Return of religion in the public sphere?

KIFO Centre for Church Research invites you to the final conference of the NOREL research program, which will be held on March 27-28 2014 at Diakonhjemmets Høgskole in Oslo.

Many have claimed that there is a resurgence of religion in the public sphere, as witnessed in debates over religion in parliaments and the media, in contests over the relationship between the state and religion, the rights of religious minorities, and the visibility of religious symbolism in public. Research from the Nordic countries conducted three decades ago suggested that the major trend was a privatization of religion. The question posed during this conference is if there has been a resurgence of religion in the public sphere in Denmark, Sweden, Norway Finland and Iceland during the past twenty years.

Key note is Professor Michael Minkenberg at Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) who will speak on religion, state, and democracy in Western societies. Many influential Nordic sociologists of religion will also present findings from comparative, empirical studies of religion and state, politics, media, and civil society.

The presentations at the conference are based on research from the five-year NORDCORP project “The Role of Religion in the Public Sphere. A Comparative Study of the Five Nordic Countries 1988-2008” funded by Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (NOS-HS).

Program

Registration.
The conference is open. In order to plan the serving of (free) lunch and refreshments, registration is required. Registration deadline March 20.

KIFO covers travel and stay for one person from KIFO’s main collaborative partners.

For questions and more information, please contact: kifo@kifo.no phone 0047 23 33 47 20