Stockholm Cathedral. Photo by Jürgen Howaldt. |
During a church service in Stockholm's Cathedral (Storkyrkan) preceding the opening of parliament (Riksdag), the bishop of the diocese of Stockholm delivered a sermon about the ills of racism and xenophobia. Here is what the bishop reportedly said, among other things:
“Yesterday evening thousands of people gathered in Stockholm and in various parts of the country to make their voices heard. To call out their disgust at that which divides people. The racism that says that you don’t have as much worth as I do; that you shouldn’t have the same rights as me; aren’t worthy of living in freedom..."Sweden Democrats' parliamentary delegation considered the sermon to be an attack against them, hence walked out of church in protest.
The party has tried over the years to distance itself from racism and xenophobia, but its manifesto suggest otherwise.
While it is true that this walk out in protest against a racism sermon could be attributed to an attempt by Sweden Democrats to score political points, it is also true that racism and xenophobia have no place in a free society and should be unequivocally denounced wherever "two or three" lawmakers are gathered.
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