In March 2018 the Swedish Social Democratic Party presented the election promise to ban faith-based schools. This election promise evoked strong reactions and gave rise to a debate about the role of religion in Swedish schools in many Swedish newspapers. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explore what arguments that have been utilized in the debate about faith-based schools. Debate articles are here examined using argumentation analysis: Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen and Aftonbladet. The results conclude that the most common arguments in favor of a ban on faith-based schools are: segregation, religious indoctrination, and serious shortcomings in said schools. From the other side of the debate, in defense of faith-based schools, the most common arguments are the following: integration, freedom of religion and high-quality education. An additional aim is to study these arguments using Hjelm’s (2014) explanations of the “New Visibility of Religion”. The analysis reveals that the debate is informed by a secular norm where religion is viewed as something unwelcome in the public eye. The debate is informed by a conflict of how religion ought to be valued, and if it should be viewed as a resource or a problem. Advocates in favor of a ban on faith-based schools claim that these schools constitute a social problem in contemporary society. Defenders of faith-based school, on the other hand, view them as a resource and argue that there today is a great need for faith-based schools. Rather than discussing faith, this debate deals mainly with the question of what role religion should play in today’s society. Religion is visible because it can be good or bad, something that Hjelm (2014) refers to as the ”secular return of religion”. Neoliberal reforms have changed the Swedish School system, which in turn affects the debate. This debate ultimately reveals a conflict of aims regarding the purpose of the Swedish school system and where equality is put against freedom of choice.

Forskning gällande begreppen religion och sekularisering, samt hur dessa begrepp uttrycks i läroplanen är ett viktigt område att belysa eftersom jag anser att den är i behov av en utveckling, specifikt för lärare och skolans utveckling till ett öppensinnat och jämställt samhälle. Därför är syftet med den här texten att utforska den historiska utvecklingen av sekularisering i Sverige och hur sekularisering har påverkat hur religion kommer till uttryck i läroplanen för religionskunskap på gymnasiet genom att svara på frågan: Hur har sekularisering påverkat läroplanen för religionskunskap genom historien? Studiens mål är att belysa hur sekulariseringens utveckling har bidragit till formuleringen kring hur religion och olika livsåskådningar förmedlas i läroplanen mellan 1970 och 2011. Den här studien använder sig av ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv för att studera hur historiska händelser har påverkat omfattningen och definitioner av sekularisering och religion. Studien är en diskursanalys, som utförs genom att använda en kvalitativ metod. Metoden har bestått av att samla tidigare forskning i form av text som både är fysisk och elektronisk. Resultatet visade på att många historiska händelser och teorier har bidragit till sekulariseringens utveckling i det svenska samhället, som sedan har påverkat formuleringen och närvaron av religionskunskap i läroplanen. Slutsatsen är därmed att skolan har varit tvungen att anpassa sig efter samhällsförändring. Dock, i takt med samhällets utveckling har religionen aldrig försvunnit. Alternativt har religiös mångfald berikat religionsämnet med att andra religioner har fått en större plats i undervisningen samt gett möjligheten till att låta eleverna skapa egna förutsättningar. Där är mycket som har påverkat religionsämnet och hur det förmedlas i undervisningen ute bland gymnasieskolorna i Sverige. Läroplanen som är konstruerad utifrån samhällssituationen bestämmer vad som ska inkluderas.

The romantic western, heterosexual couple´s love is a social and cultural construction, which has altered in significance and terms between different time periods, places and social or economic groups. The new, modernized ideal of “romantic love” has in earlier research been exclusively linked to the European bourgeois class during the 19th century and their economic and social progress. The modernizing processes in the Western society during this period has also been said to both form and be affected by the romantic ideal of love during the 19th century. Two of the most important processes of modernization in the western society at the time was the secularization and individualization of structures and lives. In this study I explore these modern values and their expressions through and within the romantic love concept typical for the 19th century, within a social and economic group that has not yet been explored in this context; the working class.       Through a collection of love letters written by two workers in Sweden during the 1890s I investigate expressions which contain a secular or individualized understanding of love and if and how these expressions differed from the modernity expressed in love letters within the upper-class pairs of the time. My purpose is thus to contribute with a more nuanced and representative account of the origin and practice of the modernized understanding of love, than earlier research has done. In my study I show that the working-class couple in fact seemed to inhabit a more modernized view of love then the contemporary couples from higher parts of society. This was expressed through a lack of Godly love and the absence of religious guilt or conflict related to the worldly love for another person in the letters. The working-class couple also expressed a more modernized understanding of love through a more intense and active need for reflexivity, reciprocity, and confirmation in the building of their relationship. Accept from the fact that this couple still placed God in charge of their future material happiness, the expressions of love within the working-class relationship which I have identified thereby shows a new standpoint to present research; modernization and the romantic love concept during the 19th century do in fact not seem to have been exclusively linked to the upper classes and their material wealth, family structure or gender roles.

The submitted diploma thesis deals with Christian Democratic political parties in the political systems of Scandinavian and Baltic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. These parties form a unique "Nordic" branch of European political Protestantism; and structurally and functionally distinctive, but to a great degree homogenous, subgroup of Christian democracy. A major theoretical tradition to be applied is the Rokkanian party system analysis. Contrary to its counterparts on the continent, the Nordic branch grew not from a church-based defence stance against a secular state, but from both territorial and religious dissent on the periphery. The "cultural periphery" analysis relies heavily on history and geography of religion of the Nordic countries. However, other theoretical perspectives are taken as well in order to compare different aspects of the parties' affiliations and policies, such as their cabinet policies, ideology or EC/EU attitudes. In another chapter, possibilities and limits of Christian democracy in the Lutheran environment of Latvia and Estonia are examined. Is Scandinavian experience portable? Or are there other ways of Christian political mobilization used in the public spheres of the two Baltic countries? A similar theoretical framework is applied,...

In June 2015, the Vatican released Laudato Si’, Pope Francis encyclical focused on environmental issues. Pope Francis acted as an advocate for a binding agreement on climate change at the United Nation (UN) Convention conferences of the parties 2015 (COP21) citing the scientific consensus on the existence and human causes of climate change. This call for action by the Pope raised the question on the role of religion in the political sphere considering whether a religious authority could influence political matters. By building on the analytical framework drawn from the work of Corell and Betsill (2008), on assessing the influence of NGO in international environmental negotiations, this thesis developed an analytical framework for accessing the influence of Religious non-governmental organizations (RNGO) to examine the influence of RNGO on COP21. The findings also shed light on the secularization debate in International Relations.

Education is examined within the context of religious beliefs and values found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Education is defined as the process of becoming like God. An investigation is conducted into the stewardship and responsibility parents have for the education of their children. This responsibility is determined to be a sacred stewardship that cannot simply be delegated to others in society. All education is shown to be religious in nature. Conflicts between the beliefs and values of different members of society are found to be at the heart of many of the difficulties in education. The secularization of Western civilization and education is described. The history of public schooling in America is examined, and the current status of the public school system is analyzed. On the basis of this analysis, parents are urged to be more vigilant in attending to the responsibilities of educating their children. Several suggestions are made for how parents can become more responsible for the education of their children, and one of these options, home schooling, is explored in some depth. Two Latter-day Saint home-schooling families are examined using qualitative research methods. Their philosophy of education is considered at length and described in detail. The methods they employ in the education of their children are investigated and described. A detailed account of a week in the life of each family is also included. The study closes with an examination of what it means for parents to pass a goodly heritage on to their children. Passing on a rich heritage is found to consist in seeking the Spirit of the Lord, following the counsel of Church leaders, and keeping the commandments of God.

The aim of this study is to investigate discourses related to Christianity in Swedish crime fiction. In doing this the top-selling books each year between 2004 and 2021 are examined. Furthermore, the purpose is to explore whether the identified discourses can be related to attitudes towards Christianity in Swedish society. The investigation is done using Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for Critical Discourse Analysis. The result shows that the top-selling Swedish crime novels, written so far in the 21st century, mostly have a prejudiced attitude towards Christianity and are characterized by a general discourse of suspicion concerning this worldview. This is to some extent connected to conventions of the genre and the fact that there is a lack of nuance in what types of Christian practices that are described. It is however also notable that there is a similar discourse of suspicion towards Christianity in Swedish society.

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AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine how individuals, part of a rural Christian parish,express their religiosity and beliefs in a Swedish context. Furthermore this study seeksto understand these religious expressions through different views on social construction,secularization and the privatization perspective, such as lived religion, in particular. Byusing qualitative interviews with 8 individuals analyzed with the theories mentionedabove my results show that secularization has provided many individuals with aChristian identity, however, not necessarily a Christian faith. Instead several of theparticipants show a self-developed religious expression not automatically connectedwith Christian religious practices. One of the participants has, despite a Christiansocialization, developed a non-religious identity. Furthermore my results show that theparticipants do not feel obliged to take part in the parish, its activities nor entertain theidea of becoming active within the Church of Sweden. These results indicate thatsecularization has provided the participants’ reality with either a self-adapted privatizedform of religious expression or a lack of religiosity due to an interrupted Christiansocialization. The results also show a lack of interest in Christian discourse. Thisindicates that the Church of Sweden is not able to retain its relevance in the participants’lives due to its passiveness.

No description available.