Yet another religious cult raided

[eppie]

So, here is where I would point out your cultural bias against them.

I have indeed a cultural bias against organized religion (but I guess you understood that from my posts). To me also organized religion is based on power. Most (if not all) of the countries were e.g. guys can marry their 9 year old niece are highly religious. And actually this is one of the reasons why Europe and the US are in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment according to our leaders.
Our enlightened views on marriage and equality are fruits of our religious freedom (in the sense of that you wont be killed if you are an atheist:) ) In a modern society women are in fact equal to men (no scientific reason to think otherwise) so in our societies it is a good thing that we 'order' (using the law) people to behave likewise.

What do you think then of the "enlightened" approach of the Scandinavians to sex and marriage? That is... Marriage has been mostly rendered meaningless there. How does a society function when paternity is optional, and women and their children often become wards of the state? Isn't this also of concern to women, and against our notions of sexual egalitarianism?

What is this enlightened approach in Scandinavia? I just know about a lot of happy families and 400 days of paid childcare leave. I know that Sweden and especially Denmark are the among most properous countries in the world and people are (according to polls) the happiest overall.