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In this article, ideological tranformations within the Swedish Christian Democratic party throughout the past years is analyzed. This is done in comparison with previous research on the ideological character of the party from the 1960's to the early 2000's. The party's ideology is analyzed with a two dimensional model, i.e., universalism -- particularism & confessionalism -- secularism. These two dimensions are derived from the ideological debate within the Dutch CDA during the 1990's, a party that has operated in a similar context as the Swedish Christian Democrats have. Based on the two dimensions speeches & op-ed articles by the party leadership is analyzed. The conclusion is that the Swedish Christian Democrats has moved from a position of a strong Christian inspiration to a more secular direction, & that the party also has moved from strong universal beliefs to less universal & more particularistic beliefs. Adapted from the source document.

The article presents a study of religious effects on the environmental opinion among individuals in Sweden & the U.S. in 2000. It is a most different system design, since the comparison is between a highly secular (Sweden) & a highly religious population (the U.S.). The study uses data representing the adult population in Sweden & the U.S. In Sweden, religious people tend to be more positive than secular people to policies of environment protection. In the U.S., Republicans who belong to Evangelical Churches & people with a literal understanding of the Bible tend to be rather negative to suggestions on environmental care, while others who claim to be "born again" are rather positive towards suggestions on environmental caring procedures. Adapted from the source document.

Although the Czech Republic is usually regarded as one of the most secular countries in Europe, current sociological surveys indicate that there is still a strong interest in supernatural and spiritual questions. This article begins by documenting the popularity of various religious concepts and then proceeds to analyse the socio-demographic factors that influence religious beliefs. The author tries to answer the question of whether and how people who believe in some kind of religious phenomenon differ in terms of sociodemographic characteristics from those who do not believe. There are two dimensions behind religious statements: a 'traditional' Christian outlook and an 'alternative' view connected with a belief in the power of magic. Further analyses indicated that traditional and alternative religious beliefs are connected with numerous socio-demographic characteristics, the most important of which is religious socialisation, measured by the frequency with which a person attended at religious services as a child and by the religious denomination of a person's mother.