The State and Religious Minorities in Sweden

ISBN-13: 9783031421549 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023

Linnea Lundgren

Opis

This book, a revised version of Lundgren’s PhD thesis, offers a deepened understanding of the changes in the governance of religious diversity and the complex relationship between state and religion. Linnea Lundgren explores how the narrative of risk and resource came to be by looking beyond the developments in the last few decades (particularly since 9/11) and analysing how the governance of religious diversity has developed over time. In particular, she focuses on the case of Sweden that is often regarded as one of the most secular countries in the world, while simultaneously being recognised as one of the most multi-religious countries in Europe due to a rise in immigration. This book reveals how the state has had a central role in setting the terms and conditions that both enable and limit what religious communities can do, thus shaping the function and role of religion in the public realm.

Through the analysis of an extensive number of government documents over a period of seventy years (1952-2022), Lundgren challenges the idea that many of the recent controversies concerning religious diversity are new. She argues that many of the discussions held today regarding the accommodation of Muslims are decidedly similar to previous discussions regarding the management of Catholics and the Free Churches in the 1950s and 1960s. She shows that the underlying fear has remained the same; that the individual’s rights can become weakened or diminished in religious communities and that religious minorities will challenge the common shared values of the society. In light of this Lundgren concludes that in order to understand what is really at stake in the debate regarding religious diversity in Sweden today, there is a need to look at underlying tensions that exist between the state, civil society and the individual, a relationship that differs considerably in the Nordic context compared to other contexts. This text appeals to students and researchers working in the sociology of religion and people who work with governance of religion, religion and civil society, and religion and law in Europe.

Spis treści

1.Religious Minorities: A Risk or a Resource? 

This chapter explores the current public and political debate in which religious minorities are portrayed as either a potential risk or a resource and how this narrative shapes the governance of religious diversity worldwide as well as in Sweden. In the chapter it is argued that in order to fully understand this current narrative there is a need need to look beyond the development in the last few decades (particularly since 9/11) and look more carefully at how the governance of religious diversity has developed over time in different contexts. Sweden is put forth as a particularly interesting case given that is regarded as one of the most secular countries in Europe but also one of the countries that are becoming most religiously diverse.

2.Religion, State and Civil Society: Theoretical Reflections. 

In this chapter a theoretical position is provided of how to further understand the governance of religious diversity in modern societies. Following a presentation of current theoretical perspectives in the field of governance, an extra perspective is added where it is argued that the perception and handling of minority religious communities will depend considerably on the specific relationship between state-civil society and the normative visions of civil society in a specific context, as well as on what aspects and principles that are in conflict with the normative hopes that exist.

3.The Religious Other: The State and Religious Minorities before 1952

This chapter provides an historical overview of the Swedish context before the freedom of religion act was introduced in the 1950s and explores how religious minorities had very limited rights and freedom compared to other European countries. 

4. Policy Phase of Deliberation (1952-1974)  

5. Policy Phase of Recognition (1974-2000)

6. Policy Phase of Civic Religion (2000-2020)

In chapter 4-6 the different trends and changes in the governance of religious diversity is highlighted by shedding light on three different policy phases and, consequentially, the two major policy shifts in 1974 and 2000. Combined, these two policy shifts help to demonstrate how the current situation and the developing relationship over the past 70 years can be understood. Throughout the chapters both signs of continuity and discontinuity in the state´s perception and handling of minority religious community is shown as well as how central principles and goals have developed to both preserve and reform policies.

7. Continuity and Change in the Governance of Religion. 

Here, the findings are summarised and discussed in light of previous research in the field, problematising the commonly-held idea that many of the controversies surrounding religion and the management of religious diversity are new.

8. A Risk and a Resource: The Individual, Religious Community and the State. 

In this final chapter it is explored how the Swedish case may be understood in regard to other contexts. It is discussed that in order to fully understand the controversies that exist in the extensive field of religion, state and civil society there is a need for an interdisciplinary approach, combining different theoretical explanations that together contribute to a more complex and multifaceted understanding of the current situation.

O autorze

Dr. Linnea Lundgren currently works as a lecturer at the Institution for Civil Society and Religion at Marie Cederschiöld University, Stockholm, Sweden. She is also affiliated with the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society at Uppsala University, also in Sweden.