<p>Private religion is a faith that isn’t practiced in an organised religious community. Many people do not want to accept a religious concept that is already defined. To choose a conception of faith based upon personal preferences fits some modern man better. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if it’s possible to create a personal religion and how such a process looks. The function of Internet for people’s religiosity is also examined. Three informants have been interviewed by e-mail. The common denominator is the faith in reincarnation. The result shows that there are some central points in common in their faith. They are critical of the traditional religion. The faith is chosen and is adapted to the personal needs. The individual is in the centre. There is a strong belief in the human being and her ability to influence her own life. Religious authorities are not important. Neither are religious ceremonies significant, the informants have instead created their own rites. A part of the thesis contains a study of religious forum on the Internet which shows that Internet can function as a traditional religious community. People can acquaint themselves with other people’s stories, ask questions and have there own thoughts virtually confirmed.</p> / <p>Privatreligion är en tro som inte utövas i organiserad religiös gemenskap. Många drar sig för att köpa ett religiöst koncept som någon annan redan definierat. Att välja trosföreställning baserat på egna preferenser passar en del moderna människor bättre. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det går att skapa en egen religion och hur en sådan process ser ut. Även Internets funktion för människors religiositet undersöks. Tre informanter har intervjuats via mejl. Den gemensamma nämnaren är tron på reinkarnation. Resultatet visar att det finns några centrala beröringspunkter i deras tro. De är kritiska till den traditionella religionen. Tron väljs och anpassas till de egna behoven. Individen är i centrum. Det finns en stark tilltro till människan och hennes möjlighet att påverka sitt liv. Religiösa auktoriteter är inte viktiga. Inte heller religiösa ceremonier är betydelsefulla, utan informanterna har utvecklat personliga riter. En del av uppsatsen består av en studie av religiösa forum på Internet vilken visar att Internet kan fungera som en traditionell religiös gemenskap. Personer kan ta del av andras berättelser, ställa frågor och få sina egen tankar bekräftade virtuellt.</p>

Private religion is a faith that isn’t practiced in an organised religious community. Many people do not want to accept a religious concept that is already defined. To choose a conception of faith based upon personal preferences fits some modern man better. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if it’s possible to create a personal religion and how such a process looks. The function of Internet for people’s religiosity is also examined. Three informants have been interviewed by e-mail. The common denominator is the faith in reincarnation. The result shows that there are some central points in common in their faith. They are critical of the traditional religion. The faith is chosen and is adapted to the personal needs. The individual is in the centre. There is a strong belief in the human being and her ability to influence her own life. Religious authorities are not important. Neither are religious ceremonies significant, the informants have instead created their own rites. A part of the thesis contains a study of religious forum on the Internet which shows that Internet can function as a traditional religious community. People can acquaint themselves with other people’s stories, ask questions and have there own thoughts virtually confirmed. / Privatreligion är en tro som inte utövas i organiserad religiös gemenskap. Många drar sig för att köpa ett religiöst koncept som någon annan redan definierat. Att välja trosföreställning baserat på egna preferenser passar en del moderna människor bättre. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om det går att skapa en egen religion och hur en sådan process ser ut. Även Internets funktion för människors religiositet undersöks. Tre informanter har intervjuats via mejl. Den gemensamma nämnaren är tron på reinkarnation. Resultatet visar att det finns några centrala beröringspunkter i deras tro. De är kritiska till den traditionella religionen. Tron väljs och anpassas till de egna behoven. Individen är i centrum. Det finns en stark tilltro till människan och hennes möjlighet att påverka sitt liv. Religiösa auktoriteter är inte viktiga. Inte heller religiösa ceremonier är betydelsefulla, utan informanterna har utvecklat personliga riter. En del av uppsatsen består av en studie av religiösa forum på Internet vilken visar att Internet kan fungera som en traditionell religiös gemenskap. Personer kan ta del av andras berättelser, ställa frågor och få sina egen tankar bekräftade virtuellt.

Religious education teachers in modern secular countries like Sweden are faced with many challenges. For example: how do the teachers encourage students to talk about religion when religion is largely understood as a private matter? Kittelmann Flensner found in her 2015 study that Swedish schools operate under what she calls a secularist discourse. This paper aims to examine that claim by analysing interviews with active Swedish religious education teachers. By applying Systematic text condensation to four transcribed interviews and analysing the results, this paper looks at what traces of a secularist discourse that can be found. Furthermore, the paper aims to answer how teachers relate to a secularist discourse and what didactic choices they make to encourage their students to talk about religion.To analyse these questions Kittelmann Flensner’s term secularist discourse is used along with Shiner and Casanova’s views on secularism. In terms of the didactic perspective, Hartman’s presentation of the didactic questions is used to analyse some of the methods teachers describe in the material. In short, my results show that Kittelmann Flensner might have generalized her results when it comes to viewing religion as a private matter in the classroom. Additionally, Casanova’s view on secularisation can explain only a few instances of public religion in the classroom. My conclusion is that the secularist discourse may be present in many classrooms but with exceptions in some multi-religious classes. My conclusion regarding the didactic analysis is that religious education teachers who want their students to talk more about religion need to do mainly three things; get to know their students well, spark interest among the students and bridge the gap between talking about religion in private and in public.