Swedish Religion Education: Objective but Marinated in Lutheran Protestantism?

In this article, I use the experience of a Czech doctoral student to discuss why religion education in Sweden can be understood as both deeply Lutheran and at the same time neutral and objective. In doing this, I look at the present syllabus in religion education, point to some of the changes that have been made in relation to the previous syllabus, and highlight some of the controversies that arose when it ish educational system in a historical context, pointing to its relation to liberal theology and cultural Protestantism. In addition, I present how teacher education is organized for religion education teachers and how the academic Study of Religions has been an important part the protestant taste of Sweden’s ‘non-denominational and neutral’ religion education.

statement: the school year follows the Christian Lutheran calendar; the Lutheran holidays are celebrated in schools, and the teachers she had met hardly had any knowledge about non-Lutheran or non-Christian holidays; teachers and students (with no exception) consistently talked about religion as 'faith'; many of the textbooks presented non-Lutheran Christianities, as well as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., in exotic and/or negative terms, and Protestantism was typically described in liberal democratic terms, whereas other religions were cast as more authoritarian. On top of this, performed Christian prayers, and that clergy from the Church of Sweden would be invited to talk about Christianity, while representatives from other denominations were not. She described the relationship between the stated goals of the national curriculum and actual syllabus as a 'contradiction in terms'.
I was not surprised about what this doctoral student said, since I have had many discussions with teacher students coming back from their in-school generalizing about what religion education in Sweden actually looks like from this these experiences, since there of course are many other pictures, a school subject that claims to have washed away its Lutheran marinade but where the taste still remains.
In this article, I will use the experience of the Czech doctoral student to discuss why religion education in Sweden can be understood as both deeply Lutheran and at the same time is presented as neutral and objective. In doing this, I will look at the present syllabus in religion education, point to some of the changes that have been made in relation to the previous syl-Swedish educational system in historical context, pointing to its relation to liberal theology and cultural Protestantism. Thirdly, I will present how teacher education is organized for religion education teachers and how Study of Religions during the last decades has been an important part of 'non-denominational and neutral' religion education, and call for the need for the study of religions in all forms of teacher education.
I met with this doctoral student in May and October 2011.
As the observant reader will already have noted, I have chosen to use the term religion education instead of religious education. The reason is that I taught in Europe. The term religious education refers to a confessional school subject taught, for example, by representatives of the majority Church (such as in Poland), whereas in other countries it is used for non-confessional school subjects that include aspects from religion education is a choice made to illustrate the Swedish school subject's Before plunging into the syllabus of this school subject, some words are needed about the country in focus.

A Welfare State
Sweden's population is estimated at 9 million and the state is often characterized as a welfare state. The Swedish welfare state is based on a model with state institutions distributing social services at the same time as a private sector is maintained. This is important for our discussion, since schools, both public and so-called 'free-schools' [friskolor] (also called 'independent schools') Universities too are free of charge, and religious organisations can obtain educational system has been a central aimed at including the whole population.
condition that one entered another religious congregation, but it was not from religion without losis no longer a state church in Sweden, as there is in neighbouring Norway as a national church A direct translation of the Swedish word Religionskunskap is 'knowledge about religion'. Since religion education keeps the abbreviation RE and is already established (Jensen 2008) I prefer not using the direct translation of the Swedish word.

The Present Syllabus LGR11
was carried out. Society had changed and the Swedish school had become increasingly criticized for falling results in international evaluations. The national syllabi for many school subjects were criticized for being religion education teaching should include Christianity and 'established gion education have shown that this vague reference was used by some - The review of syllabi has brought about some big changes for religion education. One general novelty is that for both primary, secondary and become clearer what should be addressed within the framework of each level in school. A clearer progression has also been introduced between levels In primary school, the focus is on the local community and storytelling, while at higher levels there is a greater emphasis on key ideas within the major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, according to the syllabus) as well as in secular worldviews, or 'outlooks of life' as they are called in the English-language documentation from the 3 Another major change is that in the new syllabus, the importance is stressed of teaching about internal variation within religions. This is a welcome change, since research on both textbooks and classroom practices has shown that religions are often pictured as 'closed boxes' where all adherents act and think in the same Each syllabus has a 'core content', which it is obligatory to teach in all syllabus for 'social study subjects'. The core content that relates to religion The role of Christianity in the school and in the local area in the past. Religions and places of worship in the local area.
Syllabus. An alternative would be to use 'world views'.
Narratives about gods and heroes in ancient and Nordic mythology and how these can be looked at from a contemporary perspective. Some ceremonies, symbols and narratives in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Some narratives from the Bible and their meaning, and also some of that the students should learn: In upper secondary school, one course in religion education is obligatory. Students have the possibility to add a second course, but also to take a more extensive course of specialization if they want. The obligatory course in upper secondary school builds on the knowledge acquired during the labus clearly show its departure point: discipline of religious studies, and is by its nature interdisciplinary. It deals with how religions and outlooks on life are expressed in words and action, and how people formulate and relate to ethical and existential issues.
The aim of the subject is presented in the following way: Teaching in the subject of religion should give students the opportunities to develop the following: ent interpretations and perspectives. Knowledge of human identity in relation to religions and outlooks on life. 3. and science, and the ability to analyse these. 4. The ability to use ethical concepts, theories and models.
The ability to examine and analyse ethical issues in relation to The curricula are, as we can see, goal-oriented, and do not give any instruction on how much time a teacher should spend on each topic within the school subject; this is left to each teacher's professional discretion and judgment.

The Politics of Psalms
Study of Religions, teachers of religion education, and representatives from the National Agency for Education (Skolverket). The process was not without controversies. Several drafts were made public on the Internet, where it was both in the daily press and in several TV programs. Representatives of various Christian denominations were swift to criticize the early drafts, one such criticism being that no value distinction was made between Christiangroup who wrote the syllabus, points out that no such value distinction was made precisely in order to maintain the principle of the non-denominational curriculum. Some other critics interpreted the lack of value distinction as implying that equal space should be given to all religions, which was not the intention, since there is no mention of time in any syllabus. The National Agency for Education anticipated criticism from the politicians on this issue, and therefore wrote in some additional references to Christianity, but without any direct change in content. Jan Björklund, the there was still inadequate emphasis on Christianity. The Minister then of-tion by adding the word Christianity separately where previously the term world religions had been used alone. For example, where the expert panel had proposed that the students should learn about 'rituals and religiously Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism', the government spaces in Christianity and the other world religions: Islam, Judaism, Hindu-Jonas Svensson, who were members of the expert panel, noted that although the Minister of Education had made symbolic changes, nothing had been The way that the Minister of Education changed the proposed syllabus in religion education raises many questions about the 'neutrality' and 'non-denominational' character of Swedish religion education. By listing Christianity separately from the other world religions, a clear distinction is made between Christianity and the 'Others'. This is a distinction that is problematic, and goes against the critical research that has been carried out on religion education, where the distinction to separate a Christian 'we' It is also a distinction that helps us to understand some of the questions

A Compulsory School Subject
Although the construction of the religion education programme for schools other school subject, religion education in Sweden has no special status. It is a school subject like all other school subjects. It is mandatory for all (since From a European perspective, however, compulsory religion education is a unique phenomenon. In almost all other European countries, it is possible to be exempted from the school subject that concerns religion, if the parents so wish. The compulsory nature of Swedish religion education, according to the National Agency for Education, is intended to be in line with the European Convention on Human Rights as long as Sweden can guarantee that 'information be conveyed in an objective and pluralistic manner' been uncontroversial. It has been questioned from denominational points have argued that non-denominational religion education is not education about religion and religions from a neutral point of view, but rather education into atheism or secularism. This is an argument that has been used to justify the right for parents to establish schools based on their own religious conviction by reference to the European Convention on Human Rights Swedish religion education: for her it is questionable because of its clear religion education in a historical context.

From Religious Instruction to Religion Education
The Swedish school system has a long history of Christian religious instruction linked the former Lutheran State Church. Although schooling was made Ecclesiastical Act of that time, religious instruction was the most important school subject, and ing point of what may be called the secularization of Swedish schools. The driven by representatives of liberal theology and cultural Protestantism to both Pentecostalism, which had in recent decades become well-established in Sweden, and the conservative layers in the state church. In addition, neo-Protestantism was presented as an alternative to Social Democracy, which at this time was often viewed as leading to atheism. Later, however, when theologians, such as Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, aimed at 'humanissecularisation in the meaning of a growing division between the state and national citizenship instead of the Lutheran faith became the task of the to further reduce the Christian emphasis in schools, and after many parliamentary debates, education in Swedish schools was named 'nonalso the year when the selective dual school system was abandoned, and a school for all introduced [allmän grundskola]. The school subject Christianity [Kristendom] was renamed Knowledge about Christianity [Kristendomskunskap], and it was stipulated that the teaching should be neutral and objective in terms of religion. Objectivity requirements meant that teachers should also ence the students' beliefs. In terms of our marinade metaphor, confessional Lutheran teaching was and a more 'facts-based' school subject Religionskunskap transition from a denominational to a non-denominational school subject that prioritises teaching about period, religion education also shifted from being a primarily facts-oriented as a washing away as we will see, not only are humans all coloured by culture, history and language, but also school subjects; and marinades may be washed away, but the taste remains.
In the years leading up to the next curriculum, Lgr80, there were further changes in terms of subject content. Educational research in this period life questions. Through interviews with children, researchers were able to show that children think about life and death for example, already in early dren wrestle with 'life questions'. This led to the development of the 'life question pedagogy' approach, which has had a major impact on Swedish During the late eighties and early nineties, Swedish society became inin both the syllabus for religion education and the national curriculum from the period. In the syllabus we can, for example, see that teaching about non-Christian religions is given more emphasis. In order to weld together presented as the foundation that school should rest on. Everyone in school, both adults and children, should work to ensure that these 'fundamental values' are 'imparted and instilled' in all subjects. The present national curriculum contains the following statement, which was also part of the The inviolability of human life, individual freedom and integrity, the equal value of all people, equality between women and men and solidarity with the weak and vulnerable are all values that the school should represent and impart. In accordance with the ethics borne by Christian tradition and Western humanism, this is achieved by fostering in the individual a sense of justice, generosity of spirit, tolerance and responsibility. Teaching in the 4 In accordance with Sweden's Education Act, the values outlined in the above quotation are meant to be achieved in all schools, both public and free schools (Skollagen i praktiken is not to be intruded upon by indoctrinating or tendentious modes of disto reach the goals of the national syllabi in all school subjects, including religion education (see below). In pursuit of these aims, most schools with only a small number of hours per week for the introduction of their own religious instruction. In, for example, Muslim schools, this number amounts to one to three hours per week of Islamic religious education (IRE). And since there are no national syllabi for such subjects, local syllabi have to be The reference to 'ethics borne by Christian tradition and Western humanism' in the national curriculum (see above) has provoked much debate, since the curriculum also states that education should be 'non-denominational'. The use of the term non-denominational (icke-konfessionell) in the above quotation is meant to imply that in the Swedish school system education is to be implemented in such a way that no particular worldview is prioritized, and students from all cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds would the fundamental values, the mediation of which the national curriculum considers a primary task of Sweden's educational system.
Let's also return to our Czech doctoral student who called the curriculum a 'contradiction in terms' because of these parallel references both to Christianity and to being 'non-denominational'. One way of understanding this contradiction is by acknowledging the history of liberal theology in the development of modern Swedish education. It contributed to the secularization of education in the sense of a growing division between state and church what has been described as a 'sacralization of the state' and a reconstituted paper). Buchardt explains: national is icke-konfessionell, This duality seems to be what made the ideas workable to Social Democrat put to work in interplay with the governing forces from not least the Social Democracies. The culturalization of religion seems to be partly the basis for resource for creating cohesion between citizens and the state body. Cultural Protestantism in the Nordic states has thus, among other forces, contributed to the independence of modern schooling from the church institution. But it has also contributed to the fact that welfare state schooling cannot be understood as independent from meanings and forms of knowledge from the unpublished paper.) The fostering of good Christians was the aim of the school system up until goal has instead become to foster good citizens, which the paragraph about fundamental values is an example of. In light of the Protestant model of secularisation, these fundamental values can be understood as an example of the sacralisation of the state described by Buchardt. The argument for this would be that to claim a certain 'value foundation' independent of religion is as much an expression of faith as any religion, since it makes a truth claim

A New Content Pedagogy Needed
When the actual shift from Christian religious education to a non-denominational religion education was to be implemented, there was a need for a new questions' could be understood as the equivalent of existential questions. ideas about her or his life. The life questions are understood to be universally human. This is why they can be posed to all religions and non-religious since the fact that people relate to them is considered a human universal, but in which way, how and when is seen as contextual.
The impact of life question pedagogy could thus be understood as an alternative to the more dogmatic heritage of Christian instruction. It was also in tune with the changes that took place throughout the school system in the system. Taking the departure point from the children's own life questions raised against life question pedagogy, a critique that also makes it possible to understand this pedagogy in relation to some of the Czech doctoral student's questions. To begin, the pedagogy is based on an understanding of religion as a phenomenon that has importance for giving answers to a human being's 'life questions' that have to do with faith. This perspective is prioritized in relation to questions guiding what humans should eat, how they should dress, how one's home should be decorated or what rituals one has to perform, i.e. questions that are related to what we call 'lived religion'. Life questions that prioritize faith could be construed as being predominant philosophy' which is central in Danish religious education, has shown how 'life philosophy' rests on a Lutheran Christian creation theology. The same could be said about the Swedish context, and consequently, also about life question pedagogy. Using life questions as the lens for the study of religions could, from this perspective, be understood as giving them a Lutheran taste. Secondly, the (presupposed) universality of these 'life questions' cannot be regarded as given. Even though it is possible argue that the weight point of criticism is that using life questions as a way to study religions could (unintentionally) give the impression that there is only one answer to the questions within each religion, a situation that can easily create stereotypes Representations of religions have been a much-discussed topic within Study of Religions. In line with such discussions, we may ask what happens to religious traditions when they are presented through the lens of life questions?
acknowledged. It is known to engage students, and it foregrounds perto understand, since the questions are supposed to relate to their own life phenomena. This is a challenge that needs to be taken up, and where scholars of the study of the religions have much to contribute.

Teacher Education
As already mentioned, the Czech doctoral student also asked what kind of teacher training the teachers of religion education get in Sweden. It is not possible to give one straightforward answer to this question, since it is in common is that in Sweden, teachers at all levels of the schools system (pre-school teachers, leisure-time instructors, primary school teachers, secondary school teachers and upper secondary school teachers) are educated at universities and university colleges. Primary school teachers are educated to teach a range of school subjects. Religion education is, for them, often combined with history, civics and geography. At most universities the students for these 'social study subjects' study inter-disciplinary courses for secondary and upper-secondary religion education study at Study of Religions departments. Some universities organize courses that are speteacher students study the same courses as any other student in Study of perspective is in both cases always part of the teacher training, since the students must be able to teach according to the national curriculum. The number of semesters and credits required depends on their future level of Since religion education is an obligatory, non-confessional school subject, taught at all levels of the school system, many teachers need to be trained. Departments of Study of Religions have the responsibility for the content and are involved in their training to varying degrees (depending on the level in the school system). One result of this is that there are Study of Religions This is a very considerable number compared to many other European countries, in relation to the size of the country's population.
Södertörn University education' programs. Courses on religion are also included in the teacher being necessary for all teachers, on all levels, since all teachers will meet gious traditions or secular outlooks of life, and it is argued that studying understanding the society they live in. In other words, Study of Religions all future teachers; but perhaps this is also linked to the idea of studies of religion contributing to social cohesion? This arrangement is unique for Södertörn University, however, and somewhat surprisingly, few other Study of Religions departments are currently involved in teacher training for levels other than secondary and upper secondary schools.
While some degree of religious diversity has always existed in Swedish society, over the last few decades the ethnic and cultural composition of the country See www.sh.se/studyofreligions has undergone rapid transformation. Parallel to this, religion education in Sweden has also, as we have seen, gone through changes.
Although the self-image of the Swedish school system (and also of Swedish society in general ) is one of objectivity and neutrality, it is important to recognize the phenomenon that our doctoral student from the Czech Republic encountered when studying Swedish religion education. Through her questions, it becomes apparent that what from an inside-Sweden perspective is presented as neutral and objective may be understood from an outside perspective as deeply Lutheran: not only in terms of the factual history of the country, but also in terms of how people think and talk about religion in society, how religion is taught and holidays are celebrated in schools, how institutions are built, who gets subsidised by the state, etc. Sweden is a society that can be described as a society marinated in Lutheran Chrisrole and position of the researcher is frankly acknowledged (see for example needs to further highlight in teacher training. Just as a researcher doing When educating future teachers, it is important to discuss the concepts of objectivity, neutrality and non-denominational teaching. This cannot be done in a simplistic way, which I fear is often the case. Perspectivism, selfbrought into the discussion on what non-denominational teaching means On top of this, we need to discuss what it actually means that we, like our institutions, are shaped by culture, history and language in an inesneutrality th of Swedes neutrality in foreign policy has been something obvious and positive despite the problems of capable way, and that ideas about non-confessionality and objectivity also have a cultural history and are not neutral. These are perspectives Study of Religions can provide, not only for religion education teachers, but also