What is it Like to be a Christian as a Student in Elementary School?

Is it more difficult for elementary school children to express a Christian identity today than it was in the 70s and 80s, now that the Church of Sweden, as the majority church, has become more marginalised? Or has it become easier, as more religions have become visible in the school environment? The present chapter is based on the study ‘It is never talked about’: A study of religious and cultural diversity in elementary school, in which the author interviewed pupils, teachers, and principals about the place of religion in elementary school. The analysis shows both circumstances that might make it harder – and circumstances that might make it easier. One aggravating circumstance is the risk that non-confessional religious education alienates religious students from their own religious traditions. If the school pays attention to Christian holidays, but without their confessional content, then this risks doing the same. 

Based on the theory of embarrassment, it may be seen as a simplifying circumstance that the church is more marginalised now than in the 70s and 80s. Breaking a norm may bring feelings of embarrassment. Also, being a Christian, in the sense of believing in the teachings of the traditional church, can be experienced as normbreaking – but not to the extent that the person is excluded from the group of post-Christian secular Swedes, i.e., those who identify with the old culturebearing Christianity though not with its teachings. More radical religious deviations, however, are perceived as less relatable, if relatable at all, because the difference is already great from the start. When the majority church becomes increasingly marginalised, fewer and fewer will identify with the old culturebearing Christianity, and so identifying as a Christian in the future might imply that you are placed in “a completely different compartment”. Thus, the deviation becomes greater, and the embarrassment disappears. 

This article links together the findings of the case studies reported in this special issue and reflects upon the possibilities and limitations of religion-related dialog in school education at a more systematic level. It also discusses the findings of the case studies in relation to other research and suggests some ideas for further investigation.

Many newly arrived refugees suffer from mental health problems due to trauma. Research has shown that social participation after migration, such as taking part in social activities, networks and community work, is important for mental health and well-being. In Sweden, many civil society organisations, such as the Church of Sweden, take great responsibility for the establishment and integration of new arrivals. At the same time, the role of civil society organisations in the welfare society is not obvious, and the place of religious communities is sometimes challenged. Due to today’s growing secular and globalised society, the role of the Church of Sweden has changed. Its power has decreased, and the indications are that this will continue. There are also circumstances that point to the church having to adapt to the norms of secular society to have an impact. As the Church of Sweden fulfils an important function as a provider of welfare services, not least in work with newly arrived refugees, this article studies how the employees of the Church of Sweden feel about their conditions for this work and what guides it. It is based on a qualitative study of 19 interviews with employees in 4 different parishes.

The religious landscape in the Nordic countries has changed in recent decades. This article looks at what this means from the perspective of the religious socialisation experiences of Finnish and Swedish youth. Research has shown that the views and values of parents, family, friends, the youth culture and those that are prevalent in school and society as a whole are important for young people's self-development. The intergenerational socialisation of religious traditions and values has diminished as societies have become more secularised. As this topic is scarcely researched, new studies are needed also on young people's perspectives. This article aims to fill the research gap by investigating the kind of impact that parents, school and friends have on young people's religious socialisation.

This article reports the experiences of religion-related dialog among 24 Swedish students and their teacher in religion education. All students had immigrant backgrounds from the Middle East and all of them had strong religious convictions. By using qualitative analysis to reveal their experiences with dialog in school, the concept of “safe space” is critically discussed. The students’ educational environment was not a “safe space” when it came to religion-related dialog, in part because historical and political conflicts in the Middle East have an impact on students’ willingness to open up. The case study provides an example of the effects of the wider political and societal context on the micro-structure of classroom-interaction.

As the number of refugees in the world is increasing and it is known that social inequality negatively impacts mental health, it is important to study integration policies, such as labour market measures. In this article, the strategic interventions of the Swedish Public Employment Service are analysed to determine how the agency’s management handled and implemented the legal changes in the new support document for its case workers. The focus is on the effects of the changes in the legal text that transferred the responsibility for establishment initiatives for newly arrived migrants to the agency and, as a result, changed the conditions for newly arrived refugees’ mental health in the new establishment programme. Eight people representing different management functions at the agency were interviewed. The results show that the intention in the new programme to view newly arrived refugees in the same way as all other unemployed people, rather than as a special category, has meant that less attention is paid to the refugees’ mental health, and the opportunities for the agency’s street-level bureaucrats to help clients have decreased. In the face of predicted growing numbers of people having to abandon their homes due to conflicts and climate changes, governmental strategies such as these needs to be revisited in order for societies worldwide to be better prepared for that challenge.

Newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers constitute a vulnerable population in terms of health and social conditions due to lived trauma and experiences of loss, as well as factors in the host country such as not speaking the language, not having employment and social exclusion. Studies have shown that many newly arrived refugees find it difficult to establish a sustainable position in the host country’s labour market due to a lack of connections, low levels of education and politi-cal, social and cultural barriers. The Swedish Public Employment Service runs an establishment programme aimed at helping newly arrived refugees to find employment quickly and manage their own livelihoods. In this study, we analyse the administrator support document used by Swedish Public Employment Service case workers in their work with the programme to explore whether and how it considers the participants’ mental health and conditions for social participation. The results show that despite newly arrived refugees being especially vulnerable in terms of mental health, little attention is paid to these aspects, the possible effects they may have on the programme, the participants’ integration into the labour market and Swedish society as a whole.