Contesting Religion

How do media condition engagement with contested issues about religion in Scandinavian public settings? This book breaks new ground in understanding how media condition public engagement with controversies about religion. As Scandinavian societies experience increased ethno-religious diversity, their Christian-Lutheran heritage and strong traditions of welfare and solidarity are being challenged and contested. Controversies, amplified through media, provide the impetus for multi-ethnic publics and citizens, to participate in public debate, renegotiate relations between religion and the public sphere, and redraw the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion. Led by renowned scholars in the field, the book reconceives mediatization theory in the light of a series of innovative empirical case studies in schools, public service broadcasting and digital media, and local civic settings, contextualized by a cross-national, comparative survey. The book offers a dynamic analytical prism for understanding the circumstances in which media can exacerbate or alleviate conflict. As such, this book has significant implications for the comparative study of contemporary contestations of religion both within and beyond the Scandinavian context.