Religion is a very private thing in the Nordic countries and not something you're supposed to tell others about, both because most people aren't religious so it would be considered rude, and also because they're such personal feelings for religious people.
So a sure way to ruin the mood is to wear a T-shirt with a religious message, or any other object that somehow show what religion you belong to, most of all because Nordics will probably be too polite to talk about it (like I said, you're not supposed to talk about religion), so it will be a huge elephant in the room and they will just sit and stare awkwardly at you, afraid they might say something that'll hurt your religious feelings.
Just having a modest little cross around your neck or a star of David or whatever is fine, but a T-shirt is just so in-your-face and obvious that it's sure to make people uncomfortable, 'cause let's be honest, you can wear a cross around your neck without being ultra religious, but you don't typically wear a T-shirt with a religious message unless you're VERY religious.
I'm fascinated that so many of my fellow Americans aren't commenting on this. Just an FYI, that t-shirt would make a lot of Americans uncomfortable, even the ones that identify as Christian. We've become so overexposed to people who shove their Christianity in everyone's faces with no regard to their audience that it's becoming a kind of symbol of a "bad" or "fake" Christian. So, if you're wearing anything more than a discreet crucifix necklace, you're quickly, quietly judged as someone who's probably never read the entire Bible and is an all-around bigot.
@Mintie *cough*WBBC*cough*
I myself am I pretty dedicated Christian and I’ve never shoved it in peoples faces with HUGE symbols but I do talk about my religion very openly, even asking for prayers on social media when someone I care about is in trouble. I thankfully have never really had any trouble from people because my religion, unless you count someone mistaking stereotype for fact leading to awkward questions but then after some polite explaining everything is all good. I guess it’s just where I come from, everyone in my community is pretty open about their beliefs and religious backgrounds and know that stereotypes don’t define a person and that no one believes 100% the same thing even if they share the same religion. Heck, one of my friends is antheist but loves the Bible because he believes it contains a good moral code and a “great guide on how to deal with a*sholes” but just can’t wrap his mind around the idea of God
@Snickerwolf22 Well as an atheist, my biggest problem with the Bible is not the idea of God (which is not a refutable idea so it doesn't really matter to my scientific mind) but more the fact that people can consider it as something dictated by a supposedly all knowing being who would have written such ridiculous nonsense like the earth being created in 8 days or other stuff like humanity being 10 000 years old etc... I mean if you really think about it, it makes a lot more sense that this was all written by humans who just wrote what was the common belief on the universe at that point in time. And that is why their writings doesn't add up to what we know today.
But that doesn't mean that all that's written in it is completely useless nowadays nor that those who wrote it weren't brilliant people (well some were probably a little delusional though)... I mean Aristotle and Platon did write some stuff more than 2000 years ago that are still usefull today...
What i'm trying to say is that atheists don't really deny the existence of God, we just don't really see what's the point in believing in a supreme entity that is all powerfull and knowledgeable. What we deny (or at least are very doubtfull about) though is the fact that the Bible was written by someone who was inspired by a divine being because what he wrote doesn't really match what we know of the world today (which would have been also known by an all-knowledgeable entity).
That being said, we all have beliefs, should they be religious or not so it's not like I would hate you because you believe in something that is not that harmful (not anymore anyhow) at the end of the day.
@Isdaril I actually find that very interesting because while yeah I am religious I do still look at the world around me very scientifically and I actually try to find ways to connect the Bible and science. I actually like to use God creating Earth in 6 days as an example of this. There’s another Bible verse that says “A day on Earth is 10,000 years in Heaven and a day in Heaven is 10,000 years on Earth” showing that time for God works different than humans making it possible that to God it was 6 days but it could really be about 6 million years. I understand if this seems ridiculous to other this is just my personal belief
@Snickerwolf22 Well, it was way more than 6 million years (6 million years would be around the time the human and chimpanze diverged and it's really a short time compared to the age of the Earth)...
My point was that from a rational point of view it is way more probable that the Bible was written by humans with human knowledge than by some superhuman prophet guided by a transcendental mind (because we have the proof that humans exist and that they write books but we don't have the proof that superhumans ever existed, moreover all that is written in the said book seem to indicate that it contains only knowledge that was available at the time it was written). You can still find stories and interpretations to explain why what's written in it is possible with our current scientific knowledge, but at the end of the day believing that is still an irrational choice, because the fact that it was written by a standard human is way more likely (and more likely is really an understatement). I'm not saying that Jesus 'the son of God' Christ existed and that the evangiles were written from lessons he gave is impossible, I'm saying that this is very unlikely and that Jesus 'the regular human' Christ existed and incredible stories were written about him because humans are superstitious creatures is a more likely explanation because it doesn't invoke things like miracles, the existence of god, angels, resurrection and a lot of other things that we have no proof exist.
That being said, humans are by no means rational creatures. When I said scientific mind, I suppose I meant that I always try to have a rational view on the world (and even while knowing about cognitive bias and all that stuff I probably still make some irrational choices), but this is my 'way of life' and I certainly do not want to impose it on you (or anyone). I just wanted to give you an insight of what, as an atheist (and a skeptic), I find doubtful about the Bible (and that it's certainly not the idea of 'God', which has little interest to me because it's not a refutable idea).
Okay, as a religious person, I would like to explain that those with a Christian worldview, a statement like "Jesus loves you" is simply a fact. The sky is blue, the sun sets in the west, 1 + 1 always equals 2 (unless you stack one lasagna on top of another lasagna, in which case you have one, double-tall lasagna), and Jesus loves everyone. Only, it's a little more important than those other things, because it brings us joy - and something that brings joy is worth sharing.
(But if you're a math person like me, the truth and correctness of math also brings joy.)
23