Jesus and Metal Music Don’t Mix? : The Controversy over the “Metal Mass” in Finland

In 2006, a Metal Mass—a regular Lutheran mass with accompanying metal music—was celebrated in Helsinki and created a controversy on several online forums. On the one hand, the focus was the appropriateness of metal music in the context of a Christian mass. On the other hand, the issue at stake was the appropriateness of Christianity in the context of metal music and culture. In this article, we concentrate on how the controversy over the boundaries of 'good' religion is constructed in discourse about the appropriateness of metal music in the context of a national church and its services. We argue that the controversy over the Metal Mass is a case of broader negotiation between the function and performance of religious actors in contemporary Finland, yet when it happens within a secularized context, the temporarily full pews turn out to be an anomaly rather than a sign of revival.Peer reviewe

Miksi suomalaiset eroavat evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta?

Suomalaiset eroavat kiihtyvään tahtiin maan isoimmasta uskonnollisesta yhdyskunnasta. Eroilmoitusten yhteydessä tallennettujen erosyiden analyysi paljastaa, että yleisimmät syyt erota evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta liittyvät talouteen ja hyötyyn. Ensi sijassa kyse ei siis ole kohujen yhteydessä tapahtuvista eroamisista tai arvokonservatiivien ja liberaalien välisestä vastakkainasettelusta.Peer reviewe

Miksi suomalaiset eroavat evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta?

Suomalaiset eroavat kiihtyvään tahtiin maan isoimmasta uskonnollisesta yhdyskunnasta. Eroilmoitusten yhteydessä tallennettujen erosyiden analyysi paljastaa, että yleisimmät syyt erota evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta liittyvät talouteen ja hyötyyn. Ensi sijassa kyse ei siis ole kohujen yhteydessä tapahtuvista eroamisista tai arvokonservatiivien ja liberaalien välisestä vastakkainasettelusta.Peer reviewe

Miksi suomalaiset eroavat evankelis-luterilaisesta kirkosta?

Membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is on the decline. However, little is known about people’s subjective reasons for leaving the Church. This article analyses data collected by the eroakirkosta.fi service, which provides an easy way to disaffiliate online. Between 2011 and 2020, almost 4,000 people stated their reasons for leaving the Church when filling out the disaffiliation form. We have categorized these reasons and analysed them, controlling for time of disaffiliation, age and gender.The reasons that stood out in the analysis were financial and utility reasons, i.e. payment of the church tax and perceived lack of value for money. The next most important category of reasons was related to beliefs and the Church’s doctrine. Our study both challenges and confirms several claims in the research literature and public debate on disaffiliation. Most clearly, lack of faith is not the most prevalent subjective indicator of disaffiliation, as has been suggested in previous research. Similarly, disaffiliation is not mainly the outcome of disaffiliation surges associated with particular events. The few peak events related to religious or value-based reasons do not offset the consistently higher number of financial reasons throughout the period under study. In terms of age and gender, our research confirms much of the current literature: Men under 35 are most likely to disaffiliate from the Church, chiefly for financial reasons.</p

High-level production of membrane proteins in E. coli BL21(DE3) by omitting the inducer IPTG

BACKGROUND: For membrane protein production, the Escherichia coli T7 RNA polymerase (T7 RNAP)-based protein production strain BL21(DE3) in combination with T7-promoter based expression vectors is widely used. Cells are routinely cultured in Lysogeny broth (LB medium) and expression of the chromosomally localized t7rnap gene is governed by the isopropyl-β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) inducible lacUV5 promoter. The T7 RNAP drives the expression of the plasmid borne gene encoding the recombinant membrane protein. Production of membrane proteins in the cytoplasmic membrane rather than in inclusion bodies in a misfolded state is usually preferred, but often hampered due to saturation of the capacity of the Sec-translocon, resulting in low yields. RESULTS: Contrary to expectation we observed that omission of IPTG from BL21(DE3) cells cultured in LB medium can lead to significantly higher membrane protein production yields than when IPTG is added. In the complete absence of IPTG cultures stably produce membrane proteins in the cytoplasmic membrane, whereas upon the addition of IPTG membrane proteins aggregate in the cytoplasm and non-producing clones are selected for. Furthermore, in the absence of IPTG, membrane proteins are produced at a lower rate than in the presence of IPTG. These observations indicate that in the absence of IPTG the Sec-translocon capacity is not/hardly saturated, leading to enhanced membrane protein production yields in the cytoplasmic membrane. Importantly, for more than half of the targets tested the yields obtained using un-induced BL21(DE3) cells were higher than the yields obtained in the widely used membrane protein production strains C41(DE3) and C43(DE3). Since most secretory proteins reach the periplasm via the Sec-translocon, we also monitored the production of three secretory recombinant proteins in the periplasm of BL21(DE3) cells in the presence and absence of IPTG. For all three targets tested omitting IPTG led to the highest production levels in the periplasm. CONCLUSIONS: Omission of IPTG from BL21(DE3) cells cultured in LB medium provides a very cost- and time effective alternative for the production of membrane and secretory proteins. Therefore, we recommend that this condition is incorporated in membrane- and secretory protein production screens