Young People’s Views on Religions in a Multicultural Society

• Main Authors: Gunnarsson, Gunnar J., Ragnarsdóttir, Hanna, Finnbogason, Gunnar E., Jónsdóttir, Halla
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Akadeemiline Teoloogia Selts 2016
• Subjects: Reykjavík; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/UA/article/view/23773

With growing cultural and religious diversity in Iceland over the last two decades it is of interest to study young people’s views and attitudes in this regard and how they talk about religion and religiosity in a multicultural society. This paper presents findings from a four year (2011–2014) mixed method research project on life views and life values of young adults (age 1824) in a multicultural society in Iceland. The theoretical framework includes theories on secularization, desecularization and detraditionalization together with discussions on religious diversity. A survey was conducted in 2011 and 2012 among students in seven upper secondary schools in the Reykjavík area and other areas of Iceland. The findings from the survey indicate that although the majority of the participants are of the opinion that human beings always need something to believe in and that it is important to be convinced about one’s life view or belief, many of them are not of the opinion that religions are important in the society, religions have little influence on their views, and religious activity seems not to be an important part of their lives. This also applies to those that claim to be religious or belong to a religious organisation. At the same time the participants generally have positive attitudes towards ethnic and religious diversity. The findings from the survey provided a basis for focus group interviews with mixed groups of students in the same schools in 2013 and 2014. In this article, some main results from the survey are introduced, while the focus is primarily on the findings from the focus group interviews regarding the young people´s views on religion, religious diversity and religious activity in a multicultural society in Iceland. The findings indicate among other things that although the daily life of the young people is secularised, many of them are of the opinion that it helps to believe or pray, for example in times of difficulties. This indicates that the secularization process has not gone as far as ...