Democratic and Inclusive Religious Education in the Secular State – The Case of Sweden

• How can a secular democratic state inform its fundamental values to migrants with past affiliation in societies marked by religious norms and values? In Sweden, migrants are offered a (non-compulsory) course in civic orientation. Research has shown a need for professionalization of this type of education. A dimension of professionalization can, we urge, be described in terms of religious literacy. The development of a course in civic orientation, where norms and values are discussed with respect to human rights, presupposes that methods are developed to draw attention to the complexity, and the ambiguity, of relations between religious and secular ethical positions. Teachers need knowledge of religiously motivated beliefs in ethical issues and of ways in which these are made visible in the multidimensional practice of lived religion. Sweden, perceived as a highly secular country, has taken in many migrants from countries with traditional religious values. Through interviews, the Institute for Future Studies has identified some areas where religiosity is one parameter for the way these people rethink ethically relevant perceptions. These are values of self-determination and the individual’s own choices – such as abortion, divorce, premarital sex and homosexuality, and with those contiguous rights that are perceived as non-negotiable in the secular democratic discourse. This chapter analyses the secular state’s mission to inform new arrivals about democratic values in relation to human rights in the Swedish discourse. The analysis is based on a multidimensional understanding of the concept of religious literacy, with reference to a discussion about the distinction between having a right to live with or without religion. One aim is to explore challenges and opportunities to discern in the current discourse how religion can contribute to the development of the secular state and how secular value teaching can contribute to the development of religious approaches to human rights.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Religion in secular democracies

citizenship education

inclusion

social and cultural literacy

religious literacy

religious diversity

non-denominational religious education

democratic religious education

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)