Religionsfag som det muliges kunst eller umulige kompromiser?

Abstract

Sweden, Norway and Denmark have for many years separated from most countries in the world by having non-confessional religious education as timetabled subjects in the public elementary school. This article analyses and compares the official curricula for these subjects in Sweden, Norway and Denmark from 1994 to 2022 with a focus on concepts on religion and culture, objectives, aims and contents, didactical/pedagogical approaches and the status of Christianity as majority religion. The article discusses similarities and differences when it comes to developments and official profiles in the curricula seen in relation to societal developments, various political strategies in issues of national identity and culture, and different scientific and didactical/pedagogical traditions and developments. The historical developments of the curricula reflect different attempts of balancing between different interests, strategies and traditions. However, these compromises can also result in aspects, which from a critical perspective are problematic when it comes to non-confessional school subjects in multicultural, democratic and secular societies.