Talk:Religion in Sweden

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[edit] Edit to Religion in Sweden today

In this edit, User:The monkeyhate added the following text to the Religion in Sweden today section: "Another report states that the number of atheists, agnostics and non-believers in Sweden is 85%, the highest number on earth.", citing http://www.gadling.com/2007/08/23/least-religious-countries/ as a supporting source.

I see that the cited supporting source is a page on a blog named gadling.com (note:see WP:V and WP:RS). Opposite a photo of the cover of the April 8, 1966 issue of Time magazine (that's a bit over 41 years ago). On the blog, there is a comment which rates Sweden as the least religious country on earth and lists Sweden as: "1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)". AFAICT, the cited supporting source clearly fails WP's reliability standards.

The blog entry does, however, provide a link to http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/atheism.html, which it labels "survey". That is a dead link, but the [internet archive does have copies of it. The Aug 13, 2007 copy is a copy of a paper by Phil Zuckerman titled "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns". That paper contains the following:

“ According to Norris and Inglehart (2004), 64% of those in Sweden do not believe in God. According to Bondeson (2003), 74% of Swedes said that they did not believe in “a personal God.” According to Greeley (2003), 46% of Swedes do not believe in God, although only 17% self-identify as “atheist.” According to Froese (2001), 69% of Swedes are either atheist or agnostic. According to Gustafsoon and Pettersson (2000), 82% of Swedes do not believe in a “personal God.” According to Davie (1999), 85% of Swedes do not believe in God. ”

Citing (in the order mentioned):

  • Bondeson, Ulla. 2003. Nordic Moral Climates. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
  • Greeley, Andrew. 2003. Religion in Europe at the End of the Second Millennium. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
  • Froese, Paul. 2001. “ Hungary for Religion: A Supply-Side Interpretation of the Hungarian Religious Revival.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40(2): 251-268.
  • Gustafsson, Goran and Thorleif Pettersson. 2000. Folkkyrk och religios pluraism – den nordiska religiosa modellen. Stockholm, Sweden: Verbum Forlag.
  • Davie, Grace. 1999. “ Europe: The Exception that Proves the Rule?” pages 65-83. in The Desecularization of the World, edited by Peter Berger. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

So, I've changed the assertion reading, "Another report states that the number of atheists, agnostics and non-believers in Sweden is 85%, the highest number on earth." to read "Phil Zuckerman, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College writes of several academic sources who have in recent years placed athiesm rates in Sweden between 46% and 85%, with one source reporting that only 17% of respondents self-identifed as "atheist"."

Googling around, I see that the Zuckerman paper appears (probably with some changes, though the paragraph I've requoted above appears unchanged) in a book, so I've cited that:

-- Boracay Bill 02:58, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV / christian tradition

It's not a grounded fact that christian traditions does not affect other religios group negatively. Please discuss freely. --83.248.178.5 (talk) 08:03, 10 April 2008 (UTC)