Introduction: Setting the Stage

Timo Aarrevaara,Tuula Sakaranaho,Johanna Konttori

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-47576-5_1

Abstract

Religion has become a pressing matter in different fields of multicultural European society, which raises the question as to how best to govern religious diversity. What we argue in this book is that a successful governance of religious diversity necessitates the development of religious literacy. As such, religious literacy can be understood in a variety of ways depending on the particular context. This book draws on different empirical case studies concerning Finland, covering traditional Finnish religious movements and issues pertaining to immigration and the growing ethnic and religious diversity of Finnish society. In doing so, it delves, among other matters, into the field of school education and state policies against radicalization and violence.

Highlights

Setting the StageTuula Sakaranaho, Timo Aarrevaara, and Johanna Konttori AbstractReligion has become a pressing matter in different fields of multicultural European society, which raises the question as to how best to govern religious diversity
What we argue in this book is that a successful governance of religious diversity requires the development of religious literacy
In order to come to terms with the complexities of a diversifying and secularizing society, it is necessary to look at religious literacy from the perspective of multi-level governance, where a state-centred analysis is broadened to the processes of decentralization of traditional administrative functions and to civil society, businesses or international organizations, such as the European Union

Summary

Pitfalls of Religious Illiteracy

In contemporary European society, approaches towards religion in the public sphere tend to be very contradictory. In the 1960s, many sociologists envisaged that the process of secularization would result in religion becoming obsolete in the European public sphere and relegated solely to the private sphere of personal belief and practice. The importance of religion in the public sphere is not necessarily recognized, or it is avoided as an awkward subject, due to the idea that religion does not concern the secular world In the latter case, religion is seen as a matter best left. In particular, is a religion that tends to attract stereotypes which gloss over other personal factors, including age, class, race, gender, and cultural differences To put it not all Muslims are religious or wish to be treated as such. This kind of proficiency lies at the heart of religious literacy

Approaching Religious Literacy

Introduction

Summary of the Chapters