The Role of Religion in Legitimating the Modern Structuration of Society 1

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.