Music | "Christian traits cannot be cleansed from our environment", writes bishop Teemu Laajasalo.
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| Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (centre), Krista Mikkonen (green) and Markus Lohi (centre). (Photo: Magazine photo) |
Compiled by Katri Kallionpää HS
Nov 9 2024
NOT LIKE THIS! Now something to understand! Finland is messed up!
The cancellation of a baroque concert in a primary school due to religious content has caused several MPs to get angry and vent their anger on the X message service.
Helsingin Sanomat reported on Friday that the concert planned for the elementary school in Uusimaa was canceled because it was supposed to perform parts of Handel's famous Messiah oratorio, which is based on the texts of the Bible.
"Not like this! What kind of society is it where schoolchildren don't get to hear a baroque concert and get to know cultural history?" asks Social Security Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (Kok).
According to him, "such oversensitivity does not protect rights, but limits opportunities".
The CANCELED concert would have been a joint performance of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Choir.
The organizers believe that the reason behind the cancellation is a recently reported case from Hämeenlinna.
There, the city is recommended to pay a compensation of 1,500 euros for the discrimination of a non-religious elementary school student. In 2022, the concert performed for elementary school children featured religious songs, the subjects of which, according to the applicant for compensation, were death, crucifixion and the atonement of sins through Christianity, among other things.
"Christian traits cannot be cleansed from our environment."
REPRESENTATIVE Timo Heinonen (cok) describes the direction of society in X as "dangerous and crazy".
"This situation must now be clarified and legislation and/or guidelines changed if necessary," he says.
"It's starting to be a joke," states Mika Aaltola (Kok), a member of the European Parliament. "Did we think about giving up our cultural heritage in education and schools?" he adds.
"Lord my blood. This doesn't make any sense," says Turku mayor Minna Arve (kok).
The Green MP Krista Mikkonen also reminds that Finnish culture is intertwined with Christianity. "It can be seen especially in old works, from compositions to visual arts. Listening or watching them is not practicing or proclaiming religion, it is increasing civilization," he states.
The residents of the center are also the victims.
"Have people gone completely crazy? You can no longer listen to Bach and Handel in schools?" asks the vice-chairman of the centre, MP Markus Lohi. In his opinion, "educated people make themselves a laughing stock".
"Now something to understand!" MP and ex-minister Mika Lintilä (center) is signaling. "This is no longer even a bad joke," he acknowledges.
"This is shocking," says MP Päivi Räsänen (KD) and demands that reason be restored.
The chairman of the Christian Democrats, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah writes that "those who fear religion do not understand that the basis of our culture rests in the ethos of Christianity".
"Christian traits cannot be cleansed from our environment," writes Teemu Laajasalo, bishop of the Diocese of Helsinki.
"Even if art were banned, cleaning our environment from the traces of Christianity would require quite a few changes: we live in 2024, there are seven days in our week, and double wages are paid on the seventh day of rest. All of these have their history," he writes.
He states that all kinds of fanaticism empties and dulls: "There should not be absolutes - neither religiously, nor religiously."
First published at Helsingin Sanomat, November 9 2024
Translated from the original Finnish text using Google translate
Teemu Laajasalo
@teemulaajasalo
Is Handel's music dangerous for children? Should they be protected from Bach's Matthew Passion? Do Raffaello's frescoes pollute children?
It's hard to imagine that giving up culture would be in the child's best interest.
Christian traits cannot be purged from our environment.
Freedom of religion is…
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