Mitt syfte med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka vad vuxenstudier kan innebära ur ett socialt perspektiv. Jag har undersökt hur studier i religionskunskap kan bidra till både en ökad självförståelse och omvärldsförståelse och vad som händer med självbilden hos människor som aav olika anledningar hamnar i nya situationer. Jag har använt mig av den kvalitativa intervjun och fokusgrupp för insamlandet av det empiriska materialet. Uppsatsen visar att studier på Komvux kan vara delmål som leder vidare till nya livssammanhang eftersom studierna skapar nya förutsättningar för eleverna. Vidare visar min undersökning att religionsstudier påverkar elever på så vis att fördomsfullhet omvandlas till förståelse. Genom interaktion med andra skapas nya perspektiv och vuxenstuderande sätter in sig själva i historiska och kulturella kontexter. Elevers självbild och identitet omformas på så sätt.

Up to this date there are several scientific disciplines that deal with religion´s underlying mechanisms and certain functions of our consciousness, but there isn´t anyone who takes into account the entire aspect of consciousness. The aim of the present work is to bring the entire aspect of our consciousness into the scientific discussion of religion. To help in doing this, the philosophical concept of qualia is used. First the concept is problematized, then an examination whether the concept has explanatory value in the science of religion and in the understanding of religious experience is done.  The concept of qualia has in this manner been applied to several scientific theories of religion and place-related entity continuity has been used as an example of religious experience. The present work is developed as a literature study and uses literature and theories from de scientific disciplines of philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, neurotheology, cognitive science of religion and psychology of religion. As an underlying method the epistemological theory of holistic coherentism is used because it enables such an interdisciplinary study as this work is.   What this work shows is that qualia have a high explanatory value in the science of religion and in the understanding of religious experience and how we form religious concepts. However, the concept of qualia is problematic and great care must be exercised when inferences are made.

Students ‘motivation for religious studies at upper secondary school decrease on a yearly basis. The reasons for this lack of motivation are, among other things, the rising secularization in the Swedish society as well as the methods used for teaching religious studies.  The aim of this pedagogic study is to elucidate the challenges connected to the motivation of the students ‘regarding the motivation for religious studies that teachers encounter, as well as to understand how teachers undertake these challenges in their teaching practices. The method used for this study was semi structured interviews with active teachers conducted on the telephone or in person. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. From this data a number of key factors were selected through thematized content analysis.  The result of the study confirms that the motivation of religious studies dwindles in Swedish Upper Secondary Schools. Teachers encounter vast challenges when trying to explain why students should take religious studies, especially vocational students find religious studies superfluous. The teachers who reached the highest degree of attainment reported that they teach in close connection to the students. Furthermore, they aim at using a broad variety of methods adjusted for the different students. Future research ought to study the reception of the subject by the students ‘ and how they perceived their own motivation for religious studies. By interviewing students, you might also collect data representing the experiences and perception of the students.