Copyright. Isabella Kasselstrand

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2 Copyright By Isabella Kasselstrand 2009 II

3 Belief or Tradition? The Role of Religion in Sweden By Isabella Kasselstrand, B.S. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology California State University Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology Spring 2009 III

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5 Acknowledgements I would like to thank committee members Alem Kebede, Rhonda Dugan, and Doreen Anderson-Facile for the directions provided during the process of completing this thesis. I am also grateful for the numerous discussions with my husband Derek Johnson, and my parents Stefan Kasselstrand and Marie Stigsson that have guided me to the ideas put forth in this thesis. V

6 Abstract In this study, I examine the relationship between support for Lutheran traditions and belief in Sweden. Previous literature state that Sweden is one of the most secular nations in the world, but there is a disagreement among sociologists whether or not this secularity is limited to low levels of church attendance, or if belief is also low. Through my quantitative survey research conducted in Sweden, I describe how the elements of belief and support for traditions have split, and that Swedes consequently can be regarded as traditionalist believers. In addition, this quantitative study shows that both church attendance and belief are low in Sweden. Moreover, non-believers are not less likely than believers to support Lutheran tradition. I therefore argue that it is misleading to define religiosity in the spiritual sense as supporting religious rituals and attending church. It is possible that, in the case of Sweden, the church is rather a cultural entity than a spiritual one. The results are based on this small-scale study, and future research can expand on this through in-depth interviews and a more broad application of my typology of tradition and belief. VI

7 Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 1 Background to the Problem 1 Statement of the Problem 4 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions 5 Importance of the Study 9 Chapter Two: Literature Review 10 Background to Sociology of Religion 10 The Religious Economy Approach 14 Religious Differences Between Europe and the United States 19 Religion in Sweden 22 Summary of Literature Review 26 Chapter Three: Methodology 28 Research Method 28 Independent Variables 28 Dependent Variables 29 Data Collection 31 Data Analysis Strengths of Method Limitation of Method 35 Chapter Four: Findings 37 Sweden Within the Typology of Tradition and Belief 37 Church Participation and Level of Belief 39 Multiple Regression Analysis 43 Chapter Five: Discussion and Conclusion 47 Sweden as a Highly Secularized Nation 47 Sweden within the Religious Economy The Divide Between Traditions and Subjective Religiosity Conclusion 54 References 57 Appendix 59 Original Survey Instrument 59 English Translation of Survey Instrument 66 Authorization from Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research 74 VII

8 Chapter One: Introduction Background to the Problem A young Swedish man at the age of 21 mentions that he attends church regularly. He is exceptional in that the nearly empty churches mainly attract the older generation. What is even more peculiar is that he does this while identifying himself as an atheist, firmly believing that no spiritual beings exist. He explains that he attends church to reduce stress, and to explore a culture that the taxes he pays contribute to. He is proud to be a Swede and everything that this entails. He is a member of the church and strongly supports what it contributes to society and would never consider leaving it, even though he believes the religious message is fictitious. He is one of those individuals that portray that the long presence of the Lutheran Church has made a large impact on the history of Sweden, which mirrors the present national identity. This man s comments portray the key characteristics of the place of religion in the Swedish society. These values are far from shared with the rest of the world. They are, instead, rather unique, and isolated to Western and Northern Europe. As described above, Europe stands out as being considerably more secular than other parts of the world, a world that is becoming increasingly more religious (Berger et al, 2008, Stark and Finke, 2000). When looking at the United States and Europe in terms of religious behavior and attitudes, there is an undeniable difference. United States is turning into a highly religious nation, with religion infused in individual people s lives as well as in politics at the government level, one example being the fact that the elected president of the United States 1

9 places a hand on the bible at the inauguration. This example is a clear contradiction to the separation of church and state in the United States. In contrast to Europe, where politicians avoid religious rhetoric, some Americans see this as an integral part in their political speeches, even though there is a separation of church and state, something that has not been seen in Europe until recently. In Europe it is just as unsound to publicly state that one believes in God, as it is for an American politician to express that he or she does not. There are different societal norms for Europe and America, and even if it may be that Americans exaggerate their beliefs, and Europeans their secularity, there is still a large difference in the level of religiosity between the United States and Europe (Berger et al, 2008). What is interesting is not the fact that the United States is becoming more religious, but that Western and Northern Europe are becoming less religious. This secularization is not taking place anywhere else (Berger et al, 2008). Moreover, in comparison with fellow European nations, Sweden can be considered even further secularized, and has been described as the most secular nation in the world (Tomasson, 2002). The blossoming church business seen in the United States is, in many aspects, a far-fetched reality for the churches of Sweden, with empty churches and low active participation. Of the adult population, only 15% of Swedes believe in the existence of a personal god, compared to 69% of Americans. No more than four percent of the Swedish population attends church weekly, while 41% of Americans do (Hamberg & Pettersson, 1994). Similarly, 75% of Americans regard belief in God as one of the most important aspects of their lives, while the same number for Swedes is eight percent (Tomasson, 2002). 2

10 These statistics show how secular Sweden is, but what is interesting to take into account is that 90% of the people are still members of the Lutheran- Evangelical church, Svenska Kyrkan (Church of Sweden) (Olsen, 2000). Church of Sweden was an established state-church for over 400 years, with the church receiving government support in forms of income tax distributions up until year 2000 (Stark and Finke, 2000). Before this, everyone who was born in Sweden was automatically a member of the church. While Swedes may be seen as passive members of the church, nearly everyone has a funeral within Church of Sweden; two thirds of all weddings take place within the church (Tomasson, 2002); and 62% of all newborns are baptized in Church of Sweden. This shows how Christian traditions are still part of the cultural practices in Sweden. Tomasson (2002) sums up the general views held by Swedes when he states that, They want to maintain education in Christianity (in schools), yet do not go to church. Baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial - these are the contacts these people have, not with religion (for there is no reason to have such contact!), but only with the church (2002:63). It is, in other words, important for Swedes to maintain a close connection to the church, just not one to the extent where it influences their every day lives. However, it is important that the church exists when it is needed, and it carries important symbolic meanings that are highly supported. Both in Europe and America there are people that are spiritual, and who are believing without belonging. However, what is more common in Europe is belonging without believing (Berger et al 2008:15). Such a low percentage of Swedes believe in God, while, as mentioned, 90% still belong to Church of 3

11 Sweden. People do not want to be personally involved in religion, but they like it to be there for other people and as a part of the national identity. They also want to be part of the church because they will need it at some point in their life, such as for weddings or funerals (Berger et al, 2008). What one can see, then, is a pattern of attitudes leaning toward accepting the Church as an institution to carry out particular cultural functions, such as weddings, funerals, and school graduations. Moreover, religious practice is a part of the national identity, in other words, being Swedish entails adhering to these religious traditions. Statement of the Problem When a Swede states that he or she is Lutheran, or that he or she attends church regularly, this person is often categorized as religious. However, this may be an extreme simplification of a more complex structure. It is possible that traditions and rituals have split from the spiritual aspect of religion, a dynamic on which this study will focus. A person might identify with the Lutheran-Evangelical church, attend church weekly and be both baptized and married within a church, without necessarily being religious in the spiritual sense. Being religious is therefore likely to have different meanings in different social contexts. In other words, the relationship between church participation, support for traditions, and religious beliefs are likely to display different characteristics depending on where one observes this. The religious attitudes and behaviors in Sweden appear to be different than any other place in the world, as Sweden is situated on the secular extreme. Therefore, the primary problem to be considered in this study entails 4

12 understanding how the structure of religion is characterized in Sweden. Specifically, this study aims to explore the relationship between traditions and belief in Sweden. In the next section, research questions are presented that are developed around the characteristics of subjective religiosity, belief, traditionalism, and church attendance. Purpose of the Study and Research Questions The purpose of this study is to explore how church participation, support for traditions, and belief are linked in Sweden. The aim is to explore the structure of religion in Sweden through analyzing the four research questions that are stated below. I have constructed a typology after reading literature that suggests that national identity is connected to the church in the case of Europe (Berger et al, 2009). After reading Davie s concepts of belonging without believing, and believing without belonging, I developed a new typology based on this, but with a focus on support for traditions rather than church membership. While it is interesting in itself that Europeans may belong without believing, this new typology adds the aspect of traditionalism, which may or may not be related to church membership. This typology has combinations of tradition and belief, in which it is possible to classify nations, regions, or individuals as traditionalist believers, traditionalist non-believers, non-traditionalist believers, and non-traditionalist non-believers. Traditionalist believers encompass those that highly support religious traditions combined with a high level of belief. Traditionalist nonbelievers strongly support traditions and rituals set out by a religion, but reject the spiritual component. Non-traditionalist believers are those that strongly believe 5

13 but that have a low level of support for religious traditions and rituals. Lastly, nontraditionalist non-believers are those that lack both the support for religious traditions as well as belief. For this purpose, traditionalism refers to the support for traditional Lutheran-Evangelical practices, which are specifically weddings, funerals, and school graduations in church, belief that Christmas is a national holiday that the state should recognize, and support the idea that churches are national heritages, that can be observed in a culture, which differs from belief which focuses on the spiritual aspect of religion, that of believing in a god or a supernatural being. The typology is presented in Table 1 below. Low in Belief High in Belief Low in Tradition Non-traditionalist nonbelievers Non-traditionalist believers High in Tradition Traditionalist non-believers Traditionalist believers Table 1. Typology of Tradition and Belief Swedes are expected to fall within traditionalist non-believers, since previous research indicates that Christian rituals are a part of a majority of people s lives, while belief in God is very low (Tomasson, 2002). This study aims to investigate whether or not this is, in fact, the case. It is possible that Swedish society highly values the Lutheran-Evangelical traditions, which the long history of the state church has brought. It may be the case that Swedes follow Lutheran practices but do not believe in a god. Using the typology explained above, the first research question is stated as follows: (1) Based on the typology of tradition and belief, are Swedes traditionalist 6

14 non-believers? The null and alternative hypotheses are consequently: (H 0 ) In the case of Sweden, there is not a combination of high level of support for traditions and low subjective religiosity. (H 1 ) In the case of Sweden, there is a combination of high level of support for traditions and low subjective religiosity. The second area of focus for this study is that of religiosity, secularity, and church attendance. This relationship has been questioned in a number of studies. For example, Stark and Finke (2000) explored whether or not low church attendance portrays an equally low level of belief. It may be so that church attendance is low because people practice their religions in their homes. Hamberg and Pettersson (1994) as well as Tomasson (2002) described that only 15% of the population believe in God, and this study will further suggest whether or not Hamberg and Pettersson s, Tomasson s, or Stark and Finke s findings are to be supported. The initial expectation for this study is that Swedes, in fact, are highly secular also in regard to belief. In addition to belief in a god, belief in other spiritual beings is also analyzed, which is often seen as believing in something, but not necessarily the existing religion (Berger et al, 2008). The second research question is therefore; (2) Can religious participation predict level of belief? The hypotheses corresponding to the fourth research question are: (H 0 ) There is no relationship between church participation rates and the level of belief. (H 2 ) There is a relationship between church participation rates and the level of 7

15 belief. Low percentage of belief in a god and spiritual beings in combination with a low level of participation would support what is stated by Tomasson (2002) as well as Hamberg and Pettersson (1994), while a high level of belief in a god and spiritual beings with a low level of church participation would support Stark and Finke s (2000) ideas that low level of participation would come with a high level of belief in God. For the third research question, the aim is to determine whether or not a relationship exists between subjective religiosity and support for Lutheran practices, or if the two elements are not necessarily related. The third research question is as follows: (3) Is there a relationship between subjective religiosity and support for the Lutheran-Evangelical traditions, or are the two elements independent of each other? The corresponding hypothesis and null-hypothesis are, therefore: (H 0 ) There is not a relationship between subjective religiosity and traditionalism. (H 3 ) There is a relationship between subjective religiosity and traditionalism. The third research question is analyzed through multiple regression, and within the same equations, general characteristics contributing to support for traditions and subjective religiosity are included. Is it possible that age, income, education, gender, marital status, and population influence subjective religiosity and traditionalism and if they do, are the relationships consistent between the multiple regression equation with the dependent variable of traditionalism and 8

16 that of subjective religiosity, or is it possible that, for example, one characteristic that influences subjective religiosity may not influence traditionalism? Previous research has concluded that women are more religious than men (Berger et al, 2008). Stark and Finke (2000) argue that people become more religious as they age, and Iannaccone (1998) found that the independent variables of education and age increase church attendance (dependent variable) in the United States, and that income is insignificant. This study will explore if this is the case for the data collected in Sweden, although church attendance will not be used as the dependent variable. Importance of the Study It is easy to take for granted that being religious has more or less the same meaning in different cultures. Misunderstandings arise when one case is applied to different contexts, and as Berger et al (2008) state, the aspect of religion is a source of confusion between Europeans and Americans. For an American, it can be difficult to grasp how a nation that is very secular still holds tightly onto Christian traditions, and for a European it may be difficult to understand why a country with heightened religious freedom can have the religious customs of a single religion infused in all parts of society. This study will show how religious belief and support for traditions are interrelated as well as the characteristics of church participation and belief. Religion within Europe has been considerably more researched than Sweden itself, and what has yet to be provided is an analysis that tests the relationships that previous empirical literature has described. While both Europe and the United States have been studied, there is, relatively speaking, a lack of research focusing on Sweden. Moreover, Sweden 9

17 appears to be more secularized than the rest of Europe, therefore, this study is all the more justified. This quantitative study further supports or rejects previously held perceptions through statistical analysis. For Sweden, there is more or less a complete void of such studies within the field of sociology of religion. This study will contribute to the existing empirical literature that addresses religiosity at a national level by focusing on Sweden. Broadly, the information gained through this study may shed some light on religious practices and the role of religion in society, a significant social institution in most societies. Chapter Two: Literature Review Background to Sociology of Religion For a long time, sociology of religion focused on religion as an irrational choice, with the central premise that this phenomenon would fade away with modernity. Marx called religion the opium of the people. Durkheim believed that all refute all (Stark and Finke, 2000:30-31) in that if more than one religion existed, they would contradict each other to the point where all would be discarded. This idea that religion would disappear with technological developments and acquisition of knowledge has been termed as the secularization thesis (Stark and Finke, 2000). Émile Durkheim (1912) argued that religion could be seen as a depiction of society itself. He believed that religion ultimately means worshipping the social, and he consequently concluded that God and society are identical. He further described that one does not need the supernatural to have a religion, and provided Buddhism as an example. It merely has to have the distinction between 10

18 the sacred and the profane. This could possibly be the case in Church of Sweden, where rituals and holidays are set apart from ordinary social activities, while the supernatural element is expected to have faded somewhat. From Durkheim s point-of-view, a religion that worships society without a strong supernatural power could therefore still be considered a religion, for the fact that it includes the elements of the sacred (beyond the material in a spiritual sense) and the profane (material things). The aim of contemporary sociologists of religion is not to criticize religion, but merely study its patterns in society. Today, the key figures within the field are, among many others, Steve Bruce, Rodney Stark, Roger Finke, Steve Warner, Grace Davie, and Peter Berger. The most popular view (at least among the American Sociologists of Religion) is the idea that modernity may not necessarily bring secularity. It is on the basis of this approach that most research problems are formulated and addressed. Secularization has been the main focus of study for a majority of sociologists of religion, and while it is generally accepted that it is not applicable to the United States, sociologists differ in their interpretation of the worldwide trajectory of belief. As is noted by Peter Berger, Grace Davie, and Effie Fokas (2008), the secularization theory does not explain the palpable differences between the Unites States and Europe, and it is developed from a European point-of-view. The rest of the world, however, has experienced an increase in religiosity. Steve Warner (1993) has made large contributions to the emergence of the new paradigm in sociology of religion, which denies the connection between secularity and modernity. He is, however, carefully pointing out that this 11

19 mainly focuses on the United States, and not necessarily Europe. He states that, Yet much of secularization theory's best evidence and most forceful advocacy comes from Europe, where secularization is arguably a historical fact as well as a theory (1993:1048). He argues that the old paradigm has encountered countless problems in the United States, which is why there is a need for a new paradigm to explain the patterns of religion in the United States. He does not go as far as Stark and Finke (2000), among the strongest opponents of the secularization thesis, who say that the secularization thesis is false, even in Europe. Steve Bruce provides numerous criticism of Stark s work and argues that the secularization thesis is not intended to be universal, nor does the decline in religiosity have to be even. Instead, he believes that secularization clearly explains the case of Europe, the geographical area in which it emerged (2002). Stark and Finke (2000) reject the claim that education brings secularity, and the traditional idea that with education and acquired rationality, there is no room for religious beliefs, has shown to be wrong. Iannaccone (1998) found that education increases church attendance in the United States, although he did not study religiosity. Berger et al (2008) explain that the characteristics of intellectuals differ between the United States and Europe, something that is explained further below. This study analyzes the relationship between education and subjective religiosity, which will suggest whether or not education leads to disbelief in the Swedish society. Sociology of religion studies patterns of religion in society, and the next section will present the views of scholars on the subject of religiosity and church attendance in our modern world. Stark and Finke (2000) reject Durkheim s ideas. They believe that the 12

20 supernatural, which they define as forces or entities beyond or outside nature that can suspend, alter, or ignore physical forces (2000:90) is the central aspect of religion. Using their theories within the realm of exchange theory, Stark and Finke (2000) reject Durkheim s functionalist argument and focus solely on a rational choice explanation for religiosity. Within this, they deny Durkheim s claim that religions are eternal and present everywhere. They state that a fully atheistic society is possible but yet to be found. Furthermore, Stark and Finke (2000) argue that religion is present in all societies, and that the European secularity is limited to low rates of participation. They state that, Even in nations where religious participation has always been quite low, as in Europe, the overwhelming majority express firm belief in basic religious tenets and describe themselves as religious. It is perverse to describe a nation as highly secularized (as a few of our European colleagues do) when fully two-thirds or more say they are a religious person, and fewer than 5 percent say they are atheists (2000:33). Grace Davie (1990) has similarly stated that one can wonder why Europeans still believe while they do not feel the need to participate. Stark and Finke use Iceland as an example of this, which according to them has been called the first fully secularized nation on earth (2000:72). While only 2 percent of the people of Iceland attend church, a majority of the people practice their religions in their homes, they are baptized and almost all marriages begin with a ceremony in a church (Stark and Finke, 2000). The initial expectation for Sweden is that the people support these traditions and that they do not go to church, but levels of belief are low. Stark and Finke provide somewhat contradicting 13

21 arguments when they state that, an individual s confidence in religious explanations is strengthened to the extent that others express their confidence in them, and people contemplating religious commitments will seek assurance (2000:107). They do believe that Europeans are nearly as religious as Americans, but that only a small fraction attends church. However, this approach is not without problems. If religion, then, is something that is practiced at home, it is unlikely that these individuals acquire the assurance that is needed through sharing the experience with others. Socialization through church attendance is likely to lead to belief, but if attendance is low, religiosity cannot be expected to be so much higher. There are findings that state that belief in God in Sweden is low. As stated in the introduction, according to Hamberg and Pettersson (1994), belief in God is as low as 15 percent, while church attendance is 4 percent, numbers that significantly differ from Stark and Finke s (2000) interpretation. However, in a later study that Stark and Hamberg conducted together, they state that while only 16 percent express a disbelief in god, a large percentage are spiritual or simply do not know what to believe in (Stark et al, 2005). One of the research questions of this study asks if levels of belief and levels of participation are low or high in Sweden, which would suggest which earlier findings to support. It is possible that Iceland is not a general example of Europe as a whole, and even if it is, Sweden may be different than the rest of Europe. The Religious Economy Approach The theory of the religious economy is a focus for mainly American sociologists, and its key proponents are Stark and Finke, Warner, and Iannaccone. This theory argues that churches work in a market of supply and 14

22 demand, just like any other business. They are subject to the same forces as other producers of goods and services. The difference is that the service that the church provides is that of a religious nature. Stark and Finke define a religious economy as all of the religious activity going on in any society: a market of current and potential adherents, a set of one or more organizations seeking to attract or maintain adherents, and the religious culture offered by the organization(s) (2000:193). A factor, such as how regulated the market is, will thus affect the success of the church businesses. A highly regulated market, for example one that gives monopoly to one church, which ultimately is a state church, would eliminate the competition and naturally present a low level of pluralism. The authors define the concept of pluralism within a religious economy as the number of firms active in the economy; the more firms there are with significant market shares, the greater degree of pluralism. (2000:198) Sweden has had a low level of pluralism with the previous state sponsored church, Church of Sweden. Competition makes the market efficient, and Stark and Finke further state that, lacking competition, the dominant firm(s) will be too inefficient to sustain vigorous marketing efforts, and the result will be a low overall level of religious participation (2000:201). In other words, they suggest that having had a state church, such as the case of Sweden, limits competition and keeps participation low. Rachel McClearly and Robert Barro (2006) have tested this claim. In their cross-national quantitative study, they found that religious pluralism significantly increases religious participation. All sociologists of religion do, however, not agree that pluralism brings religious commitment. Bruce explains that when Chaves and Gorski evaluated 27 studies that have tested the 15

23 relationship between pluralism and participation, ten (of which seven had been conducted by Stark, Finke or Iannacconne) concluded that a positive relationship exists, five studies found no relationship, and eleven a negative one (2002). Bruce states that, Within these publications, Chaves and Gorski found a total of 193 separate analyses and of these, only 24 (12%) yielded results that appear to support the new paradigm (2002:223). Lechner found that the Netherlands is becoming more and more secular and that Stark and Finke s theory is not applicable to the Dutch society. He agrees with Bruce as he states that, This critique of the Stark and Iannaccone argument as applied to the Netherlands shows that it fails as a set of general propositions. It does not imply that the theory itself lacks any merit. Just because the theory does not work there, contrary to the author's claims, does not mean it cannot work anywhere. But it is unlikely to work by itself or in the way proposed by Stark and Iannaccone (1996:262). Related to the concept of pluralism is that of sacralization. A society can be described as sacralized if the state church has influenced the social institution to the degree that there is a small distinction between the two (Stark and Finke, 2000). Sweden is expected to be sacralized to the degree that the social institution of marriage is highly connected to the church, however, religion is not infused in political rhetoric. When a society, then, sees a deregulation of the state church, just as Sweden has experienced, the society is experiencing desacralization. Pluralism will then arise when the regulations are abolished. Stark and Finke believe that, deregulation of religious economies will result in a greater increase in individual religious commitment as more firms (and more 16

24 motivated firms) gain free access to the market (2000:200). Their hypothesis is therefore that Sweden will become more religious in time, but they are careful to point out that there is a lag between the deregulation and the increase in religious participation. Culture and traditions will further increase the lag, which is likely the case for Sweden. Deeply rooted cultural behavior does not change over night, and it takes time before people are willing to regard something different as normal (Stark and Finke, 2000). One could question what Stark and Finke (2000) have argued when a nation like the United States, which is highly deregulated and has a high level of pluralism, still uses religious rhetoric in political speeches. It is almost as if the United States is not that desacralized after all, since this shows a clear connection between religion and the state. Another important concept in the economic approach to religiosity is tension. In a religious economic context, this refers to how separated the religious entity is from the rest of society. Low tension means there is little distinction between the two, and high tension occurs when the activities of the religious group are highly different from the rest of society s expectations. If the findings in Sweden indicate that religious traditions are closely related to society s expectations, low tension will be present. Stark and Finke (2000) further argue that higher levels of tension give higher member commitments. Consequently, if the tension is low in Sweden, then there will be a low number of committed members. They believe this is the case since the price (level of commitment) of adhering to the group reflects the quality of the rewards. Therefore, a church that is less strict and asks little of its followers will be perceived as less likely to be good for what it promises, just like any other good or service. 17

25 Iannaccone (1998) found that people become more religious as they age. Stark and Finke explain this phenomenon with the principle of religious procrastination. By this, they mean that if afterlife is a goal, church attendance and belief is the payment for it, and people tend to put this off until they are older, when they start contemplating over the desire for the afterlife. They formally state that, Just as people often delay their investments in a retirement plan, they often delay bringing their afterlife arrangements up to date (2000:100). This concept is useful for this study, since one of the goals of this research is to test whether or not there is a relationship between age and religious belief. Stark and Finke (2000) make a distinction between objective and subjective religion. Objective religion refers to how a person behaves in relation to the guidelines set out by a religion. Subjective religion, on the other hand, focuses on the internal aspect of belief of the individual, Subjective religion is therefore more related to values and beliefs than actions. Belief in God falls under subjective religiosity, while church attendance and taking part in traditional rituals are related to the objective religiosity. This study makes a distinction between the two elements, since the perception is that they are not necessarily dependent on each other. The initial expectations for this study is that subjective religiosity is low, but that objective religiosity is considerably higher with a support for traditions; however, church attendance is likely to be very low, which still puts limits on the objective religiosity. Stark and Finke (2000) further argue that if the element of belief as a part of subjective religiosity does not exist, religion has lost its meaning, since the main distinction between a religion and other cultural ideas is merely the supernatural aspect. This is interesting to take into consideration 18

26 when looking at Sweden and whether or not the church is first and foremost considered a cultural or a religious entity. All of the concepts presented in this section can be applied differently to different societies. The concepts of the theory of the religious economy can partly explain the differences between the United States and Europe. While Stark and Finke (2000) believe this is the significantly most important factor, other scholars have presented other reasons for the major differences in religion between the United States and Europe, something that will be the focus of the following section. Religious Differences Between Europe and the United States Berger et al (2008) acknowledge that the factors of the religious economy have contributed to the big differences in religiosity between the United States and Europe. They state that, Where religion is closely identified with the state, resentments against the latter almost inevitably comes to include the former. (2008:16) In other words, people tend to resent the state, and if the church is a part of the state, they will also resent the church, which includes the concept of religion. United States has had a separation of church and state since the establishment of the nation. In contrast, European nations, and Sweden among those, have long had state churches. Berger et al (2008) also agree with Stark and Finke (2000), and McClearly and Barro (2006) regarding pluralist competition. They all believe that where pluralism is low, churches are inefficient because they do not have to make an effort to attract adherents. In addition, people tend to view state churches as public utility, providing services that are inevitably needed by the people at one point or another. This may be how the 19

27 market in Sweden works. Pluralism is low, and people see the church as a branch of the government. However, Berger et al (2008) are not convinced that the theory of the religious economy is the main explanation. They state that, A number of sociologists, notably Rodney Stark, have recently sought to make pluralist competition the single most important explanation of religious differences between societies, and this goes some way in explaining the differences between the United States and Europe, but it cannot explain all of it (2008:17). They use France as an example of a nation that has had a separation of church and state since 1904, but which still has a low level of pluralism and is highly secular. They further state that the secularization thesis is limited to Europe, something that Bruce (2002) supports, and the theory of the religious economy is better applicable to the United States (Berger et al, 2008). Berger et al (2008) believe that another significant reason for the large difference in religiosity between Europe and the United States is that there were two versions of the enlightenment. They state that, The French enlightenment was sharply anti-clerical, in parts openly anti-christian This influenced democratic thought and practice throughout continental Europe as well as in Latin-America (2008:18). The American enlightenment, on the other hand, was characterized by liberty and a lack of a clerisy to oppose. The intellectuals on the European continent had then created a different type of high culture (2008:19). In Europe, one had to be secular to be modern, since religion was somewhat regarded as outdated. This was not the case for the United States. The survey that was used to collect data for this study asked the question of whether the 20

28 church is out of touch with modern society. This will show whether or not what Berger et al (2008) argue about perceptions of religion in Europe are supported in the case of Sweden. Tomasson (2002) explains that active atheism is very low in Sweden, and rarely does anyone show any hostility towards the church, and active atheism is not more common in Sweden than it is in the United States. Tomasson quotes Roland Huntford who states that, Sweden is one of the rare countries where men are often anti-religious, but rarely anti-clerical (2002:64). Berger et al (2008) further believe that European institutions have brought about secularity by the fact that what is taught in schools is under centralized state control. In the United States, it used to be different, illustrated by the fact that if a parent did not like what a teacher taught, they could have them fired. This is different now, but education is still under control of local governments. Berger et al (2008) also state that there are two major differences in the United States when compared to Europe that can be used to explain the differences in religiosity. The first one is the fact that church membership is highly related to class status. The denominational system in the United States works to attract members of similar class, and there is a hierarchy of what type of Protestantism one is expected to practice with different status levels. This does not seem to be the case in Europe. The second factor is that churches used to be the way through which immigrants were integrated into society. The immigrants saw the church as an important reason that they could survive in the new country, and it served as a way for people to socialize with individuals from similar backgrounds. 21

29 Religion in Sweden Before the 11 th century, Swedes worshipped Norse gods, such as Odin, Freyr, Freyja, and Thor. In 1004, Catholicism was adopted as state religion. Catholicism remained the official religion until the Protestant Reformation, and in 1593, Lutheranism was declared state religion, which remained until year The Lutheran state church was, therefore, in power for over 400 years. In 1858, it became legal to exit Church of Sweden, but only to enter into another approved Christian denomination. It was not until 1951 that it was possible to leave the church and have no affiliation (Alwall, 2000). This year is regarded as the year of freedom of religion in Sweden, although the state sponsored church retained its power until Historically, Sweden has, fallen under the Lutheran tradition, with elements of the Norse and Catholic tradition. Berger et al (2008) describe that in the Nordic countries, churches are markers of national identity. People are proud of their churches, and consider big ceremonies to take place within the church rather than anywhere else, as churches are part of the national heritage. As mentioned earlier, this study focuses on the concept of churches as national heritages. The Church of Sweden does likely have a larger cultural than religious influence, something that is a product of the long history of the state church. They further describe that Europeans expect churches to care for its people. Stark and Finke (2000) agree on this aspect when they introduce the concept of the socialized religious economy, where the church is seen as an integral part of the welfare state. Religious needs are present among the people, and it has therefore been the state s duty to support this. They believe socialized religion weakens the church 22

30 organization in four ways. First, the state has an influence on the activities of the church. One example of this occurring in Sweden is that Sweden s minister of ecclesiastical affairs, who was a non-believer, pushed for a new translation of the New Testament for general cultural reasons. This version is currently the official version of the bible in Church of Sweden. In addition, serving on church boards in Sweden did not require education within theology, or even belief for that matter. It was therefore common that atheists were part of these boards (Stark and Finke, 2000). Second, as is mentioned earlier regarding having a state church, it kept the churches lazy. This is likely to be a main factor of low religious participation. If the church received its funds from taxes whether or not they worked hard, there was less incentive to make an effort. Third, adherents are unlikely to make an effort as well because they see religion as something that is free of charge, and therefore not something to work hard for. Hamberg and Pettersson (1994) tested whether or not pluralism as well as the number of varied services a church provides influence participation, and found a positive relationship for both. Fourth, a socialized religion puts limits on competition. Having one religion that is free of charge while the others require membership fees portrays a disadvantage for the churches that do not receive monetary support from the state, and at the same time, these nations claim to have full religious freedom (Stark and Finke, 2000). When Sweden had a state church, its employees were civil servants. They were union members that had established standards of how much work had to be asked from them. They received their paycheck regardless of church attendance. The church tax covered employees salaries and it also covered maintenance of the old church buildings as well as the archbishop s salary that was close to that 23

31 of the prime minister. The churches were recognized as having a large staff and a small congregation. Stark and Finke (2000) describe an observation made by an American Lutheran minister when visiting a church in Sweden; He went there to attend Sunday services and found himself in a huge structure, surrounded by a mere handful of fellow worshippers. At the end of the service, he spoke to the pastor, who bemoaned the paucity of worshippers, and described the large, professional staff attached to the cathedral. The American remarked, But surely, the staff and their families alone should have made up a much larger audience. The pastor replied, Yes, but they work so hard all week. They like to take Sunday off (2000:231). Stark et al (2005) provide other examples of how Church of Sweden is highly secular in nature because of a strong connection to the government. The archbishop does not want to express that Jesus is God s son, instead, he is regarded as a moral Christian. In 2002, the Swedish parliament passed a law stating that opposition to homosexuality, even from a religious standpoint, is illegal and constitutes a hate crime. Stark et al (2005) as well as Stark and Finke (2000), Tomasson (2002), Hamberg and Pettersson (1994), and Berger et al (2008) agree that church participation is low in Sweden. Stark et al (2005) state that religion is not carried out in the church. Instead, Sweden has a high level of unchurched religion (2005:15), where spirituality is prevalent and religion is a private phenomenon. They also question how purely Christian Sweden ever was. Instead, they see Swedish religion as a smorgasbord of Christian faith, Norse paganism, and New Age spirituality. This has developed from the long history of 24

32 worshipping Norse gods, and Swedes still celebrate some religious holidays that are not of the Christian kind (Stark et al, 2005). Gill and Lundsgaarde (2004) studied the relationship between welfare spending and religiosity. Their hypothesis was that, The level of religious participation in society should vary inversely with the per capita level of social welfare provided by the state (2004:408). With the use of multiple regressions, they tested whether a relationship exists and they found a clear inverse relationship between the two. The higher the welfare spending was, the more people were likely to call themselves non-religious. They argue that people that live in a nation with low levels of welfare turn to the church for support to a larger extent than people of a nation with higher welfare expenditure. They state that, People living in countries with high social welfare spending per capita even have less of a tendency to take comfort in religion, perhaps knowing that the state is there to help them in times of crisis (Gill and Lundsgaarde, 2004:425). Out of the countries they looked at, Sweden had the highest level of welfare expenditures and the lowest level of comfort in religion. This finding is useful for this study in that it may provide one of the explanations for why the religious structure in Sweden looks the way it does. A theory that is useful to apply to religion in Sweden is Merton s typology of deviance. According to Merton (1938), there is a distinction between cultural goals and institutionalized means, and based on this, he developed a typology, in which one can be a conformist (accept goals and means), retreatist (reject both goals and means), ritualist (accept means and reject goals), or innovator (reject means and accept goals). If religious rituals are carried out in order to obtain the 25

33 religious goals, one could be considered to be a conformist. If, on the other hand, religious rituals are carried out for the sake of tradition, one is a ritualist. The third possibility is that in which both the religious traditions and the spiritual element are rejected, where one would be considered a retreatist. This could be an atheist who is actively against the religious message and its practices. A person who tries to obtain the religious goals but who does not follow the rituals that are set out by the religion can be classified as an innovator, which may be people who regard themselves as religious in a spiritual sense but do not follow the practices of a specific religion. Privatized religion would fall under this category if the adherents at the same time would not engage in the traditional rituals. Summary of Literature Review The theory of the religious economy is of high importance to this study. The literature review has explained that the main concepts of this theory are pluralism, which shows to what degree there is a competitive market for religious firms; sacralization, where there is low distinction between the church and the social institutions; tension, which is the degree to which expectations of the church differ from those of the rest of society; religious procrastination, where people wait until they get older before they start exploring religion and the afterlife, and objective and subjective religion, which shows that there is an inner component of religiosity, and one which reflects behavior. The influence of the state church on religious participation has been a recent focus for many scholars. This concept is used to explain the differences between the United States and Sweden, but other explanations that are also considered are two versions of the enlightenment and the high culture that developed, the connection between 26

34 immigration and churches in the United States, as well as churches as an indicator of class status. Church of Sweden has long been seen as a part of the welfare state, and people expect it to be there for them at some point in their lives, whether or not it is for spiritual reasons. It has been argued that the socialized religion of Sweden has weakened the church through a large degree of government interference, and a constant flood of money to the church no matter how efficient it is. In addition, socialist countries have lower levels of belief, likely because of the fact that the people know the state is behind them during rough times, and do not need the church for comfort to the same extent. 27

35 Chapter Three: Methodology Research Method The research method used in this study is a quantitative survey design. A questionnaire was developed in English and was translated into Swedish for the purpose of distributing 104 surveys to respondents in the region of South-Eastern Sweden. A detailed explanation of data collection and analysis is presented in this chapter. As the results will be analyzed statistically and the aim is to generalize to a larger population, most of the questions were constructed as closed-ended questions, with room to add comments. The questions were developed as measures for the dependent and independent variables, which are presented in the following two sections. Independent Variables Demographic variables that are of interest in this study are gender, educational level, age, and income. Gender is coded as a dichotomous dummy variable for this study, with 0 for male and 1 for female. The variable education ranges between less than high school, to post graduate. Both education and population are coded with the scale of 1 through 7. As for age, the respondents were simply asked to provide their birth year. Year of birth is asked instead of age, because, as Bradburn et al (2004) explain, participants that worry about their age consider year of birth less threatening than saying their age in years. They state that questions about the respondent s income may be the most difficult demographic question to ask. The response categories include income 28

36 brackets, which tend to be easier to answer than having to state the income without any reference (Bradburn et al, 2004). Naturally, Swedes will have to state their income in Swedish kronor, and not US dollars, which is why this question has Swedish kronor as a reference rather than US dollars. This question is coded with an increasing scale from 1 to 11. The variable church attendance was created from the answers to the question of how often the respondent attends religious services. The scale ranges from 1 to 7, with 1 representing never, and 7 representing weekly. Dependent Variables The variable of subjective religiosity is built up of the following initial variables; belief in god, belief in a spiritual being, defining oneself religious, and defining oneself spiritual, which are coded as 1 for no, 2 for uncertain, and 3 for yes. The fifth and last variable to be included in the conceptualization of subjective religiosity is importance of religion, which is recorded on a scale from 1 through 5. In this study, subjective religiosity is defined as the aggregate degree to which a person possesses religious attitudes in regards to belief in god, belief in spiritual beings, self perceived religiosity, self perceived spirituality, and importance of religion. It is important to note that religious behavior is left out intentionally, as this is highly related to church attendance as well as traditions. Religiosity is one of the most difficult variables to conceptualize and operationalize. It is a difficult variable to measure since its meaning is fluid. Leong (2003) argues that one should avoid defining religiosity as active participation, such as church attendance, because religiosity is primarily an internal quality. She states that, More specifically, studies that focus on church attendance, in 29

37 particular, tend to assume that religiosity can be explained by actual church attendance alone, but this fails to consider internalized or private religiosity (2003:6). This is precisely why the conceptualization of religiosity focuses on the internal, subjective aspect. It would be impossible to define religiosity as church attendance in this study, for the reason that the aim of this study is to describe the differences between religious beliefs, traditions and church attendance. In her operationalization of internal religiosity, two of the questions she includes are How important is religion in your own life? and How strong is your belief in God? (2003:20). For this study, these two questions are included, although slightly modified, and three more variables have been added that make up the aggregate variable of subjective religiosity. Smith et al describe that, one of the most basic and widely used survey measures of individual subjective religiosity is respondents stated importance of faith (2003:116). This survey item has been included in subjective religiosity for this study. Eliassen et al (2005) focus on selfperceived religiosity in their operationalization of subjective religiosity. The definition of subjective religiosity for this study also includes the elements of selfperceived religiosity and spirituality. Traditionalism, which is the second dependent variable, is also made up of a combination of five initial variables. Supporting traditions are likely to be played out in different ways and focused on certain areas, which is why it is important to include different types of factors. Support for weddings, funerals, and school graduations within the church were considered as aspects for the concept of traditionalism but in addition, a question on religious holidays was included, as well as one on churches as cultural heritages. Response categories ranged from 30

38 strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, with strongly disagree coded as 1 and strongly agree as 4. A 4-point scale was chosen for the reason that the respondents were unable to choose the middle ground, since most respondents, in fact, have an opinion about something even if they claim they do not (Nardi, 2006, Bradburn et al, 2004). Specifically, Traditionalism is defined as the aggregate degree to which a person supports Lutheran- Evangelical traditions in regards to school graduations, weddings, funerals, Christmas, and considers the church as part of a cultural heritage. More information on the questions and what they ask specifically can be found in the survey that is displayed in the appendix. Data Collection Talking about religious attitudes could cause hesitation when having to disclose personal beliefs to another person face to face. Bradburn et al (2004) state that the primary method to decrease threats in survey research is to have a self-administered survey. Therefore, the survey for this study was selfadministered, where respondents filled out the survey individually. In addition, they may be more likely to answer truthfully if they do not have to tell the researcher straight out what they believe. Another advantage of self-administered surveys is that the researcher will not influence the answer (Nardi, 2006). A pilot-test was conducted in order to detect problems with the format as well as wording of items of the questionnaire. The survey was tested on myself as well as ten individuals that were not in the final sample. It is, however, important that the participants in the pilot-test are similar to those that will be in the sample (Nardi, 2006). After the pilot-study, I discussed the survey with the 31

39 participants and looked for blank answers and questions that the respondents considered confusing, and made minor changes before the final survey was distributed. Even though this is a self-administered questionnaire, I was still present on site, and therefore was able to discuss the questionnaire with the pilot-test respondents. Pilot-testing the questionnaire is an important step because it is difficult to fix problems when everything is completed (Nardi, 2006). Convenience sampling was used by gathering respondents outside of grocery stores in South-Eastern Sweden, specifically in the towns of Valdemarsvik, Norrköping, Söderköping, Västervik, and Linköping. I asked people if they were willing to participate in the study, and told them about it. In order to increase the response rate, I let them know that their participation would contribute to the research, and that their participation would be highly appreciated, but that they would not personally benefit from participating in the survey. A total of 104 surveys were collected in order to balance the time of collecting the data with the statistical power of the sample size. Nardi (2006) argues that a study based on convenience sampling cannot be generalized to the entire population. While it is true that asking respondents in grocery stores is not true random sampling, precautions have been taken in order to ensure that the sample represents the entire population. First, in the United States, women are more likely to do grocery shopping because of lower labor force participation rate. However, this is likely not the case in Sweden, which has the lowest gender gap in the labor force (World Economic Forum, 2007). Even if this does not prove that men and women are equally likely to buy groceries, it is an indicator of who visits the grocery store. Second, my own opinion is that 32

40 Swedes in general do not eat in restaurants very often. The judgment was made that no specific group of people is more likely to visit one store over the other, and my own perception is that more or less every Swede over the age of 18 visits a grocery store regularly. Third, there are limits when it comes to geographic locations, which is why the data was collected at several different locations in the region of South-Eastern Sweden. Data was also collected during different times, such as in the morning and in the afternoon, and on different weekdays. This was done in order to decrease the risk of surveying a specific group of people that shops during a particular time, such as unemployed, or retired people. An important component for data collection is informed consent. The person that participates in the study has the right to be informed on what the research entails and what the possible risks are (Bradburn et al, 2004). In this study, the costs to the subjects were minimal. They may have felt uncomfortable contemplating over some of the questions on their belief and what they specifically believe in. People may have held the same beliefs as long as they can remember, and this survey forces them to specifically categorize what they actually believe in and what they think about churches and their activities. Steps to minimize discomfort were taken by letting the subject know that he or she can choose to leave questions blank, to add comments to any answer, and to have the choice to drop out of the study at any time. The respondents were informed that the purpose of the research was to study religious attitudes and behaviors, but the specific research questions were left out. By doing this, the respondent did not know specifically what the researcher was looking for in the answers, which therefore decreased the risk that he or she answered according to 33

41 expectations. Data Analysis The data from the surveys were entered into SPSS by creating one variable for each question on the survey. The answers were coded as explained in the sections of Independent Variables and Dependent Variables. Any comments to any of the questions were recorded in a separate column after each question in SPSS. Each survey has a case number recorded on the front. This same number was assigned in the data file in SPSS, in order to keep track of the surveys that had been put into the program, and if the researcher suspected that a mistake had been made while entering the data, it is possible to go back and look at the survey, but the researcher was not able to see who took the specific surveys. Only a few surveys were incomplete, and the missing data were replaced by the mean value of the variable, as is explained by Mertler and Vannatta (2005). Questions (1) and (2) were analyzed through looking at the percentage of the respondents believing in God or a spiritual being, the mean level of religiosity and church attendance, as well as mean level of traditionalism. Research question (3) was answered by analyzing the following multiple regressions: Traditionalism= a + ß 1 Subjective religiosity + ß 2 Income + ß 3 Education + ß 4 Gender + ß 5 Age Subjective religiosity= a + ß 1 Traditionalism + ß 2 Income + ß 3 Education + ß 4 Gender + ß 5 Age 34

42 Strengths of Method The survey method is useful in that it will uncover the relationships between belief, traditions, and church attendance in a large population. The aim is to generalize from the sample to the whole population of Sweden, which is a reason that the survey method is useful. With a precise design and development of questionnaire, the results from a sample of a population can represent the population as a whole. The survey method is also useful when several different variables are tested. In addition, standardized answers that are collected through closed-ended questions can be analyzed statistically. Quantifying research provides a way to support or reject a hypothesis numerically within the margin of error. It is therefore useful when examining the influence of certain factors on others, which this study aims to do. Limitation of Method The limits of quantitative studies are that the responses that the participants can give are limited to what the researchers has decided are the appropriate categories. The standardization of quantitative studies has, in other words, both advantages and disadvantages. While it is good that one can compare the perceptions of a whole population, one does not fully understand what these people really think and feel about the topic at hand. The survey method that this study uses does not have in-depth questions, which will therefore not show what the people think outside of the scope of the questionnaire. It is possible that there is a threat to the generalizability of the results, since the participants in the study all live within a certain geographic region. It 35

43 may be so that the results would have differed if the geographical spread would have been higher or if the sample size would have been larger than 104 cases. As mentioned above, the sampling method chosen for this study is not complete random sampling. It may be so that people visiting the grocery store are different in characteristics than those that do not, but as is mentioned earlier, the risk is perceived to be minimal. 36

44 Chapter Four: Findings Sweden Within the Typology of Tradition and Belief The first research question focused on the distinction between subjective religiosity and support for traditions, and whether or not Swedes are traditionalist non-believers. To address the issue, the values of five different variables were combined into subjective religiosity and five into traditionalism. For the purposes of analyzing the data, they were recoded into scales of 1 through 4. The maximum value possible was 20 and the minimum 5, with the midpoint of The mean value for traditionalism was and the same statistic for subjective religiosity was The mean based on single variables was consequently 2.97 for traditionalism, where 3 represents agree on the scale of (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) agree and (4) strongly agree. The same value for subjective religiosity was The typology of tradition and belief can be seen in Figure 1 below, in which one can see that Sweden, in fact, is a nation of traditionalist non-believers, since it is high in traditionalism (which again refers to support for Lutheran-Evangelical traditions), and low in subjective religiosity. The figure clearly shows that Sweden is situated fairly far out in the upper left corner in the diagram. The center of the diagram represents a medium level of support for traditions and a medium level of subjective religiosity, and each corner represents the extremes, where all of the respondents support or reject traditions entirely, and where subjective religiosity is either agreed upon or discarded fully by all respondents. 37

45 Figure 1. Typology of tradition and belief. Sweden represents the black dot. Looking at the mean of traditionalism and subjective religiosity, Swedes are high in support for traditions and low in subjective religiosity, which suggests that the answer to the first research question is that they are indeed traditionalist non-believers. Consequently, the null-hypothesis that there is not combination of a high level of support for traditions and low subjective religiosity is rejected. However, there are several ways to look at belief, and while this analysis focuses on the overall subjective religiosity in which belief is a component, one needs to further look at belief specifically in order to present a more robust conclusion to the first research question. As one can see in the next section, a majority of the respondents answered that they do not believe in God/a god, which would further support the hypothesis that Swedes are traditionalist non-believers. The components of belief are presented further within the next section. These findings 38

46 statistically support the idea that Swedes regard the church as a cultural entity rather than a spiritual one. Church Participation and Level of Belief It is generally accepted among sociologists of religion that Europe is very secular regarding church attendance. However, there is a difference of opinion concerning whether or not this secularity includes belief, or if belief is high but practiced in people s homes. Stark and Finke (2000) argue that Europe is more or less just as religious as the United States, and that it is only church attendance that is low. The second research question looks at levels of belief and church attendance. Three questions were asked to address the respondents religious belief: Would you classify yourself as atheist?, Do you believe in God/a god?, and Do you believe in a higher spiritual power? The results from the questions of belief in a god and a spiritual power are presented in Figure 2 below. Figure 2. Levels of belief in a god and a spiritual power. 39

47 The figure shows that 63% of the respondents stated that they do not believe in God/a god. Furthermore, 15% are unsure, and 22% stated that they do believe in God/a god. A similar pattern can be seen when looking at belief in a spiritual power. Out of the 104 respondents, 44% stated that they do not believe in a spiritual power, 32% were unsure, and 24% stated that they do believe in a spiritual power. These findings support the earlier claim that Swedes are non-believers. While Swedes are more likely to be spiritual than they are to believe in a god, also this type of belief is limited. One can also note that even though 63% of the respondents stated that they do not believe in a god, only 42% called themselves atheist. This supports Tomasson s (2002) claim that Swedes are not religious but not active atheists. Figure 3. Do you identify yourself as atheist? When asking whether or not the respondent is atheist, 42% said yes, 18% chose the response option of no, but I don t believe in a god, 19% said no, because I am not sure what to believe in, 17% said no, because I believe in 40

48 God/a god, and 4% said that they were not sure if they were atheist or not. This is shown in Figure 3 above. This suggests that just because only a minority of a group of people states that they are atheist does not mean that the number of non-believers is equally low. It is common to not believe in a god, and still not identify oneself as an atheist. As can be seen in the pie chart in Figure 4 below, church attendance is low among the respondents. Only 8% of the respondents attend church more often than a few times per year. Moreover, 43% stated that they visit church less than once per year. Only 2% of the respondents visited church weekly, which is consistent with Hamberg and Pettersson s (1994) claim that 4% visit church weekly. Just as described by a number of scholars (Berger et al, 2008, Stark and Finke 2002, Hamberg and Pettersson, 1994, and Tomasson, 2002), the results from this study show that Sweden follows the trend of the rest of Western and Northern Europe, with a low level of church attendance. Based on the findings on low levels of belief and low church attendance, one can conclude that church participation levels do, in fact, predict levels of belief in the case of Sweden. The null-hypothesis that no such relationship exists is therefore rejected. Stark and Finke s (2000) claim that Swedes are highly religious even though they do not attend church is rejected. Regular church attendance (at least once per month) is as low as 8%, and both belief in a god (22%) and spiritual beings (24%) are higher than actual church attendance. This suggests that some individuals practice their religions at home without necessarily attending church. However, the privatized religion is not as prevalent as Stark and Finke (2000) suggest. Even if no more than 63% state that they are 41

49 certain they do not believe in a god, and 44% that they do not believe in a spiritual power, belief is still very low, and only between 20 and 25% of the respondents stated that they are certain that they believe in a god or a spiritual power. When asking for the denomination of the church to which they belong, very few respondents actually knew Church of Sweden was a Lutheran-Evangelical church, and a lower, but still significant amount, did not know it was a protestant church, even though they identified with the church. Examples of comments when asked to specify which protestant denomination they belong to are the following; the state church, that big one, Church of Sweden, and the regular one. Only two respondents showed an understanding of the type of denomination that Church of Sweden is; I believe it is Lutheran?, and the Lutheran (?) denomination. Figure 4. How often do you attend church? 42