A secular state and a multi-religious country (En sekulär stat och ett mångreligiöst land): our walkthrough of chapter 12 of UHR’s Sverige i fokus
Chapter 12 of the study material for the citizenship test (medborgarskapsprovet) is about religion in Sweden. We start from one question: what does it mean for you that Sweden is a secular state? The answer leads to how freedom of religion developed and which religions are found here. All in our own words.
Sverige i fokus is published by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet, UHR) together with the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket). This page is Testappen’s own walkthrough and does not replace the material. Read the original at UHR: uhr.se/utbildningsmaterial.
Your faith is your own business
That Sweden is a secular state (sekulär stat) means that the state stays neutral in matters of faith. It favours no religion and disfavours none either.
For you this means that you decide for yourself. You can be in a religious community (trossamfund), switch to another one or not belong to any at all.
From state church to free faith
It has not always been like this. In the past the Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) was the only permitted church, and leaving it was not allowed. From 1860 you could leave it if you moved to another Christian church.
The right not to belong to any community at all came with the Freedom of Religion Act (religionsfrihetslagen) in 1951. In 2000 the Church of Sweden and the state were separated, and since then the Church of Sweden has been one religious community among several.
Traditions without a demand for faith
Many Swedish holidays have Christian roots. Celebrating Christmas (jul) or Easter (påsk) still need not mean that you are a believer. At the same time, the number of members in the Church of Sweden is falling.
Many religions in one country
Through immigration there are many different religions in Sweden today. Among Christians there are, for example, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches.
Jews were allowed to settle here and practise their religion in the 1700s, but only in 1870 did they get the same rights as other citizens. Today there are synagogues and Jewish congregations in several cities.
A few Muslims lived in Sweden as early as the start of the 1900s. More came after the Second World War, and the first mosques were built in the 1970s. Within Islam there are several branches, for example Sunni and Shia.
Buddhism and Hinduism came to Sweden mainly in the 1900s and are found today mainly among immigrants.
Practise questions about chapter 12
The questions are written by us, except sample questions that UHR has published, which are marked with their source.
The questions are always in Swedish, exactly as in the real test. Only the text of this site is translated.
Vad garanterar staten var och en som bor i Sverige, när det gäller religion?
Correct answer:
Explanation: The choice belongs to the individual and not to the state or the family: you can belong to a religious community or stay entirely outside one, and no authority needs to know what you believe. Read more in Sverige i fokus, ch. 12, p. 42.
Vilket år kom religionsfrihetslagen i Sverige?
Correct answer:
Explanation: With this act the freedom to believe had its big breakthrough in the country: only now did it become possible to stand entirely outside every religious community. Read more in Sverige i fokus, ch. 12, p. 42.
Vad fick judar i Sverige år 1870?
Correct answer:
Explanation: The right to live here and practise one's faith had come long before; what took time was becoming equal to other citizens, in a Europe where antisemitism was widespread for a long time. Read more in Sverige i fokus, ch. 12, p. 43.
När ökade antalet muslimer i Sverige?
Correct answer:
Explanation: Muslims were here as early as the start of the 1900s, but only a few. It was the immigration after the Second World War that made the number larger. Read more in Sverige i fokus, ch. 12, p. 44.
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