5.18.2008
Iceland: The Perfect Pagan Country?
John Carlin of The Guardian looks at why Iceland is the happiest place on Earth.
"Iceland ... tops the latest table of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index rankings, meaning that as a society and as an economy - in terms of wealth, health and education - they are champions of the world. To which one might respond: Yes, but - what with the dark winters and the far from tropical summers - are Icelanders happy? Actually, in so far as one can reliably measure such things, they are. According to a seemingly serious academic study reported in the Guardian in 2006, Icelanders are the happiest people on earth. (The study was lent some credibility by the finding that the Russians were the most unhappy.)"
The secret to their happiness? According to Carlin, a big part of it is their lack of connection to Christian ideas of morality, and a deep connection to their Viking and pagan ancestors.
"As a grandmother I met on my first visit to Iceland, two years ago, explained it: 'The Vikings went abroad and the women ran the show, and they had children with their slaves, and when the Vikings returned they accepted it, in the spirit of the more the merrier' ... It is a largely pagan country, as the natives like to see it, unburdened by the taboos that generate so much distress elsewhere. That means they are practical people."
Indeed, from reading Carlin's take, Iceland sounds like a paradise for the Pagan spirit. A land that incorporates a deep respect for women, industriousness, a focus on family and community, a robust social safety net, a healthy capitalistic economy, and a sense of social justice that bypasses the backwards-looking morality that often marginalizes outsider groups and derails progress. For instance, while the culture warriors in America are sharpening their knives after California approved gay marriage, homosexual couples in Iceland have enjoyed the same benefits as married heterosexual couples since 1996, which was expanded in 2006 to include protections for adoption and artificial insemination.
As for full-blown religious Paganism, Iceland has that too. It was the first Scandinavian country to give legal recognition to Asatru (1973), and is home to famous Heathens like Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, a musician and producer who has worked with artists like Bjork and Sigur Ros, and serves as Chief Godi of the Icelandic Asatru Association.
So when we muse about what a "post-Christian" future will look like, perhaps we should turn to the Scandinavian countries like Iceland, where such a reality exists and thrives. It could be that the best of what a "pagan" future holds has been here for generations, waiting for the rest of us to notice.
Labels: Asatru, Iceland, Paganism, post-Christian
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