Tobias Harding

The dawn of the secular state? Heritage and identity in Swedish church and state debates 1920–1939

This article provides a study of political positions concerning the role of religion in modern society in Sweden between 1920 and 1939. It aims to increase understanding of the Swedish secularization path, with special emphasis on issues related to heritage and national identity, by comparing the dominant perspectives on these issues in the Church of Sweden and in the Social Democratic Party during that period. It addresses how these positions have influenced policies during the period, as well as some of their implications for later path dependence. It explores relations between religious issues and the concept of national heritage, as well as how the fact that both were at that time commonly seen as legitimate tasks of the state came to influence the development of Swedish church-and-state relations and heritage policies. Special attention is given to the positions of the Young Church Movement, a movement within the Church emphasizing its role as a national church with a central position in national identity, as well as to the views of Arthur Engberg, the anti-clerical Social Democratic government minister responsible for church, education, and culture in the 1930s.

Faith-Based Organizations and the Secular State: The Establishment of a Muslim Study Association in Sweden

Abstract This article analyses the strategies adopted by Ibn Rushd Study Association, a Swedish-Muslim faith-based organization (FBO), to establish itself as a representative of Swedish Muslims in relation to the national government, as well as one of the 10 recognized study associations that handles much of the government-supported adult education in Sweden. This road to acceptance is analysed in the context of the relation to religious denominations institutionalized in Swedish Government–civil society relations, which, it is argued, can be understood as part of a normative concept of secularization and of the relationship between the state and civil society. Such concepts now colour government attitudes to FBOs, but also the way FBOs are organized and understand themselves in relation to the surrounding society. This case study supports José Casanovas argument that certain paths of secularization are not only compatible with certain religious denominations increasing their role in public debate, but may even enable them to do so.

Secular and sacred? The Scandinavian case of religion in human rights, law and public sphere

Secular and Sacred? The Scandinavian Case of Religion in Human Rights, Law and Public Sphere (van den Breemer et al. 2014) is an anthology concerned with the shape and development of secularism in ...