Konfessionella friskolor och religionsfrihetens ramar inom skolväsendet : en argumentationsanalys av den mediala debatten i Sverige

Sammanfattning: In March 2018 the Swedish social democratic party’s ministers Anna Ekström and Ardalan Shekarabi announced that one of their election promises is to forbid faith based schools. The motivation being that schools in Sweden should be based on unbiased knowledge and equivalence, and that the child has the right to form its own opinions regarding its religion. The purpose of this essay is to highlight the debate on faith based schools in Sweden. This is done by applying an argument analysis, of selected articles published between January 1, 2017 and March 25, 2018, and episodes from the television debate programs Agenda and Opinion live. The theory, by Maria Klasson Sundin, used includes the concepts of religion, freedom and autonomy. It comprises three models based on these concepts and assists interpreting the debate on religious schools. The essay is primarily based on works by different scholars in theology, human rights and law. Questions that have been answered during the analysis are: what pro and contra arguments are expressed in the debate regarding faith based schools in Sweden? How valid and relevant are these arguments? How are the concepts of religion, freedom and the autonomy of the child emphasized? The different themes and perspectives that are dominating the debate have been clarified in the analysis. A key conclusion that could be drawn is that even though they might have different standpoints regarding faith based schools, they all share the common interest of freedom of religion. However, how this is to be achieved in practice differs between the debaters.