Enjoying quarantine: something for those with more time on their hands, and something for those with kids

There are some of you who have found yourselves with more time on your hands than you had before Covid-19 emerged. According to the media, some of you are finding this to be a hellish experience. As someone doing home quarantine with a high-energy 3-year-old and a 6-month-old, I find this difficult to imagine, but… Continue reading Enjoying quarantine: something for those with more time on their hands, and something for those with kids

A life online

Today our church met for the first time online. I don’t mean that we listened to a band, and then listened to a sermon as they appeared in a one-way ‘livestream.’ We met (via Zoom) and sang together, we learned a Jesus story, we discussed a Psalm, and we prayed together. It wasn’t quite like… Continue reading A life online

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Why I’m celebrating Advent for the first time by fasting Twitter

This December is the first time I’ve observed Advent. I mean really intentionally observed it. While I love this season as much as anyone, I usually don’t make the most of it. I’m usually distracted by whatever it is I’m working on and, by the time Christmas comes around, I get swept up in whatever… Continue reading Why I’m celebrating Advent for the first time by fasting Twitter

How anti-racism strategies can backfire

While reading about refugee children in Sweden, I came across a study by Ann Runfors which looked at the way that schools on the multicultural margins of Swedish society instil identity in those they teach. What Runfors found was that while the schools she visited worked hard to avoid emphasising the differences between people, with… Continue reading How anti-racism strategies can backfire

Sweden’s new class system

A short time ago I visited a Syrian family with a friend of mine. My friend is an engineer and had decided to help this family’s two sons with their maths homework. Our time with the family was lovely. We got there and the two sons were ready to get started right away. They started… Continue reading Sweden’s new class system

Why silencing Jordan B. Peterson does little for our public debate

I grew up thinking that universities were places where ideas could be discussed, challenged, contested, and ultimately improved. I thought that they were places where anyone was welcome and where rigour of thought and evidence were valued more highly than political biases. In this marketplace of debates, I assumed that populism and partisanship would be… Continue reading Why silencing Jordan B. Peterson does little for our public debate

The one who got sent back

In my last post I mentioned the young men I spoke to who had converted to Christianity within the Church of Sweden. What I failed to mention was one young man, Amir*, who converted to Christianity, was then deported, but returned to Sweden a second time in order to seek asylum. Amir had lived in… Continue reading The one who got sent back