Abstract

Religion has a large impact on the society. In the politics, xenophobic parties are taking more

and more place, and the medias are reflecting the world religions most brutal faces. How has

this reality affected Swedish ninth-graders of today? The intention of this quantitative study is

to examine what attitude some ninth-graders in a southern Swedish city have towards the

world religions and if a schools diversity has any effects on the pupil’s attitudes. We also

want to examine what factors there is that could impact on the pupils’ attitudes.

The result from our survey answered by 110 Swedish ninth graders shows that the pupils

generally have a positive attitude towards all of the world religions. Christianity is, according

to this study, the most accepted religion while Islam, is the least accepted religion. Today

there are many factors to consider that might impact on a person’s attitude towards a religion.

According to this study, many pupils’ feel that TV, media and Internet have a negative

influence on their attitude towards the world religions’, while school, family and friends

seem to have a positive influence on the pupils’ attitudes. We also find that a schools’

diversity matters and affect the pupils’ attitudes in a positive way. This study finds that higher

diversity is a possible way to a more tolerant school

Title: To learn to live with each other – A quantitative study of ninth-graders approach to

world religions and its practitioners.

Keywords: school, diversity, attitude, youths, world religions, tolerance

Author: Emily Jönsson & Simon Vedin