many active believers doubt the existence of heaven and hell. Heaven and hell are seen as conditions that exist on earth. Belief in the eternal fires of hell has begun to weaken and belief in heaven as a place is not as certain today.
The research was commissioned by the think tank Centre for Analysis of Contemporaneity.
The active believers in the research consisted of 94 percent protestants, 3 percent Catholics, 1 percent Greek-orthodox and Russian-orthodox, 1 percent muslims, and 1 percent buddhists.
September 11, 2003
Svenska Dagbladet
>'Negro ball' is offensive but Sk�ne bakery is not fined
Selling your chocolate balls as "negro balls" can become an expensive proposition. The Ombudsman for Discrimination (OD) will institute fines of 100,000 SEK ($14,000) for companies that sell their baked goods as negro balls. In spite of that, the OD has has decided not to pursue charges against the the Sj�bo bakery that was reported last summer.
In July of last year someone noticed that a bakery in Sj�bo had the controversial name negro ball on a sign. After she tried in vain to get the shop to change the name of their baked goods, she turned to the OD.
The complaint was one of 700 complaints about ethnic and religious discrimination that came into OD last year. Some complaints are noticed more than others. The woman's complaint about whether it is ok to call the the little round baked good "negro balls" has drawn a lot of attention and the OD has received many comments. Margareta Wadstein (ombudsman) is surprised. "I didn't think it was very important. But the interest generated shows that people don't accept words that can be regarded as disparaging and insulting to another person," she said.
The question tested the new law which became effective July 1, 2003. The law forbids discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or physical disability when goods or services are marketed. The law affects all people within the EU and is meant to get people to rethink and reevaluate the use of words which can be offensive to some people.
After six months deliberation, the DO is closing the case. The case is being closed because the complaintant has not herself been disparaged, something which the law requires. But at the same time, the DO explains that if someone had felt personally insulted by the sign and filed a complaint, it could have led to the bakery having to pay a fine.
"It is up to the courts to decide whether the word 'negro' is discriminatory. But I think the ruling would stand," says ombudsman Margareta Wadstein.
The DO believes that the name negro ball should not be used at all, nor should the word negro be used in combination with other words. That way people will avoid insulting the worth of other people. To defend use of the word by saying "It's what we've always said," doesn't work either according to the DO.
Margareta Wadstein explains that the word negro, because of its historical background, is strongly connected to slavery, oppression and lack of respect for the equality of others. She says that there is also a broad desire among people of color to avoid the label and that a good starting point when you want to describe or label a person is to do just as the person themselves wishes. Words like African or Black are not disparaging. The DO even recommends not using the word lapp for people of Sami origin, nor the word gypsy for people of romany origin.
"Those who continue to use the term 'negro ball' don't understand the seriousness of insulting a person's or a whole group's humanity," says DO Margareta Wadstein. Although the DO isn't saying that someone who uses the word must be a racist or have bad intentions. Rather it's use can be the result of ignorance or thoughtless. Is it now illegal to use negro ball?
"You won't break the law simply by using the word. But as a food purveyor, to market something as a negro ball can offend another person. The risk is then large that that can lead to a crime," says Margareta Wadstein.
The Sj�bo bakery refused to comment.
January 23, 2004
Sydsvenskan