Can a Muslim belong to the Church of Sweden?

The ‘Lutheran Muslim’ Muharrem Demirok is the proposed new party leader for the Centre Party. The Swedish Christian daily Dagen spoke with him about the subject since his church membership has become a talking point in Swedish society. Some think it is illogical and unreasonable to be a Muslim and a member of the Church of Sweden. Others have come out to defend the right to belong to a folk church without signing its entire confession.

Proud

Demirok has a Swedish mother and a Turkish father. He was born and raised in Sweden. “The fact that I became a member (of the Church, ed.) is not a choice I made myself, but I became one when I was born”, explains Demirok. “However, I have made an active choice not to leave.”

Nowadays, the Swedish politician does not think he should have been allowed to become a member since he is not baptised. “But I hope they want to keep me because I am proud to be a member of the Church of Sweden.”

However, at the same time, Demirok also calls himself a Muslim. “For lack of better words, I am used to say cultural Muslim, but at some point, I have also tried secular Muslim”, he explains. “I am not very religious or practising, but I was born in a Muslim culture because my father comes from Turkey.”

Alongside Muslim holidays, Demirok also celebrates Christian holidays. He doubts about his beliefs: “I have a belief in God, but it becomes a bit of an agnostic about the whole thing.”

The future leader of the Centre Party then says that he has enormous respect for those who nevertheless believe in God. He has many examples in his life of how the Church has given hope and comfort to people who have sought it. “As a municipal politician, I have seen that it is not primarily the municipality that people turn to in difficult times, but the church.”

Woke

Although Demirok does not see any problems in having a dual-religious connection, others do. Elisabeth Sandlund, a columnist for Dagen, blames the Church of Sweden. According to her, social services from the Church are important, but the most important role of the Church is to bring people to believe in Christ and live in faith. “As long as Demirok defines himself as a Muslim and other members as atheists, the Church of Sweden has thus failed in its basic task, no matter how much effort is put into doing good.”

Other critics target Demirok himself. The Liberal MP Robert Hannah claims to understand why Demirok was chosen as leader of the Centre Party: “There is nothing more woke than being a Muslim and a member of the Church of Sweden. The Center Party has moved away from liberalism to make woke a super ideology just like the Church of Sweden.”

Heritage

There is also support for Demirok. In an op-ed in Expressen, theologian Joel Halldorf writes that over 60 per cent of the Swedes is member of the Church of Sweden. However, that number is much higher than people who “go to church, pray or even believe in God”. Halldorf argues that you can be a member of the Church of Sweden “because you want to preserve your connection to a heritage. The Church of Sweden simply lets people join on their terms.”