Ingemar Hedenius - Belief and Knowledge

Hedenius became best known for his book Tro och vetande (Belief and Knowledge), published in 1949. This book started off one of the most wide-ranging cultural debates ever in Sweden. The debate was about the truthfulness of the teachings of Christianity and also about the position of the church in society. He rejected organised Christianity, especially the established role of the Church of Sweden. In Belief and Knowledge he described three postulates which theology does not comply with, to show that it is not possible to have a rational debate about religion. According to Hedenius this means that theology can not be classed as knowledge, but belongs outside it as "quasi-knowledge":

• The religion-psychology postulate: A religious belief contains metaphysical assumptions which science can neither verify nor falsify, for example, assertions of the existence of God, or the immortality of the soul.

• The language theory postulate: It must be possible to communicate the religious comprehension and experience even to non-believers.

• The logic postulate: Two truths cannot contradict each other. Of two contradictory statements, at most one can be true. Theology not only contains theses which contradict what we know about reality (first postulate) without accepting also inner contradictions, for example, the oldest and according to Hedenius also insoluble problem of evil.

Hedenius was of the opinion that Christianity violates these rules and is therefore irrational. Amongst other things, he proposed that the study of religions and their development should be separated from theology and become a non-religious academic discipline.