I did try going to a church full of Swedes about two weeks ago, in a nearby place...
Unfortunately though, it felt even more... "Culty" than some of this does, and also unfortunately, their "denomination" is vaguely involved in this same... Wider movement.
I did not feel welcome there at all. So you're right, but I'll have to keep looking at the different local churches to see if there are less wacky ones, and which have zero association, even tangential, with the cult...
Maybe try a Catholic church if there are any around? It'll still be full of Swedes, but should not be actually "culty" (bearing in mind I don't know what you mean by this term - a lack of familiarity with how the church operates may make it look "culty" to an outsider). And the parish priest should be able to help you in some way, even if it is simply to speak to him in confidence.
I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time in mainline churches (in Aus, mostly). Both Catholic and Anglican. Believe me when I say that this felt very different.
90% of them were elderly, for one thing. And they seemed deeply suspicious of me, and, to some extent, of each other…
Bad juju. But yes, I’ll try and shop around. It was a Steiner-adjacent rural church, so not surprising it was wack…
I’ve never felt quite so… Weirded out by a church in any other country I’ve been to, except maybe India. And Switzerland, where again, it was Steiner-related…
I have unironically pretty much decided to leave (the cult, not Sweden) within the next fortnight, because things somehow got worse, so…
I’ll definitely look into this more once I am physically out of here…
I did try going to a church full of Swedes about two weeks ago, in a nearby place...
Unfortunately though, it felt even more... "Culty" than some of this does, and also unfortunately, their "denomination" is vaguely involved in this same... Wider movement.
I did not feel welcome there at all. So you're right, but I'll have to keep looking at the different local churches to see if there are less wacky ones, and which have zero association, even tangential, with the cult...
But yeah, working on it!
Maybe try a Catholic church if there are any around? It'll still be full of Swedes, but should not be actually "culty" (bearing in mind I don't know what you mean by this term - a lack of familiarity with how the church operates may make it look "culty" to an outsider). And the parish priest should be able to help you in some way, even if it is simply to speak to him in confidence.
I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time in mainline churches (in Aus, mostly). Both Catholic and Anglican. Believe me when I say that this felt very different.
90% of them were elderly, for one thing. And they seemed deeply suspicious of me, and, to some extent, of each other…
Bad juju. But yes, I’ll try and shop around. It was a Steiner-adjacent rural church, so not surprising it was wack…
I’ve never felt quite so… Weirded out by a church in any other country I’ve been to, except maybe India. And Switzerland, where again, it was Steiner-related…
I have unironically pretty much decided to leave (the cult, not Sweden) within the next fortnight, because things somehow got worse, so…
I’ll definitely look into this more once I am physically out of here…
Two of the church ladies (the only friendly ones) did eventually invite me to their amateur theatre performance, this last weekend…
That somehow then fell through (on their end), but still, they obviously thought I was ok.
So I got through, to at least them, but man, believe me when I say… It was an uncomfortable vibe, in that building…
But if you know the Steiner shit, it’s not exactly mainline Christianity anyway, so… Yeah.