173 research outputs found
Guds nya barnbarn : Att växa upp i kontroversiella religiösa grupper
No full textHur är det att vara barn och växa upp i en religiös minoritetsgrupp som Hare Krishna, Scientologi-kyrkan, Jehovas Vittnen, Knutby Filadelfia, Plymouth-bröderna, Enighetskyrkan eller Guds Barn/Familjen? Boken bygger framför allt på ett 70-tal intervjuer med såväl vuxna som barn som vuxit upp i dessa grupper, samt på intervjuer med ett 20-tal föräldrar, men också på fältobservationer och textstudier av gruppernas material kring barn och barnuppfostran. Livsvillkoren för barnen kan vara mycket olika, bland annat för att de olika religiösa grupperna har olika ideologier och syn på barnuppfostran, men också på individuella omständigheter inom olika familjer, fas i gruppens utveckling samt samhällets gensvar och reaktioner på gruppen ifråga. Boken diskuterar teman som socialisation, identitet, avhopp och skolgång, men tar också upp farhågor kring dessa grupper som auktoritär uppfostran, aga, isolering från samhället, separationer mellan föräldrar och barn, och bristande omsorg vad gäller mat och hälsa. Författare är professor i religionsvetenskap Liselotte Frisk, Högskolan Dalarna, fil. dr Peter Åkerbäck, Stockholms Universitet, och doktorand Sanja Nilsson, Högskolan Dalarna och Göteborgs universitet.</p
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in Sweden : Child Rearing and Schooling
No full textThe authors have published another article, based on the same empirical material (Frisk and Nilsson 2018). This article will give an in-depth “thick description” of child rearing and schooling in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in Sweden. The first part of the article is based on interviews with children and young people in the group conducted in 2014 and 2015, and focuses on Brethren identity and socialization. The second part of the article discusses the Labora School, a nonconfessional free school which was established by a group of Brethren parents and business owners in 2007. This part of the article also reflects the public debate about confessional and non-confessional free schools in Sweden. The Labora school has been criticized by both the Swedish Schools Inspectorate and the media. This section of the article is based mainly on official school inspection documents and media material. Since writing this article, the Labora School changed its name in 2019, to One School Global Nyby Campus, and is affiliated to One School Global, the Brethren schools worldwide (One School Global 2020). The third part of the article deals with parents’ and children’s experiences of the school, again using interview material
Review: The Art of Living Foundation: Spirituality and Wellbeing in the Global Context by Stephen Jacobs
No full textState Funding of Registered Faith Communities : Discussing Democratic Values in Sweden
No full textIn this article, the premises for state support of religious communities in Sweden are discussed in relation to democratic values. Registered faith communities in Sweden have the possibility to apply for financial support from the state, as well as for help to collect the membership fee through the state tax payment process. One of the most important criteria to receive state support is that the faith community should contribute to the maintenance and strengthening of the fundamental values of society, the state funding opportunity thus being intimately related to the Swedish conception of democracy. In 2016, 43 faith communities were receiving economic support from the state on these premises. Some applications for state funding of religious faith communities have, however, been turned down. This article will focus on one of these cases, the application from Jehovah´s Witnesses, which has been turned down on the critique that the faith community does not contribute to the maintenance and strengthening of the fundamental values of society. This case has been in question since 2007 and is still not resolved. Based on this case, the question of fundamental values of society, a corner stone in the Swedish perspective on democracy, will be problematized, and some dilemmas will be pinpointed
The practice of mindfulness: from Buddhism to secular mainstream in a post-secular society
No full textThe article focuses on the practice of mindfulness, which has migrated from being part of a religion, Buddhism, to being an integral part of Western psychology. Mindfulness is especially used in cognitive behavioural therapy, but also in, e.g., dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). In Sweden several doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists use and recommend mindfulness for therapeutic purposes. Mindfulness is used today in many segments of mainstream medical and therapeutic care. Mindfulness is also used outside the mainstream medical and therapeutic sector, in the area of personal development or spirituality, as well as in more traditional Buddhist groups and innovative Buddhist groups such as vipassana groups. This paper investigates the migration of mindfulness from a religious to a secular sphere, and discusses whether mindfulness is a religious practice or not
Towards a new paradigm of constructing “religion” : New Age data and unbounded categories
No full textIn this chapter, I will use the general theory of religion by Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge from the 1980s as a starting point to discuss some challenges of constructing religion. Stark and Bainbridge presented their general theory of religion in several books and articles, the main ones being A Theory of Religion from 1987 (paperback edition 1996) and The Future of Religion (1985). e theory highlights some important issues concerning religion generally, but in particular focuses on new religious movements and the more unorganized environment popularly called “New Age”.1 e issues it deals with are still very much up-to-date, and attempts to solve them have been classical in religious studies for decades. Triggered by some results in my research in the contemporary New Age environment, and in relation to more recent discussions about how to understand and deal with the problematic concept of religion, I would like to discuss their theory anew.</p
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