Religious Freedom and Diverting the Narrative

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This is a translation of an opinion piece I wrote, published in Kymen Sanomat on the 4th of June 2021 (3rd of June on the website). Link to the original here:

https://www.kymensanomat.fi/paakirjoitus-mielipide/4170575


For context: Suvivirsi (Den blomstertid nu kommer in Swedish) is a popular church hymn in Finland and Sweden. Due to its lyrics which celebrate the coming of Summer, it has become a popular songs in end of the year celebrations in schools. As you might guess, singing a blatantly religious song schools is something that many people oppose and as a result, Suvivirsi, while a time honored tradition, has become a topic of intense debate, which unfortunately seems to derail the wider discussion on the role of religion in general.


Facebook recently brought up memories from three years ago, when I had an argument on Twitter about Suvivirsi. Now that the school year is about to end I think it's the perfect time to talk about it again.

Due to the religious nature of it’s lyrics, I personally see Suvivirsi as a problematic song to sing in schools. That being said, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. In 2014 the parliament's Constitutional Committee stated that religious content doesn’t automatically make the event itself religious in nature. Not only that but Suvivirsi seems to steal attention from more serious problems with religious freedom.

To this day, many schools in Finland require their students to go to church during certain events like Christmas. Non-church members are supposed to have alternative activities organized for them but at least when I was still in school that didn’t always happen. 

Religious education is to this day divided based on religious affiliation. But while non-church members have the option to participate in religious education, this does not work the other way around. Why? As far as I know, the point of school is not to enforce religious views. At this somebody will object and say that religious education is not confessional in nature. Fair enough, but if that’s the case, why bother with the divide in the first place? Couldn’t you just have a common subject for everybody?

When it comes to religious freedom, Finland still has many problems. That probably shouldn’t be surprising considering we still have two religious organizations that have a special status under law. Suvivirsi is the least of our problems. Obviously it’s a topic that deserves to be discussed but oftentimes it only seems to derail the discussion to something that in the grand scheme of things doesn’t really matter.

So let Suvivirsi be. We genuinely have better things to worry about. 


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