At the People’s Meeting, pastor Mikael Wandt Laursen invites well-known Danes to share their relationship with religion to promote conversations about faith.
How do you create a space where festival-goers find the peace to talk about their faith?
This is what Mikael Wandt Laursen, secretary general of the Christian organization Frikirkenet, who has been a regular part of the Folkemødet for the past many years, knows. He has experienced increasing interest – especially from young men who want to talk more about their faith. One of the reasons for this is that the narrative that has dominated our culture for the past 40-50 years has fallen short:
“For many years we have cultivated ourselves. Our own feelings, our own happiness and our own needs. Now there has clearly been a shift where more people recognize that we are actually connected. It is about something bigger than just ourselves. What one does affects the other, as we saw during corona and with the climate.”
On stage at the Folkemødet, he invites three well-known Danes to talk about their religious history. In addition to journalist Esben Kjær and member of parliament Alex Ahrendtsen (DF), police officer Vlado Lentz – known for chasing drivers who violate traffic laws in the TV program ‘Politijagt’ – will also participate.
Vlado Lentz believes that faith is a completely natural part of the People’s Assembly, and that we should practice talking more openly about it:
FAKTA
Men who talk about faith
In addition to police officer Vlado Lentz, member of parliament Alex Ahrendtsen from the Danish People’s Party and journalist Esben Kjær will participate in the event. Here they will share their faith stories and inspire the audience to talk about their faith.
The audience also has the opportunity to talk about their faith with the person next to them or in plenary, if they wish.
It takes place at Kæmpstranden in area J43 on Thursday, June 12th at 12 noon.
“It has long been the case that faith is a personal thing. I don’t think so. We need to do something about that. I don’t want to force anyone to talk about it, but I think we need to open up a conversation and get to know each other better.”
Samtale-event
Mikael Wandt Laursen has good experience with the method, where well-known faces begin the conversation by sharing their faith in front of the audience, who then talk together in small groups.
“We make it a conversation event. When the celebrities have been on, the audience is given some question cards that they can talk about with the person next to them. Here you can choose which question you want to talk about. It could be ‘have you tried praying?’ or ‘why did you do that?'”, says Mikael Wandt Laursen.
“Once people start talking, they’re good at it. Our experience is that people just have to dare to do it.”
During the crisis with the Muhammad cartoons, the then Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (V) said in an interview that “religion is a private matter and should remain so,” but that time is over, Laursen believes. It has long been part of the Lutheran folk spirit that faith was something one kept to oneself:
“But there has been a shift. I think there are many reasons for that. One of the reasons is because we have had many Muslims come to the country who carry their faith in a different way than we Lutherans were used to. It has forced us to come out of the closet a bit and say, okay, what do we believe in?”.
Vlado Lentz also doesn’t believe that faith is something we should keep private. That’s why he hopes that the audience will be curious and ask him a lot of questions. There are practically no limits:
“I’ve often been asked that – where my boundaries are. I haven’t yet been asked a question that I wouldn’t answer. So it would surprise me greatly if one comes up.”
Fyldt telt
Morning yoga, high school students grilling the climate minister, and DJ battles into the wee hours are among the many events that will catch the attention of festival-goers. Despite the many options, Mikael Wandt Laursen’s tent tends to be a bit of a walk-in:
“We always have a full tent when we do these events. Even though we have different formats from year to year, it has always been popular.”
Both Vlado Lentz and Mikael Wandt Laursen believe that faith is a completely natural part of the People’s Meeting.
“There are so many things being talked about at the People’s Meeting. Basically, it’s all about what are we navigating by?” says Mikael Wandt Laursen.
The policeman also hopes that the event can help demystify being a Christian:
“It’s not some sect that anyone can associate it with. I want to get away from that. It should be an open dialogue between people who are interested in each other.”
Overview
You can experience this on Politiken’s stages
Politics traditionally has a large program at the People’s Assembly.
Experience, among others, Roald Als in conversation with Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister in debate, Elisabet Svane and Noa Redington, a live edition of Bente Klarlund’s letterbox, Margrethe Vestager interviewed by Christian Jensen and much more.
The musical performances are provided by Anne Linnet and Peter A.G. Nielsen.
See the full program here.
Josephine Mosbæk Quinones
