Supernatural post-mortem beliefs among the Some and the Nones: Ambiguity as a tool for rethinking the 'secular' pupil in Swedish religion education

Abstract

Sweden is often described as a highly secularised country, but we know little of the actual worldviews among youths in Swedish classrooms. The current article has two aims: to examine ambiguous positions concerning supernatural phenomena among young Swedes, and to initiate a discussion about how teachers in religion education (RE) can use such ambiguity to bridge between pupils with secular and religious identities. In a sample of 302 young, urban Swedes (16-25 years old), we examined (1) self-reported (non-)belief in supernatural beings, (2) what they believe happens after death, and (3) if they report any supernatural experiences. The results illustrate that the majority held some kind of belief in the supernatural (the "Some"). Among the Nones who rejected such beliefs, a fifth yet described experiences which involved supernatural beings (e.g., spirits). To understand this contradiction, we employ cognitive theories on the tendency to attribute agency to supernatural powers that explain people's intuitive conceptualisation of the supernatural. We argue that such ambiguity provides an interesting space where pupils can use their personal experiences to better understand peers with other worldviews, while also exploring their own worldviews. To highlight the importance of describing secularity as an equally complex phenomenon as religiosity, we also introduce the term secular literacy. The ultimate purpose is to bridge the problematic gap between Us (who are secular) and Them (who are religious), which is also an explicit goal in the RE syllabus.