Introduction

As the nineteenth century turned to the twentieth, the relation between the law and the Christian church became increasingly challenged in Europe. Social claims from political forces and increasingly strong labor unions formed the introduction to the modern social welfare state. In the increasingly secularized Nordic societies, Christian philanthropy was replaced by social legal reforms in the early welfare state. Sweden, however, could not ratify the European Convention on Human Rights without adopting an act of religious freedom. This act was realized in 1951. The most important paragraph for the modern Swedish citizen in the legislation regarded the negative freedom of religion, that is, the right not to have a religion-then, as now, a legislation of exception. New democratic legislation was adopted in the Scandinavian countries within labor law, consumer law, and tenants’ law for the common citizen. The positions of free churches and revival movements differ extensively among the Nordic countries.