This essay aims to contribute to the field of criticism of religion and citizenship education by analyzing how two Swedish textbooks portray different forms of criticism of religion. Based on Stenmark´s definition of criticism of religion that contains internal, external, negative and constructive criticism of religion and content analysis, the occurrence of the various forms of criticism of religion is categorized and counted. Furthermore, the portrayal of criticism of religion is analyzed based on agent and existence in order to examine the type of citizen that the textbooks' portrayal can give rise to.

The use of content analysis contributed to being able to identify and categorize different forms of criticism of religion. The second part of the analysis, which was based on agent and existence, contributed to creating a deeper understanding of what the depiction of criticism of religion can mean from a citizenship education perspective. The results showed that all forms of criticism of religion appeared in both textbooks, but to different extents. Furthermore, the results showed that the portrayal of criticism of religion in the textbooks probably affects citizenship education.