Several studies have argued that there exists a hegemonic, secularist discourse within Swedish classrooms, which implies a way of talking about religion as something irrational, outdated and restrictive in concern for individual freedom. Within this discourse, a non-religious or atheistic position is seen as neutral and unbiased, whereas a religious position is considered the opposite. This, I mean, is problematic against the background of the Swedish curriculum, where it is stated that some of the main goals with religious education (RE) is to help students develop tolerance and understanding for other people, with other beliefs than one’s own. Thus, the aim with this paper is to investigate if and how, a teaching material that is being used within the Swedish RE education, can express a secularist discourse and what implications the results may have for a neutral RE. By using a modified version of discourse analysis together with theoretical contributions from Karin Kittelmann Flensner, I have analyzed four episodes of the audiovisual teaching material/reportage series Från Sverige till himlen to try to answer how one, from a critical perspective on a secularist discourse, can interpret representations of religion in the reportage series. The conclusion is that the series portrays religion in accordance with especially four themes within the secularist discourse, namely; Criticism of Religion, Prime Time of History, Individualism and a Neutral Position. These results indicate that students need to be trained to critically examine not only religion, but also, and maybe in particular, what is taken for granted as the normal and neutral in a secular culture.

This paper aims to present and examine the discourses of religious education in Sweden. Previous studies argue that there is a secularist discourse in Sweden however, one can question whether the secularist discourse is neutral of all religious traditions. The curriculum emphasizes objective and inclusive education based on science and proven experience and a non-confessional education. On the other hand, the paper highlight examples that are contrary to these ideas, which shows that christianity serves the dominant position in the curriculum. By using the method: contextual idea analysis, I have studied the ideas in the Swedish curriculum that determines the conditions and guidelines for teaching in religious education. The conclusion is that the christian tradition and western humanism serves a prominent part in the curriculum and risks making christianity the norm for religious life. The paper shows that the secularist discourse in Sweden has a christian bias which can affect the creation of a neutral religious education that enables respect, objective understanding and tolerance for other religions.