I am Christopher Aqurette, a Swedish man of letters with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Lund University. I feel proud and privileged to be the first member of my family to obtain a degree from one of Sweden’s oldest and most prestigious academies.
I was born in May 1972 at Höllviken, a small coastal village on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian Peninsula. After many years abroad, I now live with my husband in Malmö, a port not far from my birthplace, situated on the Sound opposite Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen.
My academic interest in religion sprang from a constant confrontation with religious homophobia and its influence on people and society. That made me curious to learn what religion is and how it works.
I have written articles for several publications, and I was one in a small group of people who, in 1995, founded what would eventually become Sweden’s leading gay magazine and Scandinavia’s largest online community for queer people. In addition to my freelancing and modest entrepreneurism, I have experience from a variety of political and judicial assignments. Although I still do some freelance writing, I make my living elsewhere.
In April 2000, I bought my very own domain name and began to publish myself on the Internet. In August 2005, I launched my online journal of arts and politics. Keeping the diary has since become a way for me to report and comment on current affairs and the issues that matter to me personally.
My Hebrew name is אבנר and I adhere to the progressive strands of Judaism. Although liberal in attitude to Jewish law, I take Judaism very seriously. I practise my faith through good behaviour and by being an active member of the Jewish Community of Malmö.
In philosophy of religion, my position is generally that of a sceptic who rejects supernaturalism. I do not believe objective truth can be applied to theories of divinity and morality. However, I do think humankind is dependent on belief in fictitious truth for its survival and prosperity.
I have been interested in politics for as long as I can remember. My political opinions are constantly evolving with maturity and experience, but the issues I care the most about include civil liberties, minority rights, Israel and Liberal Zionism, and European integration.
Years of reflection have led me to define myself as a libertarian. As such, I believe that people fully own themselves and have free will. It is my belief that the powers of government must be kept to a minimum in order for people to enjoy maximum liberty. No state has the right to deny its citizens free speech, religious freedom, and political autonomy.
I greatly enjoy a superbly written novel that is both suspenseful and illuminating. Ever since I first learned to read, a dream of mine has been to one day write such a novel. I made a few attempts at it in my youth, but have only recently set about writing fiction again. Quality film and theatre work as inspiration to me, and I spend much time watching how good scripts are played out on screen and stage.
Constructions and the urban landscape have always interested me. As a small boy, I used plastic toy bricks to make copies of buildings and cities I had visited when travelling with my parents. As an adult, I can spend hours walking about a town studying its architecture. Regular readers of my online diary will find that I often post pictures of buildings when travel to a new place and when I discover a new construction nearby.
Two hobbies of mine are weight training and precision shooting. I am fascinated by the interaction between mind and body that comes to play when I set a new aim and work myself to achieve it. Both of these pastimes have proven to me that I can do better by making that decision.