General election brings new Minister for Church Affairs

Manu Sareen - Hindu origin, Christian convert

After ten years in power the centre-right government lost September’s general election to a centre-left coalition comprising the Social Democrat Party, the Socialist People’s Party and the Social Liberal Party. The new Minister for Church Affairs, the third this year, is Manu Sareen, who also becomes Minister for Gender Equality and Nordic Cooperation.

 

A Christian convert
Manu Sareen was born a Hindu in India in 1967 but moved to Copenhagen with his family in 1971. Nine years ago he converted to Christianity and became a member of the Danish Lutheran Church. He trained first as a social welfare officer and then as an auditor of public accounts. Since 1999 he has worked for the Copenhagen municipality as a consultant on ethnic affairs.

Although he has a strong reputation as a resolver of ethnic conflicts and a promoter of gay rights, he is an unknown quantity as regards the Danish Parliament, having been promoted to minister on his very first day as an MP.

His success as a politician for the Social Liberal Party has for the most part been as a member of the Copenhagen County Council. He has also written two successful fiction books for children about Iqbal Farooq, a naive 13-year-old growing up in Denmark.

Manu Sareen is married to an ethnic Dane, Anya Degn Sareen, and has three children. 

 

Hinduism and Christianity
In an interview with the Christian Daily, the new minister explains his religious feelings:

 

”I have always searched for spiritual meaning. I studied the New Testament 8-9 years ago and talked a lot to Pastor Mikkel Wold from the Marble Church in Copenhagen. It was he who baptised me. My wife is a women’s libber and all kinds of other things, so it is something I have worked on myself. The Christian commandment to love and the command to turn the other cheek appeal to me very much.”

 

On the subject of faith Manu Sareen says:

 

”I have always been in doubt and I still am. As a modern man it is hard to find room for God in my world. But when I look out into the world I need God to be there, for life is so magnificent – especially when you have children. When I look at humankind and the creation, I have always needed to know that there was more to it.”

Asked how he feels about being Minister for Church Affairs Manu Sareen answers:

 

”I am really proud of it. No one has really asked me about my approach to faith, but I have a lot of friends among the clergy and I am very interested in Theology. So I plan to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

By Edward Broadbridge

Photo: www.manusareen.dk

 

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