The Church of Sweden tweeted a prayer for transgender people suffering from oppression and violence, and asked for a better world where people can be their true selves. This post was made in honor of the Transgender Day of Visibility. As of Saturday afternoon, the tweet has received over 4,200 likes and 1,000 replies. Some users showed support, while others expressed negativity. The online priest, Charlotte Frycklund, responded to comments and explained that the Church wanted to highlight the importance of the issue from their faith and gospel. However, some critics linked the post to the recent Nashville school shooting allegedly committed by a transgender individual. Frycklund dismissed this connection and emphasized the need to pray for the entire group despite the actions of one person.
“God, I pray for all trans people who are suffering, oppressed, killed. I pray for those whose names I will never know, those who have been forced to live a lie. Help me work for a better world, where everyone can be themselves. Amen”.
That’s the tweet from the Church of Sweden, which was posted to mark Transgender Day of Visibility. It is a day to pay special attention to and make transgender people visible.
The post, which was published on Friday, has on Saturday afternoon just over 4,200 likes and over 1,000 replies.
Some of the users express themselves in support of the position. Others have a much more negative view.
– We try to respond from our faith and highlight human value and the gospel, and highlight why we as a church think it is an important issue, says online priest Charlotte Frycklund, who answered hundreds of comments, to Expressen.
Among the critics, some of whom are virulent, are those who link the church’s publication to the deadly school shooting in Nashville on March 27, in which the shooter was allegedly transgender.
That connection is dismissed by Frycklund.
– Just because one person is a perpetrator does not mean that you should not pray for an entire group, she says.