In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, one of the Bs in the seventies pop group ABBA - Bjӧrn Ulvaeus - talked about his views on religion.
“Religion is the root of so much misery in the world and I’ve always thought there is lack of criticism against it,” the 68-year-old said. His native country Sweden is often named as one of the least religious nations in the world, and Ulvaeus points to this lack of belief as a suitable basis for creativity: “Sweden is an open, liberal, secular and democratic country,” Ulvaeus said. “We strive towards achieving equality, we are forward-looking and refuse to be pulled back by social constructs, such as religion."
The musician is known for being an active member of Humanisterna, the Swedish humanist association, and for publicly criticising religion. In 2007, he co-authored an unsuccessful appeal to the Swedish government to abolish the Religious Freedom Act. In 2009, he wrote another unsuccessful plea to stop faith-based private schools from being funded with tax money.
While Ulvaeus stresses that his criticism is not directed towards particular individuals or faiths, his most recent interview made headlines mainly for his comments on Islam. “Look at all the misery in the Middle East for example. All these countries have Islam in common, and far too few dare to criticise Islam as an ideology, and what it’s doing to these countries,” he stated.
Ulvaeus’ attempts to uphold the Swedish secularism might be praiseworthy, but I doubt that many would argue that Islam is behind all the troubles in the Middle East. Extremist and fundamentalist strands of the faith certainly go against human rights and freedoms in many Middle Eastern countries, but naming Islam as a common factor behind the diverse issues of several nations overlooks important reasons for a specific country's difficulties. Ulvaeus seems to know this too: “I know I might get punched in the face for saying these things,” he admits, “but my conviction is that less religion in the world would be better.” Surely the world could do with less religion, and no faith should be sheltered from criticism. But, attributing all misery in the Middle East to Islam does little to promote Ulvaeus' brand of Swedish "ideology free and objective" secular society in the wider world.
