I recognize that the John Edwards perspective is one of gloom, and could be one of the lines of thought that enabled the US tendency for apocalyptic anticipation (millenariansm). My comment was more of a snarky rebuttal rather than a measured response, as I feel that kind of gloom doesn't necessarily deserve much more (at least if I'm not in a giving mood).
Norway has a few fiery Protestants, but we mostly exported them over to the US back in the 1800s / early 1900s. Significant parts of US Evangelical Christianity owe something to Norwegian Evangelism. We've had the benefit of a mollifying state church, one that took part in the bid for democratization and independence (the delegates for our 1814 constitutional congress were determined at a church parish level).
Our state church remains Norwegian Evangelical Lutheranism.
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Well, the fate of European Lutherans & Calvinists vs. the fate of US Lutherans & Calvinists is a fascinating mystery.
Why has Northern Europe's religious development turned out so wildly different than that of the US with the very same seeds at the start.
I think you see a Christian bent in the welfare state & in the larger level of international donations, etc. possibly? Just a kind of uprightness? It feels there is a propriety and uprightness there maybe.
Oh, who knows!
But the turn it has taken in the US is so peculiar--a type of insularity & market fundamentalism on top of religious fundamentalism. A punitive attitude toward one's fellow.
I guess you can see it in Edwards, little glimpses of it anyway.
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