The pluralisation of religion in our world of culture is not merely the result of globalisation. Mass migration too—caused by war, oppression, famine and unemployment—has promoted the spread of different religious movements and groups to northern Europe. What is more, the revolutionary development in information technology has made it easier for people to acquire a deeper knowledge of the different forms and traditions of religion.

One can go further back. The Jewish religion has had a certain, limited, freedom to exist in Sweden since the time of Gustav III at the end of the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century the religious monopoly held by the Swedish church began to become weaker as a result of radical changes in Swedish society. New Christian movements were established both within and outside the state church: the Swedish Missionary Society, the Methodist and Baptist churches, the E...