Studien undersöker utvecklingen av afrikansk-amerikansk religion i början på 1800-talet i USA. Materialet som studien är konstruerad på består av en undersökning gjord på sex olika slavar som blev predikanter och pastorer. Undersökningen i Studien svarar om dessa individers yrkesroll och socialisering var av betydelse för det religiösa engagemanget och dess utveckling. Slavarnas yrkens betydelse undersöks med hjälp av Etzionis teori om tvångsorganisationer och med Durkheims arbetsfördelningsteori. Studien avser att bidra med information om hur afrikansk-amerikansk religion utformades i början av 1800-talet. .

According to the directives of Lgr11, learning about Christianity should be an important part of religious education in secondary school (7th-9th grade) in Sweden. A school teacher must therefore have good knowledge of the field and of different aspects of the beliefs of the various Christian traditions.This essay is about how salvation is conceived of by two members of the laity in each of three different Christian traditions: the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden (which is Lutheran). As a theoretical perspective for my analysis, I have chosen the official views of salvation of these three churches. That is to say, views of the members of the laity have been compared with the official views of the respective churches. It is thus a very limited qualitative study aiming at finding out how the views of the laity conform to the official creed concerning salvation and whether there are any differences here between the churches.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka bakomliggande faktorer som sätter käppar i hjulen för demokratiseringsprocessen i Azerbaijan. Med hjälp av rapporter från olika internationella organisationer, såsom Freedom House ser jag landets demokratiska utveckling och fungerande. Jag använt mig av den teoribekräftande fallstudien där jag applicerar demokratiseringsteorin på fallet i Azerbaijan. Freedom House rapport ? Nations in Transit? i Azerbaijan 2011 kan man förknipa med Robert Dahls polyarki begrepp. Polyarkibegreppet bygger på två grundelement: medverkan och tävlan eller konkurrens.

Through the lenses of religion?s role in society, the purpose of this thesis is to examine, the role of the Church of Sweden in providing support to people at the end of life. Questions asked are:  "What types of spiritual support is offered by the Church of Sweden during terminal care provided in patients' homes and how is this support expressed in church orders, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters?" and " How can the work of the Church of Sweden be understood, based on theories of religion's role in society? The method used is a content analysis of the Church Order, assembly instructions, plans of operations and congregation letters in 17 different congregations within the diocese of Lund. I then engage in a discussion with theories on differentiation and the privatization of religion as a means to interpret my results.

India is home to every sixth person in the world, some 30 million dogs and a quarter of the total world cattle population. A vast majority of Indians are Hindus, and even though the Hindu religion proclaims love, nurturing and worshipping of animals, sometimes the same religion constitutes an obstacle for animal welfare in practice. This paper investigates the significance of historic and religious symbols to the way animals are perceived in modern Indian society, as well as the different social factors which underlie attitudes to animals. The concept of karma, as well as that of good versus bad deaths, is probably the foundation of the general Hindu reluctance to euthanasia in any form. Although in theory all species are generally regarded as equal in Hinduism, in practice there seems to be a differentiation; for cultural, religious, medical and financial reasons.

The contents of the school subject religion in Sweden, has gone through a radical change during the past century. With an origin of only treating Christianity and being a major cultural and social actor, it has developed into more of a multicultural and philosophical subject. The fact that the subject no longer has cultural recognition makes it more abstract and harder for students to relate to. Additionally, religion is experienced as a rather dull subject in school. My essay is therefore written to provide teachers encouragement of interest for religious education, by using humor. The well-known psychologist Jean Piaget claims play to be a prime state of learning.

This report is an attempt to clarify how religious and non-religious views-of-life [livsåskådningar] are created through the collaboration and opposition of religious and scientific elements/ideas. This with the hope of reaching a fruitful result related to the solution of world-view related conflicts, such as the ones existing between science and religion, on an individual and societal level.This is accomplished with the help of two assertions: (1) Mankind has a need to explain its existence and surroundings. (2) Religion and science has their origins in the same seed and aim to serve the same purpose, or function. Together these two assertions lay the theoretical foundations of this report which implies that all humans have an innate need of sustaining a stable world-view.The result of this report is that a final solution to world-view related conflicts are beyond reach as our mental and physical nature limits us. However there are strategies for minimizing world-view related conflicts effect on society..

The relationship between fandoms and religion has become an increasingly popular topic to study within the field of the sociology of religion. In previous studies, there have been different views concerning whether or not fandoms should be regarded as religious from a functional perspective. This issue is especially interesting considering the decreasing popularity of traditional religion in some aspects. The aim of this essay is to study how Harry Potter fandoms are described in previous studies. The study aims at discerning both the empirical data and how the data is interpreted. The material in this study consists of three previous studies about the communities centered around Harry Potter fandoms.

Background: Previous research has shown that the understanding and knowledge about the spiritual needs is not given high priority among nursing staff. During the latest years the body and its functions has controlled the healthcare and the spiritual needs has been placed in the background. All humans have spiritual needs that must be satisfied irrespective of religious background. Aim: The aim of this study was to in a caring perspective illustrate patients? spiritual and existential needs in palliative care.

Jag har undersökt Hollywoodfilmernas bild av Voodoon kontra den egentliga religionen. Jag har tittat på religionens grunder, myterna kring till exempel zombies och Voodoodockor samt vilken utbredning Voodoon har idag. Med hjälp av litteraturstudier och Internet har jag fått fram mycket intressant material.Voodoo är en komplicerad religion som är omgiven av mycket mystik och där anhängarna har en personlig kontakt med sina gudar. Idag har Voodoon omkring 50-60 miljoner anhängare världen över..

Modern democracies rest on a foundation of values essential to their prosperity. Two of those values are freedom of speech and political equality. To many, these values appear to coexist effortlessly. However, what this thesis aims to expose are some of the problems that quickly arise when attempts to interpret the values fail.The thesis investigates a specific US Supreme Court ruling called Citizens United. The ruling enabled corporations and unions to use their own treasuries for unlimited independent political expenditures.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how Irish people on a rural location practice their faith in everyday life. The intention is also to find out what strategies my interviewees use to negotiate the abuse scandal and what their thoughts on the Catholic Church are. The material mainly consists of interviews with seven people part of a rural parish in Ireland. My research also entails smaller observations and conversations in the homes of the participants.The results indicate that they all consider themselves religious, however not all Catholic. All of the participants integrate their religion in everyday life.

Många undersökningar har behandlat hur islamundervisning går till i gymnasieskolan, bland annat Kjell Härenstams bok Skolboksislam. Ingen jag har kommit i kontakt med hittills har tagit upp frågan om hur lärare i religion tar upp religions- och kulturmöten, då i synnerhet krigen i Afghanistan och Irak. Mina frågeställningar är således följande:Hur har lärare i religion på gymnasiet tagit upp krigen i Afghanistan och Irak?Var har de hämtat sin information och hur har de bedömt den källkritiskt?.

Vi tycker det här ämnet är viktigt och passar bra in i vår verksamhetsförlagda tid och i vår utbildning som en framtida lärare. Det är viktigt att vi redan i tidig ålder försöker informera våra elever att vi alla som lever i detta samhälle har fler likheter än olikheter och genom att tala kring detta så kan man få bort begreppen vi och de. Rasism är byggd på fördomar, därför tycker vi det är viktigt att man börjar tala kring religion redan tidigt i åldrarna. Vi anser att genom att vi diskuterar olika religioner i klassrummen så skapar eleverna förståelse till dessa religioner, denna förståelse kan vara väldig väsentlig för dem i deras vuxenliv. I detta arbete försöker vi få fram vad elever anser om religion, vad som intresserar dem.

According to the national legislation concerning discrimination within labour law, it is prohibited to discriminate on the grounds of sex, ethnic belonging, religion or other religious belief, functional disability, sexual nature and part-time work or time-limited employment. The EC-law goes further and also prohibits discrimination on the ground of age. According to an EC-directive the member states must incorporate a national provision against age discrimination by the 2nd of December 2006 and the Swedish legislator is now in the progress to implement this into Swedish law.Even though national legislation does not contain any provision on the area, the EC-law directive has a certain influence at national law. Measures that are in breach of the purpose of the directive can for example not be taken. When the time for implementation has expired, the directive has direct effect and can be referred to within the member states.