Construction of Identity and Charismatic Leaders deals with fundamentalism and Islamism within the United States, emphasising on similarities between fundamentalists and Islamists. The term "fundamentalist" is here referring to Christian extremists, while "Islamist" refers to the Muslim counterpart. The purpose of the essay is to make North American fundamentalism and Islamism comprehendible on a larger scale.In order to show similarities between these groups when it comes to values, structure and commitment to their tasks, it is important to understand the nature of the religious devotion.Analyzing the similarities of the two groups enables construction of general criteria for how anthropology of religious extremists can be outlined..

This study aims at using discourse analysis to analyze SFI students attitudes to religion and religiosity in an SFI-context. The questions are: How is the discourse constructed and maintained by religion and religiosity of SFI students in an SFI context? How do SFI participants experience that their religion has affected their time at SFI?Using a case study approach, interviews were conducted with a group of SFI students. The results show that the religious discourse in SFI is influenced by the SFI-context and affected based on the current education discourse that exists there. Furthermore, the discourse is designed and maintained by the participants private religious beliefs and the religion of the majority of the group, One canhere speak of a strong social unit forming a plausibility structure The power structure that emerges is that the majority has the power to define the significance of religion and place within the SFI context. In the SFI-context the participants view is that religion is something private that should not be expressed in the school environment.

This essay presents an examination of some aspects of an anonymous Italian fifteenth centurypainting, the Madonna in Adoration of the Christ Child with the Young John the Baptist, in theGothenborg Art Museum. My first aim is to understand its symbolic and religious content, and theother is to make an attempt at an attribution, or at least put the work in a likely environment,temporally and geographically. To the first end I analyse the image using Panofsky?s three stagemethod, and then make an iterpretation using the ?period eye? concept of Baxandall, especially froma religious viewpoit. Secondly, I try to define the style of the work mainly by analysing selectedparameters from a large number of fifteenth century Italian pictures found in the photo archive ofthe Federico Zeri Foundation website on the internet.

I have used a discourse analysis as a method and queertheori for the theoretical. In this paper I have analyzed how different wedding magazines write about partnerships, gender-neutral marriage and wedding between homosexuals. I have for some time been interested in the beliefs wedding magazines have about homosexuality and how newspapers maintain heteronormativity implicitly and explicitly. Bridal magazines are anxious to have the marriage as a design and standard when they write about partnership. When they write about the two different forms of marriage, they glorify the religious marriage and pay no attention to civil marriage.

The purpose of this essay was to describe the opinions of different religious and non-religious ideologies and aspects of treatment, concerning use of drugs and drugsaddiction, and with a special focus at Narconon. We also wanted to try to understand the connection between professionalism and ideology in their treatment.Our central questions where;· How does the treatment Narconon's provides, look like?· What is Narconon's opinion on use of drugs and drugaddiction?· What is Narconon's connection to the Scientology?· Is there any scientific proof that Narconon's treatment is functioning?· How can we understand the connection between professionalism and ideology in treatment?We made intervjues with six social workers and six intervjues with staff at Narconon. Added to the intervjues, we studied articles and Internet research.From our work and through information we have got from Narconon, we have discovered the need of further research concerning their treatment. Narconon does continuous following-ups when the treatment is finished.

This essay is an analysis of how Swedish sixth form students interpret ?a good society?,an expression which is part of the main content of Religion1, the mandatory course inReligious studies. It is based on a a survey asking 198 students to define and reflect onwhat a good society might look like. A hermeneutic method has been used to analysetheir answers in relation to regulations and research.The conclusion is that although most students show themselves able to reflect on whata good society might be, their ability to use ethical theory and concepts required by thecourse?s grading criteria is limited.

Today many people immigrate to Sweden, many of them with another religious belonging than the Christian. According to Lpfö98 and Lpo94, the Kindergarten and the school have the task to help alla the pupils to develop an understanding for their own cultural inheritance and the the swedish culture. The task is also to make the pupils feel as a part of the common culture.The aim with this essay is to investigate if - and how - the teachers in two different schools are u sing the immigrant pupils experiences and knowledge about other cultures and religions than the Christian. Does the teachers use the parents of the immigrant pupils or other relatives as a resource in their teaching?We also wanted to investigate what the teachers are doing with the pupils of another religious belonging than the Christian, who is not allowed to join the celebration of Christian festivals in school, such as Easter, Christmas and breaking-up ceremonies in the church.In this essay we have used a form.

This study is about quantum physics and the role it can play in a religious perspective. I intend to examine how moderna physics may be related and understood as New age and Myths. My material consists of two books in the new age genre: "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra and "The Quantum Self" by Danah Zohar. My first two question to these books are which 1) religious and 2) scientific content they have. My other questions are too 3) investigate and demonstrate how these books are new age and 4) to exanine how the books can function as myths and adopt mythical features.

In today?s society, employees are the businesses face toward the public. By establishing dress codes, companies can control the customers? impression. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the existing regulations regarding dress codes in companies.

In this study, religiosity in prison is investigated. What opportunities are there for those detained to practice their religion and how did their religiosity change after they were detained? Six interviews were conducted to gain a better perspective of religiosity in prison. The focus is on Correctional Institution in Kalmar, where surveys have been conducted over a longer period but also the monastery at the Correctional facility in Kumla is discussed. Most interviews were conducted in the prison of Kalmar, in a room where religious conversations are conducted.

The purpose of this essay was to examine the role of religious beliefs, actions and practice in young people's own description of their identity. An additional goal was to examine how young people describe their identity in relation to their primary and secondary socialization. A qualitative method was used with semi - structured interviews and six young people between the ages of 18 and 23 were interviewed.            The interview results show that three out of the six young people think of themselves as religious while the remaining three emphasize that they are secularized Muslims. The results also show that the young people emphasize that the celebration of feasts in the family is the main focus.  Four out of the six young people point out that they are themselves among friends, their families and in the mosque, while the remaining two feel a communion with their Muslim friends and people in the mosque.       Three out of the six young people consume alcohol and eat pork, while the remaining three refrain from this. The young people emphasize that their beliefs are a personal matter between themselves and God, and that their actions don't define them as being Muslims or non-Muslims..

This Masters thesis concerns difficulties experienced by Gender Studies researchers in an information seeking context. The aim is to identify, and study the cause of, these potential difficulties by asking the following questions: How do researchers in Gender Studies seek information? What difficulties may arise when information seeking is carried out in Gender Studies? What may be the cause of these difficulties? What does Gender Studies consist of? In order to find feasible answers to these questions, particular attention is paid to the context in which the researchers exist and work. The database KVINNSAM serves as an example of how libraries have tried to overcome barriers in information seeking in Gender Studies. The method used is a qualitative one based on interviews and literature studies.

The study's aim was to increase knowledge about the resistance of the Muslim religious expressions in the public sphere and its emergence on the basis of the case around the opposition to call for prayer. The study was conducted through the use of the qualitative research approach through interviews with informants who have a pronounced aversion regarding the existence of the public call to prayer in Sweden. The study's questions have been answered by an analysis of the empirical material by using different theoretical points that illustrate how Western standards are valued higher than the other, in the various standard systems. The view of the Muslim religious practices depicted by informants through an interpretative framework that is characterized by Islamophobic arguments that are considered to be incompatible with Western culture and the principles of the secular state striving. Such discourses can create an uneven distribution of power between Muslims and non-Muslims on the basis of the West's representations of Orientalism explained based in ethnocentric knowledge.

This master thesis is an ethnological study focusing members of a young, urban Jewishdiaspora in Sweden. The study's aim is to problematize and describe the relation between theJewish minority that is regarded as religious, and the secular normative majority societyregarded as non-religious. The study explores questions regarding social positioning,belonging and memory and how Jewish traditions are practiced in contemporary Sweden. Themethodological approaches are interviews and participation observations with a specific focuson food; its symbolic value and how food can materialize identities and communicatememories. The empirical data comprises 24 interviews in total, of which 11 interviews havebeen chosen and thus constitute the material on which the study's analysis is made upon.

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.