DistantNews
Support us
🇩🇰 Denmark /Culture & Society

Alex Vanopslagh is right about something in Christianity. But he overlooks what happens when faith and power share an address

From Berlingske · () Danish

Translated from Danish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Named sources Context piece
  • Economist Jeanet Sinding Bentzen challenges Alex Vanopslagh’s account of Christianity’s role in creating a free and prosperous Denmark.
  • She argues that the debate should also examine what happens when religious belief and political power become closely intertwined.
  • The article is an opinion piece reflecting the writer’s own views.

The danger is not that Danes believe. It comes when the state begins interfering in what they are supposed to believe, economist Jeanet Sinding Bentzen argues in a debate piece published by Berlingske.

Her intervention responds to Alex Vanopslagh’s new book, “The Invisible Spirit,” in which he calls for the revitalization of religious education and the restoration of “a cultivated, meaningful life” within a bourgeois-liberal view of humanity.

The dangerous moment is not when Danes believe. It is when the state begins interfering in what they are supposed to believe.

· Jeanet Sinding BentzenThe central argument of her opinion piece about the relationship between religion and the state.

Bentzen questions Vanopslagh’s account of Denmark’s history. Did Christianity create the free and wealthy Denmark he describes, she asks, or does his book rewrite the past by selecting the Christian values that fit a liberal narrative?

She says she has spent 15 years measuring what religion does to societies. In her view, the debate needs a third question alongside the familiar arguments about belief and values: What happens when faith and power share an address?

a cultivated, meaningful life

· Alex VanopslaghA phrase from Vanopslagh’s new book, cited in the discussion of Christian education and liberal values.
About this summary

Originally published by Berlingske in Danish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog