MissConstrue5d ago

Edit: My Bobs, I love masto! Within hours we had reports in situ, the ADF is being hyperbolic, as they do. Outrage is the song of their people. Link removed because there’s no reason to give the adf any more oxygen. They are full blown extremist whackadoodles. (There is a link in comments to the adf’s press release.)

Previously:
Do I have any pocket friends in #Sweden? Can someone on the ground there who can read local press give me a précis of what’s actually happening? (News reports in Swedish that can be run through translation is fine, I just don’t have any basis upon which to judge reliability.) The only American news I can find is heavily slanted towards the “Christian’s being oppressed” narrative, which may be true, but seems unlikely in Northern Europe?

Show threadloucovey5d ago
@MissConstrue Sweden is a very secular society and any religious teaching that denigrates another belief is held in suspicion, as is literal scriptural interpretation. The heart of the original complaint is restricting the use of make up and mobile phones, but there is no documentation regarding what it could be. Basically, any Oklahoma evangelical that immigrated to Sweden would probably lose their children, kinda like immigration laws in the US.
Show threadMissConstrue5d ago

@Loucovey Yeah, living in the blackened heart of christonationalist YeeHawdists, my first assumption was that they were evangelicals that ran afoul of secularism in some way, but I haven’t been able to find anything other than the makeup and phone thing, and going to church multiple times a week. (I wouldn’t let my 11 year old wear makeup either, children don’t need to be sexualized, but that’s a ptsd thing and not a religion thing)

Three times a week seems excessive, but probably not harmful? (I was forced into a British convent school, we had mass every day, and mostly it taught my liturgical Latin and how to sleep without closing my eyes and alerting the Mother Superior. 🤘🏼)

In any case, I assumed what I was hearing was disinfo or not the whole story, and wanted to track it down to source.

Show threadjonoleth
@MissConstrue @Loucovey I've known several Swedish families (Christian and Muslim) that were a lot stricter than that with no state intervention. It's IME very unlikely to have your kids taken away without some kind of physical abuse.
Mar 17 at 8:04pmTusky
Show threadMissConstrue5d ago
@jonoleth @Loucovey The story was ringing like disinformation, but I couldn’t pin down why.
Show threadjonoleth5d ago
@MissConstrue @Loucovey looking at the things they've posted on their facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/people/Sweden-Reunite-the-Samson-Family/61560920537379/), I'm not getting the impression this has anything to do with religion, and everything to do with the social services believing the daughters were being physically abused. Especially the letter from their lawyer to the court of appeals (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122159086160364017&set=pb.61560920537379.-2207520000&type=3)
Sweden, Reunite the Samson Family | Hässleholm

Sweden, Reunite the Samson Family, Hässleholm. 1,465 likes · 3,991 talking about this. "I want to die, I want to go home, Socialförvaltningen Hässleholm ruined my life". Since December 2022, Sara...

Show threadMissConstrue5d ago

@jonoleth @Loucovey Ah, even the letter contradicts their messaging of “instantly changed her story” in their press releases. A few weeks is not instantly. A few weeks is a kid feeling guilty, even if they are abused, speaking from experience here, that by saying something they’ve made everything worse.

When a child is abused, they blame themselves, almost universally. Should a caregiver face consequences, the fear in that child’s heart is impossible to quantify, because if the abuser ever gets a chance to punish the child for those consequences...let’s just say there’s a reason I never went home after convent school.

I trust nothing from the ADF, and hope these girls are ok and getting appropriate therapy.