Religion has become a matter of intensified public concern in contem- porary Scandinavia, and the various media are the main arena in which Scandi- navians encounter such controversies. Historically-rooted understandings of re- ligion that are based on the Lutheran Church as both a public utility and cultural resource, and the secular state as the regulator of religious freedom and equality, have become re-articulated in newly emerging frames such as the politicization, culturalization and securitization of religion. This chapter presents the current volume’s overall approach to religion in contemporary Scandinavia as a mediatized and contested social phenomenon. The chapter ad- vocates a perspective from which ongoing contestations and negotiations among a larger spectrum of actors are explored through an application of both substan- tive and moderate social constructionist approaches to religion. The various ap- plications and interplays of these approaches to religion may fruitfully contrib- ute to the further development of the theory of the mediatization of religion.

This chapter presents an overview of religiosity and attitudes to religious diversity in media and other public spaces based on a cross-Scandinavian survey conducted in 2015. Although Scandinavians in general have a weak personal connection to religion, Christianity still holds a privileged position as an expression of cultural identity. Scandinavians express support for equal rights to practice religion, but also doubtfulness towards public expressions of religion. More than one-fourth of respondents discuss news about religion and religious extremism regularly. There is a widespread sentiment that Islam is a threat to the national culture, even though most respondents state that they oppose an open expression of hostile attitudes towards foreigners. Political orientation and gender are salient aspects that shape diverging opinions regarding tolerance or scepticism towards the public visibility of religious diversity. Furthermore, Danes and Norwegians are more critical of public expressions of Islam than Swedes.

Cultural and religious diversity are contested topics in Swedish public debate. This chapter analyses how the radio programme Människor och tro (People and belief) enables and structures the actors and issues that become heard in this debate, particularly with regard to Islam and Muslims. The programme aims to present an alternative to the dominant negative media discourses by equally representing Christianity and Islam in reports, inviting Swedish Muslims to present experiences and opinions on various news events, and enabling debate between religious organizations, experts, and listeners through phone-in sessions and social media. Despite these efforts, the programme tends to reconstruct, as well as challenge, the dominant frames of Islam as a problem for Swedish society and for the relations of power between the majority and minority voices in public debates. The chapter explores how contradictions between the traditional ideals and formats of public service radio and its ambitions to produce a more nuanced and diverse image of religion contribute to this outcome.

This chapter begins with a presentation of the particular features of the Nordic media systems and their transformations since 1980. The following analyzes three forms of mediatized religion: journalism on religion (in major newspapers), religion in popular media (popular magazines and films), and religious media (religious programs in the public service broadcasting and the Internet presentations by the Nordic majority churches). The conclusions show no simple pattern of a decline or resurgence of the visibility of religion in the media. This chapter also asks what the media do to religion (mediatization theory), and concludes that the media genre has a profound impact on the representation of religion, which results in a complex pattern of increased diversity of topics and perspectives.

This article introduces a special issue on critical methods and theoretical lenses in Digital Religion studies, through contextualising them within research trajectories found in this emerging field. By starting from the assertion that current fourth-wave of research on religion and the Internet, is focused on how religious actors negotiate the relationships between multiple spheres of their online and offline lives, article authors spotlight key theoretical discussions and methodological approaches occurring within this interdisciplinary area of inquiry. It concludes with notable methodological and theoretical challenges in need of further exploration. Together it demonstrates how religion is practiced and reimagined within digital media spaces, and how such analysis can contribute to broader understanding of the social and cultural changes new media technologies are facilitating within society.

Based on a comparative project on media and religion across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this article analyzes relationships between religiosity and political attitudes in Scandinavia and how these connect with attitudes regarding the representation of Islam in various media. Data comes from population-wide surveys conducted in the three countries in April 2015. Most Scandinavians relate ‘religion’ with conflict, and half of the population perceives Islam as a threat to their national culture. Scandinavians thus perceive religion in terms of political tensions and predominantly feel that news media should serve a critical function towards Islam and religious conflicts. Finally, the results of the empirical analysis are discussed in view of the intertwined processes of politicization of Islam and mediatization of religion.