Religion is generally regarded as an issue of minor importance in the sociological study of the modern Nordic countries. But this position is based on a narrow, church-oriented concept of religion. An anthropologist could find many religious aspects in modern Nordic countnes, which run parallel to religious phenomena in other societies. If religion is understood in a wider sense, it emerges as an important clue to the sociological understanding of the modern. Nordic societies. A new type of privatized religion, which might be labelled Protestant Humanism, has emerged. This has a vital role in the legitimation of the modern structuration of societies, such as the Nordic ones. The cues to Protestant Humanism are the universalistic norms of human rights, the individual-oriented values of self-fulfilment, and the continuation of the networks of kinship and friendship marked by common rites. Religion is one basis for the legitimation of a social structuration, which splits up social life between formal institutions on the one hand and a private sphere on the other, where the problems of identity and value- determination are affiliated with the intimate sphere.
Religion has re-emerged on the worldwide political arena. This should not be written off as a temporary reaction against a necessary process of modernization. An advanced industrial society does not require religion to be separated from politics. The borderline between religion and politics is fluid and constantly contested. Even absolutist regimes in modern societies have sought legitimacy through religion. Today, religion mainly re-emerges voicing a moral protest against political elites who are seen as corrupt and immoral. Such a protest may refer to ethical standards from the past. However, a religious protest does not necessarily try to re-establish the old social structures. The functional logic of secularization can be regarded as an ideology which supports a specific power structure, and which tries to insulate a political elite from a moral critique.
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