Love &Amp; Marriage: Scandinavian Style

Summary

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A new myth about the Nordic countries has been born, joining the ranks of the popular perception abroad that Scandinavians practice "free-love." The new myth is that the institution of marriage is disappearing. Researcher Stanley Kurz raised the red flag last year, when he claimed in the influential conservative journal The Weekly Standard that marriage is slowly dying in Scandinavia. "A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. Sixty percent of first-born children have unmarried parents," Kurz declared. Not only that, but Sweden is singled out as "the world leader in family decline." USA Today echoed these sentiments recently, suggesting that "marriage in parts of Scandinavia is dying."

"Gay marriage has had little or no impact on heterosexual marriage," states Frode Lagset, 33, one of eight Canons at Oslo Cathedral in Norway. He is unequivocal in stating this opinion. The Norwegian clergyman is more amused than concerned when asked if the institution of marriage itself is living on borrowed time in Scandinavia: "No, we don't think that marriage is disappearing. In the 1970s there was a change in that we saw an increasing number of divorces. But the numbers have been stabilized. People are marrying later in life than before, but they are still marrying," the Norwegian priest told Nordic Reach during an interview in the cathedral's sacristy. "What we are seeing is a sort of religious revival. This is not specifically Christian in a traditional way, but people are openly speaking about spiritual questions," Canon Lagset observes.

In Finnish, the spouse in an open marriage is called"avoliitto," which is very close to the word used to describe a married person, "avioliitto." The root of both words is "liitto" which means union. An "avoliitto" isn't a fiancé, because there is no intent to marry, and one doesn't wear a ring. But one shares the cost of running the joint household, shares responsibility for childraising, and monogamy is still part of the deal. The same state of affairs applies, of course, to the Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish counterparts to "avoliitto."

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Love &Amp; Marriage: Scandinavian Style

WILL WEDDING BELLS STOP RINGING?

A new myth about the Nordic countries has been born, joining the ranks of the popular perception abroad that Scandinavians practice "free-love." The new myth is that the institution of marriage is disappearing. Researcher Stanley Kurz raised the red flag last year, when he claimed in the influential conservative journal The Weekly Standard that marriage is slowly dying in Scandinavia. "A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. Sixty percent of first-born children have unmarried parents," Kurz declared. Not only that, but Sweden is singled out as "the world leader in family decline." USA Today echoed these sentiments recently, suggesting that "marriage in parts of Scandinavia is dying."

These obituaries sound ominous. One assumes that there are tens of thousands of abandoned children wandering the streets of Stockholm and ...

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