Tuomas Äystö
Biographic Data
| ID | 274731 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tuomas Äystö |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tuomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Äystö |
| SIGNATURE | ÄYSTÖ T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2319-5296 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Christian nationalism divided
Christian nationalism (CN) has emerged as a significant concept in discussions concerning politics and religion in the United States. While the relevance of the concept has been much discussed in American sociology of religion, its applicability to other contexts remains unexplored. We aim to address this gap by examining the transferability of CN to European contexts. Using a representative survey from Finland, we refine the measurement proposed…
Religious literacy and its discontents
Religious literacy is a ‘hot’ topic in twenty-first century study of religion and more broadly. But what do we talk about when we talk about religious literacy? To answer this question, we conducted a systematic review of English-language scholarly publications from 1989 to 2023 that utilize the concept ( n = 233). Much of the discussion is best characterized as ideological-normative: Religious literacy is claimed to be the answer to multiple soc…
Few to Speak for, but Good for Culture War
Recent research into the sociology of religion suggests a dual dynamic in the Nordic countries, and Finland is no exception: On the one hand, individual-level religiosity is declining; on the other, religion is increasingly visible in the public sphere. This article examines the latter claim with regard to Finnish parliamentary politics between 2010 and 2020. What do members of parliament talk about when they talk about religion? Who talks about …
Religion as a troublesome resource in Finnish abortion debates
Abortion is a highly contested issue and one where the fault lines are often drawn along religious lines. In the United States, the most famous and timely example, anti-abortion attitudes and activism are strongly identified with conservative Christian values. But what is the role of religion in abortion debates in a more secularised context? Does religion ‘work’ as a justification for opposing abortion rights in such contexts? We analyse debates…
The Cult of Greta Thunberg
Contemporary climate activism has often been called a "religion" or a "cult." We investigate what is done with climate religion discourse (CRD), by whom, and to what ends. Our case study concerns Finland, one country out of many where forms of climate activism are regularly dismissed by equating them with "irrational" religion. We find that political parties and newspaper columnists use terms and phrases such as "millenarianism," "prophet," "Mess…
Hijacked
Various perspectives on religion and global politics
Review of Uskonto ja maailmanpolitiikka, eds. Heikki Pesonen, Tuula Sakaranaho and Sini Paukkunen (Helsinki, Gaudeamus, 2019
Religion, Ethnicity, and Race in Finnish Legal Cases on Insults Against Religion
This article scrutinizes the Finnish religious insults and the related legal practice during the 21st century. It examines how the Office of the Prosecutor General, the courts, as well as the defendants construct the category of religion – i.e. that, which is a target of a special protection – and how the discourses on ethnicity and race play a part in that process. It is found, that ways in which the defendants construct the targeted groups with…
Blood on a Mosque
This article analyzes a Finnish criminal court process concerning a spattering of blood on a mosque. Initially ruled as a religious insult, the charge was eventually dropped on the grounds that the Islamic community in question did not have the proper legal personality. The article utilizes a non-normative discursive perspective to analyze the construction of ‘sacredness’ and the category of ‘religion’ in the legal process. First, it is argued th…
Insulting the sacred in a multicultural society
This article analyses the most well-known and legally important contemporary Finnish religious insult case: the case of the politician Jussi Halla-aho. Concluded in 2012, the said legal process resulted in a conviction due to Halla-aho’s blog post about Islam and its sacred figures. Using a discursive framing, the article argues that the contemporary religious insult cases can, in fact, be political struggles involving various interests in a mult…
The Sacred Orders of Finnish Political Discourse on the Revision of the Blasphemy Law
This article examines how Finnish politicians constructed the legal protection of religion and the relationship between religion and society during the process of revising the blasphemy and religious insult sections of the Finnish criminal code in the late 1990s. In doing so, it analyzes their discourses on religion and the sacred. It identifies two “sacred orders” in these discourses. One is a “secular sacred order,” concerned with the defense o…
The Cult of Greta Thunberg
Contemporary climate activism has often been called a "religion" or a "cult." We investigate what is done with climate religion discourse (CRD), by whom, and to what ends. Our case study concerns Finland, one country out of many where forms of climate activism are regularly dismissed by equating them with "irrational" religion. We find that political parties and newspaper columnists use terms and phrases such as "millenarianism," "prophet," "Mess…
Insulting the sacred in a multicultural society
This article analyses the most well-known and legally important contemporary Finnish religious insult case: the case of the politician Jussi Halla-aho. Concluded in 2012, the said legal process resulted in a conviction due to Halla-aho’s blog post about Islam and its sacred figures. Using a discursive framing, the article argues that the contemporary religious insult cases can, in fact, be political struggles involving various interests in a mult…
Religion as a troublesome resource in Finnish abortion debates
Abortion is a highly contested issue and one where the fault lines are often drawn along religious lines. In the United States, the most famous and timely example, anti-abortion attitudes and activism are strongly identified with conservative Christian values. But what is the role of religion in abortion debates in a more secularised context? Does religion ‘work’ as a justification for opposing abortion rights in such contexts? We analyse debates…
Religion, Ethnicity, and Race in Finnish Legal Cases on Insults Against Religion
This article scrutinizes the Finnish religious insults and the related legal practice during the 21st century. It examines how the Office of the Prosecutor General, the courts, as well as the defendants construct the category of religion – i.e. that, which is a target of a special protection – and how the discourses on ethnicity and race play a part in that process. It is found, that ways in which the defendants construct the targeted groups with…
The Sacred Orders of Finnish Political Discourse on the Revision of the Blasphemy Law
This article examines how Finnish politicians constructed the legal protection of religion and the relationship between religion and society during the process of revising the blasphemy and religious insult sections of the Finnish criminal code in the late 1990s. In doing so, it analyzes their discourses on religion and the sacred. It identifies two “sacred orders” in these discourses. One is a “secular sacred order,” concerned with the defense o…
Blood on a Mosque
This article analyzes a Finnish criminal court process concerning a spattering of blood on a mosque. Initially ruled as a religious insult, the charge was eventually dropped on the grounds that the Islamic community in question did not have the proper legal personality. The article utilizes a non-normative discursive perspective to analyze the construction of ‘sacredness’ and the category of ‘religion’ in the legal process. First, it is argued th…
Insulting the sacred in a multicultural society
This article analyses the most well-known and legally important contemporary Finnish religious insult case: the case of the politician Jussi Halla-aho. Concluded in 2012, the said legal process resulted in a conviction due to Halla-aho’s blog post about Islam and its sacred figures. Using a discursive framing, the article argues that the contemporary religious insult cases can, in fact, be political struggles involving various interests in a mult…
The Sacred Orders of Finnish Political Discourse on the Revision of the Blasphemy Law
This article examines how Finnish politicians constructed the legal protection of religion and the relationship between religion and society during the process of revising the blasphemy and religious insult sections of the Finnish criminal code in the late 1990s. In doing so, it analyzes their discourses on religion and the sacred. It identifies two “sacred orders” in these discourses. One is a “secular sacred order,” concerned with the defense o…
Religion, Ethnicity, and Race in Finnish Legal Cases on Insults Against Religion
This article scrutinizes the Finnish religious insults and the related legal practice during the 21st century. It examines how the Office of the Prosecutor General, the courts, as well as the defendants construct the category of religion – i.e. that, which is a target of a special protection – and how the discourses on ethnicity and race play a part in that process. It is found, that ways in which the defendants construct the targeted groups with…
Various perspectives on religion and global politics
Review of Uskonto ja maailmanpolitiikka, eds. Heikki Pesonen, Tuula Sakaranaho and Sini Paukkunen (Helsinki, Gaudeamus, 2019
Hijacked
The Cult of Greta Thunberg
Contemporary climate activism has often been called a "religion" or a "cult." We investigate what is done with climate religion discourse (CRD), by whom, and to what ends. Our case study concerns Finland, one country out of many where forms of climate activism are regularly dismissed by equating them with "irrational" religion. We find that political parties and newspaper columnists use terms and phrases such as "millenarianism," "prophet," "Mess…
Few to Speak for, but Good for Culture War
Recent research into the sociology of religion suggests a dual dynamic in the Nordic countries, and Finland is no exception: On the one hand, individual-level religiosity is declining; on the other, religion is increasingly visible in the public sphere. This article examines the latter claim with regard to Finnish parliamentary politics between 2010 and 2020. What do members of parliament talk about when they talk about religion? Who talks about …
Religion as a troublesome resource in Finnish abortion debates
Abortion is a highly contested issue and one where the fault lines are often drawn along religious lines. In the United States, the most famous and timely example, anti-abortion attitudes and activism are strongly identified with conservative Christian values. But what is the role of religion in abortion debates in a more secularised context? Does religion ‘work’ as a justification for opposing abortion rights in such contexts? We analyse debates…
Religious literacy and its discontents
Religious literacy is a ‘hot’ topic in twenty-first century study of religion and more broadly. But what do we talk about when we talk about religious literacy? To answer this question, we conducted a systematic review of English-language scholarly publications from 1989 to 2023 that utilize the concept ( n = 233). Much of the discussion is best characterized as ideological-normative: Religious literacy is claimed to be the answer to multiple soc…
Christian nationalism divided
Christian nationalism (CN) has emerged as a significant concept in discussions concerning politics and religion in the United States. While the relevance of the concept has been much discussed in American sociology of religion, its applicability to other contexts remains unexplored. We aim to address this gap by examining the transferability of CN to European contexts. Using a representative survey from Finland, we refine the measurement proposed…
Political science (9 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Politics (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Religious studies (4 works) · Theology (4 works)