Both contemporary research in History of Religions and current public debate tell us that Christianity as a religious form is challenged in today?s society. Nevertheless, Christianity is often present in secular artistic expression such as fictional literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine how God is portrayed in two late-modern Swedish novels, Djävulen och Gud by Mare Kandre (1993) and Boken by Niklas Rådström (2013).The examination is based on a hermeneutic method using close reading in order to answer the questions asked. The result of the examination shows that God in the late-modern novels is portrayed as a figure with shifting emotions, and in both novels God goes through changes which are in some ways similar.

Ondskans problem är ett gammalt (religions)filosofiskt problem som, i grova drag, frågar om existensen av en allsmäktig, allvetande och allgod Gud är förenlig med ondskan i världen, samt varför en sådan Gud tillåter ondska. Filosofer (som svarar jakande på frågan om) har utvecklat ett svar på frågan varför Gud tillåter ondska. Syftet med denna uppsats är följaktligen att redogöra för Richard Swinburnes svar på frågan varför Gud tillåter ondska, samt granska svaret i ljuset av Eleonore Stumps tankegångar..

The purpose of this essay is to see if the Swedish nationalist party?Sverigedemokraterna? use religion rhetorically in their paper SD-Kuriren, and if so,then how? The method used to examine this is called rhetorical analysis. Furthermore, thetheory to explore how religion is used rhetorical is Said's Orientalism.The results show that religion is used rhetorically in the articles. Islam is explainedfrom our point of view in the west, and not their own. Islam becomes a religion that is faraway from what the Swedish culture is like, and also a religion that is violent andirrational compared to the Swedish culture, but also other religions, such as Judaism.Also, religion is used rhetorically to show that Islam is the opposite in relation toChristianity and Judaism..

This study was performed to investigate how the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo was legitimating its violence and killing acts. By analyzing the leader and members of the sect, and applying this information on two theoretical models, this paper tries to give an explanation of both single acts of violence and killing, and two terrorattacks.The result shows that Aum Shinrikyo was able to legitimate violence and killing acts through its ideology. In their opinion, cosmos was a place with several levels and everyone wanted to get as high as possible. Those who were killed by the sect would never be able to get to a higher level by living, since they would do too many bad actions. The murderers also got better karma since they helped the person to a better place.The legitimating of violence and killing acts in Aum Shinrikyo can be explained as a duty that is holy, which agrees with the theorists about religious terrorism..

This essay is a study of  textbooks in religious education for middle school. Textbooks are for many, the first contact with religion and they contain a shorter description of different religions. The study is supported by theories of 'Islamofobi' by Mattias Gardell as well as oriental studies by Edward W. Said. The purpose of the study is to examine how textbooks describe islam and muslims' situation in Sweden.

There is a shortage of organs available for donation worldwide. There have been several campaigns to try to increase the numbers of registrered donors. The topic has been brought to the forefront but more work is still needed to distribute information to the public.The aim of this literature review was to examine what influences people in their decision to donate their organs or not, and what role nurses play in providing the most current information available. The study found that there was several different reasons given for not donating their organs. A great number of people were convinced that their religion was against organ donation.

Utgångspunkten för vår uppsats har varit att undersöka skönlitterära böckers värde i SO-undervisningen och se på vilket sätt dessa kan användas särskilt i religions-undervisningen. För att få våra frågeställningar besvarade har vi använt oss av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra lärare, facklitteraturstudier samt orienterat oss i skönlitterär ungdomslitteratur. Några huvudargument för att använda skönlitteratur i SO-undervisningen, som framkommit vid intervjuer och litteraturstudier, är att skönlitteraturen förmedlar förståelse för det främmande och kan hjälpa eleverna att finna sin identitet. Ur resultatet framgår att de intervjuade lärarna främst bearbetar litteraturen genom diskussion och reflektion, men också med andra metoder som till exempel drama- och värderingsövningar. Det vi bland annat har kommit fram till är att användandet av skönlitteratur berikar undervisningen när fakta levandegörs då den sätts i ett narrativt sammanhang..

This paper attempts to trace the journey of Adonis from ancient Mesopotamia, through Phoenicia and finally to Greece, and to see how his function and cult have evolved during this migration. It starts with a short summary of previous research regarding Adonis and goes on to describe the myths and the rites of Adonis as they were celebrated in Alexandria, Byblos and Athens. I then examine possible connections to ritual drama, the mystery religions and whether there is any evidence that the Adonia might have been a germination ritual.My conclusions are that Adonis loses his connection to the growing cycle and the ideology of sacred kingship with the move to Greece where the political system with independent city states is different, and that there has been too much focus on Adonis as a vegetation god. Since Adonis is connected with the ancient Near Eastern cults of sacral kingship it might be more rewarding to consider the death aspects associated with his cult and the possibility of ancestral worship in relation to a ruler. This would make some of the otherwise puzzling aspects of his cult more understandable..

The aim of this essay was to investigate how religious topics and events are presented in five coursebooks in social studies. To do this the following questions were answered: In which context do discussions about religion take place? Are religions brought up in different contexts? To which extent do discussions about religion occur? The method consisted of a both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The results of this essay showed that discussion regarding religion in social studies coursebooks mainly focuses on wars, conflicts, terrorism and to some degree the human rights. Islam was the religion that occurred most frequently in the coursebooks.

This study is about underlying discourses of two tv-series for children from opposite parts of the globe. Focus lays on which morals and values adults choose to teach children through popular culture, even on an unaware basis and how does differ, or not, between different societies.The theoretical framework chosen for this study are semiotics in combination with the concept of the gaze by Laura Mulvey. Semiotics is the study of signs and their underlying meanings constructed by society. By studying popular culture with the tools provided by semiotic analysis it is possible to discouver underlying myths, social constructions of society, that are reproduced over and over again to remain alive. Mulveys theory of the gaze is helpfull in the process of decoding those constructions to discover the dominant partys and norms represented.In this particular study underlying structures such as patriarcal power relations, unequality between the representation of different ethnicities and the consistent presents of the male gaze where discovered.

The purpose of this study is to examine how different religious traditions are portrayed in teaching materials based on news reports. The main question concerns the way in which religious practices and holidays are described and in which contexts religion is presented. The method includes a both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The study concludes that certain religious practices are presented in a way that describes the practitioners as more faithful and homogenous than others. This was especially prominent among Muslims and to a certain extent Hindus.

The study seeks to investigate and understand how individuals create their identity from the perspective of two countries and cultures, and how these affect their current lives today. The focus of the study is aimed at young adults who have mostly or entirely grown up in Sweden to parents that have migrated. The material is based on seven qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The result is then divided into three themes; ethnic and cultural belonging, life impact, and the preservation and passing on of culture. The derivation of the first theme is that there are mixed views regarding the cultural association of the persons interviewed.

Over the past two decades, trends of integration processes in terms of citizens of different ethnicities, different gender and different sexual belongings, etc. has grown thanks to debates and new legislations. A marginalized and discriminated group in society such as women, immigrants, homosexuals, transsexuals and people with disabilities during this time has gained momentum in the community. The curiosity over whether these developments have changed our attitudes and values to the world around us, and if so how, is the reason for this master's thesis in disability studies.The Swedish development forms the basis for my belief on a younger generation of people who would be more tolerant than previous generations, in terms of what is considered to belong to the norm in our society, or not. The purpose of this study is therefore to increase knowledge about what beliefs young people today have about people with disabilities.

In a Swedish classroom today there will be students with different ethnicities, world views and religious beliefs.  The students will be taught religion through a non-denominational education, where as a teacher you are meant to be objective, open-minded and fair in the representation of different traditions. This representation is colored by the outsider-perspective and the students then learn about religion from a party which is not involved in the religion being taught. This essay discusses how to balance the outsider-perspective in religious education in the Swedish school with insider-voices. More specific, the use of Muslim websites when teaching about Islam.The material this essay studies are three Muslim websites: al-islam.se, islaminfo.se and islamguiden.se. In order to make a didactic analysis of the websites, they are compared to a standard Swedish textbook.

The purpose with our essay is to examine how Arabic young men, with Islamic background, behave to the origin culture of alcohol in relation to the Swedish alcohol culture. To get the information we used a qualitative method. We interviewed young men with Islamic background.Some central questions that character our essay was about the interview person's positions between the different alcohol cultures and if the Islamic religion in some way affects their view on alcohol. Another important question was how they interpret the message of the Koran about alcohol.The conclusion with our study is that the majority of the interview persons consider them selves between the two different alcohol cultures. All of the interview persons were in some way influenced of the Islamic religions rules concerning the use of alcohol and this even if some of the persons didn't see themselves as faithful Muslims..