Kiruna Church’s Inclusion Drive Masks Sweden’s Historic Assault on Indigenous Identity

In a remote corner of Swedish Lapland, Kiruna Church recently moved five kilometers east due to the encroachment of a massive state-owned iron mine. This relocation might seem like a routine logistical challenge, but it brings into sharp relief centuries of tension between national institutions and indigenous identity—an issue that should raise alarms here in America about respecting sovereignty and cultural heritage. Can Inclusion Erase a History of Oppression? The church now incorporates Northern Sami, Finnish, and Meänkieli languages into its services, reflecting an ostensibly inclusive stance toward minority communities that have long been marginalized. Yet this surface-level embrace cannot...