Abstract
A secularist discourse appeared in all classrooms, both when talking about religion in general, about specific religions and about ethics. The secularist discourse was constructed through clusters of articulation of: Prime time of history, Diversity of views, A neutral position, Criticism of religion, Science and faith, Individualism, Modern myths, “Man is the measure of all things” and Religion as a private matter. This and the two following empirical chapters will analyse the content of the discourses of religion, religions and worldviews in the context of Religious Education in classroom practice. What is highlighted when religion, religions and worldviews are discussed, and how is it talked about? However, everything is articulated in a certain way, and how something is articulated has consequences for how it is perceived, and this is why questions of what and how are not separable.
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Notes
- 1.
For a distinction of the concepts, see, for example, Scharffs (2011).
- 2.
In all classrooms, the teaching included this kind of task where the students were instructed to reflect upon what religion “is”, how the concept of religion might be understood, and what they associated with the word religion. In most cases, this was followed by a lecture including different definitions of religion and a presentation of different branches of the science of religious studies: history of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, philosophy of religion, theology, etc. This way of teaching – to begin with students’ preconceptions and then introduce the new knowledge and new concepts – is generally a standard teaching model in the Swedish school system that is influenced by cognitive and socio-cultural beliefs about learning (Gredler 2005; Lundgren et al. 2012).
- 3.
Cf Excerpt 18.
- 4.
To invite experts from various fields to speak to a class is not unusual in Swedish schools – such individuals may be representatives for companies, organisations, political parties or religions.
- 5.
The Swedish word [Swedish: toa-rullar] means toilet-paper-rolls and sounds similar to the Swedish word [Swedish: tora-rullar] that means Torah scrolls. Cf. the classroom study by Osbeck and Lied (2011) where the very same “joke” occurs. They conclude that different kinds of speech genres in the classroom determine the possibilities of learning.
- 6.
Across Europe and also in Sweden, there is a debate going on in which right-wing populist parties struggle for greater influence. These groups argue that there is an ongoing Islamisation of the West. Many of them claim that you cannot criticise Islam as it is not “politically correct” to do this, and that critical facts about Islam are silenced by mainstream society. See, for example, Malm (2011).
- 7.
Some other studies point in another direction. Sjögren (2011) found that teachers are afraid of conflict and thus in order to not offend anyone present religious worldviews as equal to scientific worldviews and leave the questions for the students to decide.
- 8.
See also Excerpt 8.
- 9.
Having said this, it must be noted that individualism in the sense of making a personal decision is not only reserved for modern, contemporary people. The Lutheran Reformation, eighteenth-century pietism, and nineteenth-century revival movements are all examples of movements that emphasised the repentance of the individual and the importance of a personal faith.
- 10.
The Swedish word [myt] has this double meaning and can be translated both as a grand narrative often used in relation to religions and worldviews, but also as a lie, a false narrative.
- 11.
Referring to case of Lautsi and Others v. Italy, (ECHR, March 18, 2011) where the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the requirement in Italian law that crucifixes be displayed in classrooms of state schools does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights (https://rm.coe.int/1680665b09).
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Flensner, K.K. (2017). “I’m Neutral!” – A Secularist Discourse. In: Discourses of Religion and Secularism in Religious Education Classrooms. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60949-2_6
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