Abstract
Having been almost abandoned during the latter part of the 1900s, religion and youth is currently a growing field of research in Europe. Since people thought that secularisation would eradicate religion as a phenomenon, there was obviously no major reason to investigate young people’s attitudes towards religion. Since that time, the understanding of the world and its complex relationship with religion has changed, and this now attracts much discussion. In Europe, this not only concerns religion and youth among different migrant groups, but also research on religion and youth of those born and raised in Europe itself and integrated into the historic majority. The aim of this paper is to revisit and reanalyse the results of two qualitative research projects based on interviews with young students in schools who identify themselves as Swedish. I analyze their discursive constructions on their own religion and the religions of ‘others’. The data point towards a strong secularist discourse, where the Swedish students identify themselves as having a modern and rational worldview. On the other hand, they regard religion and religious people as old-fashioned and irrational. The focus in this article concerns articulations constructing this overarching secularist discourse, which I discuss in light of the contemporary debate on secularisation and secularism. However, most of the young students in the research appreciated the subject of Religious Education in Sweden as a means towards understanding the world. This was especially so in discussions on Religious Education with upper secondary school students, whereas younger students found religion to be more boring and traditional; thus the subject having difficulties in relating to the younger students’ experiences.
Highlights
The meaning and impact of secularisation is a subject of much discussion in Europe today, and researchers often mention Sweden as one of the most secular countries in the world
The reanalysis of the individual and focus group interviews concerning students with a predominantly ethnic Swedish background, show that they are dominated by a secularist discourse
The ethnic Swedish students often singled out the specific lack of individual freedom in religion
Summary
The meaning and impact of secularisation is a subject of much discussion in Europe today, and researchers often mention Sweden as one of the most secular countries in the world (see Zuckerman 2009, pp. 55–69). In the midst of competing discourses on secularisation and religious belonging and beliefs since the end of the Second World War, European nations have deepened their cultural complexity and become more ‘multicultural’ than ever before This is not the least obvious in the Nordic countries, where migration, pluralisation and multicultural issues are intensively researched and discussed (Brochmann and Hagelund 2012; Dahlstedt and Neergaard 2013; Eastmond 2011; Kivisto and Wahlbeck 2013; Olwig 2011; Petersson and Johansson 2013; Skeie 1995).This obviously has far-reaching implications for education, where discussion on multicultural and intercultural issues has been prominent for quite some time (see for example, Banks 2015; Coulby 2006; Coulby et al 1997). The aim of this work is to make such discourses known in order to understand what part religion plays in some young peoples’ lives, as well as to discuss implications and challenges for religious education within a classroom that will be dominated by a secularist discourse
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