Presentation Abstract

Student's Name: Rachel Swenson '23

Co-registrant Names:

Type of Presentation: Paper

Presentation Title: "Religion in Society"

Abstract:

The question that this research paper followed was: Does the quality of life provided by a country’s government influence the amount of people that turn to religion for fulfillment? Throughout my research, I compared the United States to some of the least religious countries in the world -- the Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This paper also focuses on why people seek out religion, in general, as a way to answer questions about life's meaning and the uncertainty of life after death. The aspects of each country's government that I looked into included community centers, security, life expectancy, morals, and more. In contrast to America's high religiosity, the paper sheds a light on Denmark's largely secular society and their views towards religion. The Swedish Theory of Love guides government policy in Nordic countries and encourages their citizens to be independent and self-sufficient. In order to understand America's degree of religiosity, the history of religion in America and in Nordic countries are discussed. This paper utilizes the Human Development Report published by the United Nations in 2006 to compare and contrast the rankings of each country on a variety of quality of life measures.

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