Swedish Parliamentary Parties Views on Religious matters : A Discourse Analysis of the Partyprograms of eight Parliamentary Parties

In Sweden an election was held in September 2018. The Swedish citizens could vote for parliament, county council and municipality. Although Sweden is one of the world's most secularized countries, religion still has deep roots in the country's culture and is now a hot topic. This essay aims to analyze and explain the Swedish parliamentary parties’ view of religion by analyzing their party programs and postal interviews with representatives from the parliamentary parties. The information that has emerged from the party programs is compared to what is said in the postal interviews by each party’s representatives. The problem formulation revolves around two perspectives in the relationship between religion and politics, or to reframe it, views on the secular state and private and public expressions of religion in this state. One perspective views religion as a non-issue in the political debate, and the other views religion as politicized. This thesis has its theoretical roots in the span between politicized religion on the one hand, and religion as a non-issue on the other. The source is made up of the parties' most recent versions of their party programs as well as comments from representatives. The method is qualitative text analysis of the discourse analysis type. Social conservative parties such as the Sweden Democrats and the Christian Democrats are more profiled on religious issues than other parties. The Left Party relates negatively and neutrally to religion. The Social Democrats have a generally negative picture of religion, and the Environment Party varies depending on the area. The Center Party is largely positive, and the Christian Democrats are the only ones who see religion as positive only. The Liberals and The Moderates are both brief about religion. The themes that are most prominent in the party programs in relation to religion are school, religion's place in politics, identity and democracy and security