11mo ago

Swedish church leaders seek to ban fathers giving the bride away

www.theguardian.com

‘Not our tradition’: calls in Sweden to ban fathers walking brides down the aisle

Popularised by Hollywood and the wedding of the crown princess, the patriarchal ‘handover’ is catching on. Now Lutherans want to stop it

Archived version: https://archive.ph/YLOUl

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flifeandstyle%2Farticle%2F2024%2Faug%2F31%2Fswedish-church-leaders-seek-to-ban-father-giving-the-bride-away

31 comments

The relationship between Christianity and politics in Sweden is quite different than the one in the Anglosphere. In Sweden, if you’re a member of the Swedish (Lutheran) church, you pay a small amount of extra tax, which goes to the church, but get to vote in church elections every few years. In the most recent elections, the left (who ran on a platform of using the church’s resources to help the underprivileged) defeated the right (who ran on a platform of culture-war traditionalism) by a hefty margin.
While I agree that the act could be interpreted as an symbol of inequality, I really think personal choice should be the winner here.
- It is still the winner. This is just internal church stuff. The couple can choose a different church, a different religion, a non-religious wedding, etc.
  If a personalized wedding with details like this are important to the couple, maybe the Swedish Lutheran church isn’t the right flavor of Christianity or religion for them.
  
  While I agree wholeheartedly with the church making internal policies, but bringing an internal conflict into international media, airing a view that seem rather sensationalistic is what I react to. Having an internal discussion, making a decision and then implement a policy would have been the proper way.
- could be interpreted as an
  *is a
Oh, banned by the swedish church within it's own facilities, not banned by law in the country. That makes much more sense
“Even though the scene feels nice for future bridal couples, we can’t disregard what it symbolises: a father handing over a minor virgin to her new guardian.”
This seems like a silly thing to get hung up on when the bride isn't a minor (and perhaps not a woman) and can choose who they walk down the aisle with. The article even mentions that some choose to walk with their mother, and likely there are others who walk with other important friends or family members. I've never cared too much about wedding ceremonies, but I know that walking down the aisle can be a really important and symbolic thing for the bride and the person they walk with. Seems like taking that choice away is more restrictive to women than, you know, letting the woman decide for herself.
- Nobody's taking that choice away, it's a church policy not a law
Wow, even the Catholic Church is ahead of the game on this one.
- I was surprised that they endorse the theory of evolution, too. For such a backwards organization, they can have some unexpected moments of clarity.
  
  There's a subtle difference between backwards and slow. Slow moves forwards, but... slowly. It turns out "giving away the bride" was introduced by protestants, I'm guessing recognizing pagan practice at the time as a result of no longer treating matrimony as a sacrament.
  
  They're not that anti science anymore. Just anti equality. Not that that makes them ok.
  
  The Catholic Church was the source of most scientific discovery on the planet for over 1,000 years and you’re shocked that Evolution has been accepted by it for a long time?
Conservatives will surely have a totally normal reaction to this (and looks like they're already doing that here in the comments…)
But yeah, as the article says, this tradition has never really been a thing in the Nordics. While I don't think it makes sense to ban it, it's definitely not "our" tradition
Of all the insignificant, immaterial, inconsequential things to be bitching about.
- you'd think but this week when we spun the wheel of the-one-thing-everybody-in-the-world-universally-is-allowed-to-complain-about this was what came up
- Didn't occur to you that maybe women aren't a hive mind and the ones saying the first thing might not be the ones saying the second thing?
Wouldn't be an issue if Sweden had a culture worth a shit
- What do you mean?
  
  Are you sure you want to know?
  
  It's failed bait

31 comments