Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s party has created a position to promote “spiritual rearmament” and national values, the lawmaker who got the job said on Tuesday.
In a country very attached to cohesion and currently pushing a hard line on migration, Frederiksen has taken up the concept of spiritual rearmament, although she has not exactly defined what it means.
“I will be the spokeswoman for democracy for the Social Democrats, with a particular focus on spiritual rearmament,” Ida Auken wrote on Facebook.
“We need to strengthen Danish democracy … We have to know our history. We need to speak about our values,” she added.
The term “spiritual rearmament” appeared at the start of the year, when Social Democrat heavyweight Mattias Tesfaye began talking about it.
“It’s good to reinforce militarily but if there’s no equivalent spiritual rearmament, we will not guarantee the sovereignty and security of Denmark, the West and Europe,” the education minister said to the Weekendavisen weekly.
“Spiritual rearmament exists through many of our institutions that we tend to take for granted and that are under enormous pressure,” Auken said.
“These include state schools, the Lutheran church, the state and the voluntary sector,” she said to local news agency Ritzau.
