AbstractAim: The aim of this essay has been to study how the Swedish church has created the image of their religious activity through media. This has been by studying the three commercial campaigns launched by the Swedish church during the years 2000, 2001 and 2003. Questions asked are: How has the Swedish church chosen to profile it self? Which discourses can be recognized in the campaigns? Which messages has been communicated through the campaigns? How has these discourses created the image of the Swedish church?Method: The methodological framework is critical discourse analysis inspired by Norman Faircloughs? three-dimensional model. Thirteen images all part of the campaigns are analysed using a semiotic method.

This essay aims at understanding the experience of the use of ayahuasca, and similarities and differences between interview protocols and socio-cultural identities. The work is based on field studies conducted in the Peruvian Andes, in the village of Pisac September to November 2009. What has emerged is that the experience does not seem to be dependent on cultural manifestations as much as it is dependent on general human cognition. Theories have been applied on an empirical phenomenological descriptive study. Various brain activities, along with mental mechanisms contribute to a deeper understanding of the findings in the descriptive analysis.It seems that the cultural differences, which I have classed as typological in the phenomenological study, mostly are expressions of meaning for the informants.

This essay focuses on the elderly and their religious beliefs and is based on the origin idea of a secular Sweden, but where immigration has been the source of additional various religious affiliations. This study intends to nuance the problems that previous researchers focused on when doing research on immigration, by interviewing staff members of nursing homes in immigrant dense areas, especially Malmoe, Gothenburg and Stockholm.The aim is to investigate how the allocation of residents, with different religious than Protestant Christians, is distributed at nursing homes and to see if there is a need for adjustments. Additionally, the thesis about immigrants and immigrants' identity and attitudes to Swedish society is discussed with John Berry´s acculturation theories and strategies.The results show that the majority of the nursing homes have residents with different religious affiliations and that some practical adjustments have been done, but it also shows that nursing homes have changed to the extent that they have adapted to a secular society. Ignorance and prejudice contribute to the problem in terms of seeing all residents as individuals and at the same time ensuring adaption according to all their needs, which is exemplified in the solutions made by using multi-cultural staff members and specialized departments. The relationship between nursing homes and the Swedish church continues but the role of the church service has changed.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the religious testimony in the following works of the Swedish poet Majken Johansson (1930-1993): Liksom överlämnad (1965), Omtal (1969) and Från Magdala. Fragment ur en självbiografi (1972). A part of the purpose is also to investigate how Johansson phrases this testimony using a contemporary aesthetics. The thesis also studies how her works were received by the contemporary critics. The result shows that they tended to deprecate Johansson?s religiosity but were generally appreciative when it came to her poems.

This essay examines the 1962 Swedish parliamentary debate preluding the proposition to introduce a uniform compulsory education for all Swedish children. The proposition aimed at ending the previously heterogeneous educational system and replace it with a more equal and democratic system.A widespread debate ensued, regarding the status of Christian religious education (kristendomskunskap) and its new emphasis on scientific objectivity. This essay will examine the relative position of Christianity within the new uniform school system, as it was articulated by the members of the Swedish parliament. This analysis will be achieved through the use of a discourse analytical study of the parliamentary records, the recorded motions and bills. From these records a substantial disparity in the parliamential members articulation of the concept of Christianity can be ascertained, even within the discourse of an educational regime.

This study is based on the discussion of the rapid development and use of the Internet and its role in transforming the religious landscape. More specifically it focuses on the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape and how this has changed over the passed twelve years. Göran Larrsons study Svenska cybermuslimska miljöer i början av det 21 århundradet (Swedish Cybermuslim Enviroments in the start of the Twentyfirst Century) from 2001, is being used as a starting and reference point. The general purpose of this essay is to study religious change online. The specific aim is to investigate if and in that case, how and why the Swedish cyber-Islamic landscape has changed and developed in the last twelve years.The questions to be answered in this study are:- What Muslim actors (groups, individuals and organizations) are represented on Swedish web pages in 2013?- Have the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape changed with respect to the number of web pages, content and actors since 2001, and can these changes be understood and analyzed with the help of existing research on religion and new media and Islam and Muslims in Sweden?The result of this essay shows that there has been a dramatic change regarding the activity in the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape.

This thesis treats lending figures of literature on religion at libraries in Vårgårda and Lerum.Formulated hypotheses are: The use of literature on religion is higher at the library in Vårgårdathan at the one in Lerum; In Lerum the most literature on religion is used by highly educatedpeople; Ethnic groups and librarians have an influence on the stock.The Christian literature has other patterns than other literature regarding selection criteria,reviews and distribution. The conclusions are: The fact that there are many members ofChurch and Chapel in Vårgårda, does reflect the number of loans of literature on religion in apositive way; Education does not influence, but distance between school and library; Thelibrarians' interest and therefore knowledge regarding religious topics has an impact on theirtreatment of religious books, while ethnic groups do not effect stock and use in either Vårgårdaor Lerum..

Alevism as such is both contested and difficult to define, despite the fact that nearly a quarter of the Turkish population can be said to identify with it (See egMarkussen, 2005; Sirin, 2013). Discussions regarding whether alevism should bedefined as a religious minority or not is going on both in the research communityas among the Alevis themselves. Also the meaning of Alevi religiosity as such isdebated and can be simply described as a discussion of whether alevism should beregarded as a part of Islam. The purpose of this discourse study is therefore to examine the construction of Alevi religious identity in two English-language Turkish newspaper, namely the Hürriyet Daily News and Today `s Zaman. With the overarching aim to achieve adeep understanding of the conditions that are given the Alevi group to form their own identity.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer which struck women around the world. When a human is exposed to threat or stress, e.g. breast cancer, different coping strategies are used in order to cope with the situation by the afflicted person. The aim of this literature study was to describe how women, who suffered from breast cancer, experienced coping with their situation. Scientific articles were found in the databases Medline (Pub Med) and Cinahl.

This paper studies three Swedish textbooks for the A-course in religious studies, in the Swedish equivalency of high school, to see if the image of Islam and Muslims presented is diverse or homogeneous and exotic. The purpose of the study is to see whether or not the religious studies can contribute to the forming of islamophobic beliefs in pupils. Studies have shown that islamophobia is widespread in Sweden, therefore it could be interesting to see if the schools play any part in the forming or spreading of islamophobic views. The conclusion reached is that this cannot be excluded as a possibility. There are still some textbooks that present Muslims in a homogeneous and exotic manner to some degree.

This essay is a work on Mircea Eliades's interpretation of the religious human understood as "homo religiosus" and the role of the shaman from the Eliade perspective. In Eliade human existence consists of a dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. The question is whether one can understand the concept of Eliades ?axis mundi?, center of the universe? Can we create an understanding of human existence with Eliade? Can one use  phenomenology of religion as perspective for the exploration of ?reality?? Furthermore, this paper aims to understand the role of the shaman has religious worldviews. Shamaism  is through an ecstatic technique traveling to other cosmic plane, in order to gain knowledge that would otherwise not be reached.

The purpose of this study is to examine if Muslims and Jezidier from the Middle East experience changes in them self when they live in Sweden and how they feel about apply for work in the Swedish labour market. The study uses the individualistic - collectivistic dimension to describe the differences between the Swedish culture and the participants home culture. A phenomenological, theoretical and methodological approach has been followed, with self-reports as the instrument for data collection. The information where analysed through the softwares MCA - Minerva and Sphinx-Lexica. The analyses show many different outcomes.

Background: The abortion issue raises many ethical, moral and religious aspectsand is therefore well debated worldwide. In the care for an abortion seeking woman, it isimportant that the nurse find a balance between her and the woman's moral opinions aboutabortion in the quest to achieve good care.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe nurses? experiences of caring for womenundergoing abortion.Methods: Literature review based on ten original articles.Results: Literature review's results highlights two key themes: nurse?s experience of anemotional roller coaster as well as difficulties and challenging experiences at work inabortion care. These two themes consists of three subthemes: to get support in the workthrough to vent thoughts and feelings, how strain and stress affects the nurse's work and as anurse learn to accept the woman?s choice.Discussions: Within abortion care nurses find it difficult dealing with theemotional roller coaster that can occur while they strive to maintain an ethical andprofessional approach.

Följande uppsats handlar om studie- och yrkesvägledares inställning till troende, främst muslimska klienter och hur deras förförståelse av religion i allmänhet och islam i synnerhet, påverkar deras arbete med dessa klienter. Den behandlar också hur de ser på religionsfrihet, frihet till frihet från religion. Den genomförda enkätundersökningen visar att vägledarnas professionalitet gör dem väl förberedda på att arbeta med troende klienter. Med få undantag uppvisar vägledarna en vilja till tolerans och öppenhet, även när deras egen livsåskådning är helt annan än klientens. De flesta vägledarna har en positiv syn på religionsfrihet, alltså att det innebär frihet att ha den religion man vill ha.The subject of this paper is how some Swedish career counsellors view their religious, mainly Moslem, clients and whether their preconceived ideas influence their work as counsellors.

The project of this thesis is to illuminate the teacher perspective on study visits by examining how six religion teachers relate to the study visit method in high school religious education. The research object of the thesis is to investigate whether teachers believe there are viable didactic possibilities and challenges associated with the study visit concept in education, and to define them if present. The results show that the main didactic advantage, as perceived by the teachers participating in this study, lies in the meeting the study visit enables. A meeting may lead to increased insight and understanding of other people?s way of thinking, conceiving and believing.