Church of Sweden closes churches for the sake of "climate justice"
The Church of Sweden is closing historic churches for ecological reasons. Photo: Jorchr, Wikipedia Commons
The Lutheran Church of Sweden has decided to close seven historic churches on the island of Gotland from October to May. The reason: discontinuing the use of fossil fuels for heating as part of its climate agenda, reports Lifesitenews.
According to Sveriges Radio, the church authorities on Gotland were unable to secure funds to transition to alternative energy sources. Meanwhile, the Church's official "climate roadmap" mandates the complete abandonment of fossil fuels by the end of 2027.
Because it is too expensive to switch to other energy sources for heating, the pastorate of the town of Romakloster decided to close down the churches because they could not be heated for church services.
“People are disappointed, but I don’t really know what else to do,” said Mathias Eldnor, the cemetery and property manager for Romakloster’s pastorate.
Swedish journalist Peter Imanuelsen commented on the church closures: "The Church of Sweden is very progressive. For example, some years ago the encouraged clergy to use gender neutral language when talking about God, despite the Bible being very clear that God is masculine."
“Now they are essentially engaging in climate lockdowns,” he added.
"Seems to me that the woke climate cult religion is more important for them now than Christianity," Imanuelsen concluded.
Church leadership states in its climate roadmap that "knowledge of climate justice must permeate all activities of the Church of Sweden."
Over the past 50 years, the percentage of Swedes belonging to the Church of Sweden has declined from 95.2% to 52.8% of the population. Additionally, only 19% of formal church members identify as believers, making Sweden one of the most secularized countries in the world.
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