Runar Søgaard

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Runar Devik Søgaard (born 27 June 1967 in Kongsvinger, Hedmark, Norway) is a Norwegian-Swedish leadership trainer, life-coach and a motivational speaker. From 1990 to 2000 Søgaard was married to the successful Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist. Together they have a son, Amadeus, born in 1998.

[edit] Muhammad sermon controversy

In May 2005 he created great uproar during a sermon in the Philadelphia church in Stockholm, by saying that Muhammad had been a pedophile - see also criticism of Muhammad#Aisha.[1]

This led to widespread condemnation and protests, similar to those of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. During the same sermon he also made disparaging remarks about Jesus and Siddharta, though non of these remarks received the same attention.

Søgaard received death threats from radical Islamists, and some people feared he would face the same fate as Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Pro-Islam columnist Jan Guillou at the Aftonbladet news paper called for calm and wrote "it would be of great harm for Sweden's Muslims if Søgaard became a martyr".[2] Guillou suggested that Søgaard is a lunatic who simply should be ignored.

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Runar is a good friend of Swedish-Nigerian artist Dr. Alban, retired footballer Thomas Brolin and table tennis player Jan-Ove Waldner. They are often seen together at the Stockholm Spy bar, among other places.