Klassrummen består idag av elever från olika kulturer och med olika religiösa bakgrunder. Eftersom alla elever har olika relationer till religion är det också svårt, för de lärare som undervisar i religionskunskap, att ge en rättvis bild av någons religion. Vid de tillfällena är det viktigt att vara tydlig med att religion både är något individuellt men också något kollektivt, samtidigt som det inte bör ges en stereotypiserande beskrivning av en religion eller dess utövare. Vid stereotypisering är det dessutom vanligt att sambanden mellan kultur och religion inte framgår och det finns alltid en ökad risk för diskriminering. Flera forskare hävdar att religion bör förklaras genom olika kärnor eller dimensioner, istället för genom den traditionella sekvenseringen uppkomst, historia, texter, människosyn, och så vidare. Religionsvetaren Ninian Smart ansåg att religion kan definieras utifrån sju olika dimensioner och i denna uppsats undersöks det vilka representationer som görs av den praktisk och rituella dimensionen i kristendom- och islamkapitlen i två läroböcker.

The future of Christianity is something that has been, and still is, discussed all over the world. Atthe first sight it can look like this religion, that has former been so big all over Europe, isdiminishing. More and more people are leaving the church and the church-benches are very seldomfilled. In our society it is the individual that is important and the moral life is changing. But, this donot still have to be the end of Christianity, which some people believe.

Den här uppsatsen har behandlat de hälsingska bonaderna, Skogbonaden och Överhogdalsbonaderna och deras rika bildvärld. Dessa bonaders tillverkningstid infaller vid kristendomens inträde och begynnande etablering i Norden. Jag har frågat mig om det går att se någon religiös kontinuitet i bonadernas bilder, och har därför studerat dem i ett syfte att söka se spår av anpassningsfenomen såsom ackulturation och synkretism i mötet mellan den fornskandinaviska religionen och kristendomen.Olika forskare ger olika betydelse åt begreppen ackulturation och synkretism. Här har jag valt att arbeta med Anders Hultgårds begrepp där ackulturation avser anpassningsfenomen och inflytande som inte påverkar de centrala delarna av en religion och synkretism avser mer djupgående förändringar som kan ske i ett religionsmöte. Jag gör detta genom att visa exempel på integrering i ett ofta försummat material i kristnandeprocessen från min egen hemtrakt, Hälsingland.

In this thesis I have done a discourse analysis of the documentary movie A Jihad for Love. A Jihad for Love came out 2007 and is directed by Parvez Sharma. The documentary movie is about homosexual Muslims and their jihad, struggle, for love and to be accepted in a world where they are barely recognized as a group. My aim of the thesis was to see how the movie portrays the persons who are in the film and their relationship to Islam and who gets access to the religion. I have also analyzed if Islam can be used to strengthen the sexual identity or if it works in the opposite way.

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. .

Sedan de borgerliga partierna varit i opposition har man efterlyst förändringar inom den svenska utvecklingspolitiken. Utvecklingspolitiken är samlad i skrivelsen Politik för global utveckling(PGU). Arbetets syfte är att undersöka om det skett några förändringar inom PGU sedan de borgerliga partierna intagit regeringsställning år 2006. Frågorna som är ämnade att besvaras är dels om det går att urskilja några väsentliga skillnader mellan den föregående socialdemokratiska regeringens politik för global utveckling och den nuvarande borgerliga regeringens och dels om den politik för global utveckling som den borgerliga regeringen för, är en del av lösningen på en internationellt ickefungerande utvecklingspolitik. Genom en kvalitativ textanalys är avsikten att utföra en komparation mellan de två regeringarnas PGU för att på så sätt uppvisa eventuella skillnader.

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.

Faith is a phenomenon that engages the individual into emotional, social and daily manners.Religion tends to engage the individual in different levels in the daily life. In the church communion, there is a belief to the traditional and the repeteated behaviour. This shared group is strength by ceremonies and rituals and people in this collective somehow experience another type of reality. This study has a social - psychological perspective and the purpose is to study people?s know-how of faith and why they seek religion in today´s secularized society.

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.

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..

The overall purpose of the essay is to analyse what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant by Religionless Christianity. For this I have chosen to use the substantial idea analysis.I first came across the concept of freedom of religion to Christianity and Religionless Christians, in the book Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Tankar om en 1900-talsmartyr by Martin Lind in which he discusses what Bonhoeffer might discuss with Religionless Christians. This book is therefore the origin of the selection of literature I have chosen to use in the essay. Bonhoeffer writes several letters from prison about the movement he sees towards a new phase in human history, in which man can no longer be religious. However, Bonhoeffer uses the word religion in such a way that its content cannot be clearly determined.

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.