Swedish schools are permitted to gather in church premises during Advent but the services must be free from any religious element, under new guidelines drawn up by the country’s National Agency for Education (NAE).

The stance of the NAE has been criticised by politicians and other public figures.

A group of politicians have condemned the move as an attempt to erase Christianity from public view.

“Advent is a Christian festival. Paying attention to Advent with no religious element is unreasonable,” the group wrote in a public letter on a Swedish political website.

“Schools should not take a position or force anyone to practice a particular religion. Thereupon, there is a strong consensus. But it is not the same as removing religious references,” wrote Andreas Carlsson, Hans Wallmark, Lars Stjernkvist, Birgit Friggebo and Staffan Danielsson.

They write: “In the quest for neutrality, which we think is a chimera Sweden has become infinitely poorer.”

Political scientist, Andreas Johansson Heinö, said: “The idea that a non-confessional school presupposes that every religious element is to be erased should best be described as fundamentalism.”

The guidelines are a response to a debate that has been raging about Swedish school children attending Advent services, Swedish news website, thelocal.se reports.

“The law stipulates that Swedish schools are non-confessional,” NAE spokespersons Anna Ekström and Claes-Göran Aggebo underlined in an article in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter this week.

“That school is non-confessional means that there can’t be any religious elements such as prayer, blessings or declarations of faith in education. Students should not have to be subjected to religious influence in school,” they write.

Confessional free schools must also adhere to some of the guidelines.

The State religion of Sweden is Lutheranism.

Ekström and Aggebo confirmed that the Advent services are part of the compulsory curriculum and thus sought to clarify the situation as Advent approaches.

“The agency has decided that it is possible to have an end of term service in church and that a pastor can be in attendance. The demand is that there should be no confessional element.”

The law is controversial, the pair observed, noting that there are strong opinions both from parents who would like their children to take part in a religious service, and from parents who are strongly against it.

But the agency heads underlined that the law does not dictate what a pastor can and can not say in church, pointing out that it is the responsibility for the service that is reserved to the school principal.

“It is the principal who has responsibility for the content even when a school gathers in church. This responsibility can’t be handed over to the church.”

“If the school and the church can not come to an agreement then the principal has to abstain from congregating in church.”