The Cross offends the world – and an increasing number of church denominations – for a number of reasons. The Church of Sweden has found a new one.

The Swedish Church’s head of communications, Gunnar Sjoberg, thinks it is offensive to wear a cross in support of persecuted Christians; he makes no mention of whether he finds persecuting Christians to be offensive.

Coincidentally, around the same time Sjoberg made his pronouncement, membership in his church plummeted.

From here:

“Provocative and un-‎Christian”: ‎That is how Gunnar Sjoberg, the head of communications for the Swedish Church, chose to ‎comment on the August social media campaign #MittKors (“MyCross”), which urged Christians and ‎others to wear a cross in support of the world’s persecuted Christians. ‎

The campaign was a reaction to Christians being murdered or kidnapped and enslaved by the Islamic State group, the Islamic terrorists pillaging village after village throughout the ‎Middle East, and one would think this campaign would be given unanimous support.

But ‎then, one would be mistaken. ‎

[….]

Sjoberg says, “The ‎cross of Christ may end up being used as a weapon against another faith and not as a ‎symbol of support for Christians,” thus choosing not to engage with the issue. This is cowardly and unjust, although it is in line with the Swedish Church’s documented lack of moral compass. Sweden’s ‎largest daily newspaper, Aftonbladet, has a similar and equally offensive reaction, ‎comparing the cross to the swastika and the #MyCross campaign to that of Nazi ‎propaganda, thus playing shamelessly into the hands of the extremists who have made ‎Christians into the world’s most persecuted group. ‎