Religion in Finland

The Cathedral of Turku is considered as the national shrine of Finland

Most people in Finland are at least nominally members of a Christian church. There are presently two state churches: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, which is the primary state religion and enjoys a membership of about three quarters of the population, and the Finnish Orthodox Church, which enjoys a membership of about one percent of the population.^[1][2] Prior to Christianisation in the 11th century, Finnish paganism was the primary religion.

The Evangelical-Lutheran Church

Petäjävesi Old Church is an old Lutheran wooden church and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In 2012, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland had less than 4.1 million members, which is 76.4% of the population, registered with a parish. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland is an Episcopal Church with a very strong tradition of parish autonomy. It comprises nine dioceses with ten bishops and 449 independent parishes. The average parish has 7,500 members, with the smallest parishes comprising only a few hundred members and the largest tens of thousands. In recent years many parishes have united in order to safeguard their viability. In addition, municipal mergers have prompted parochial mergers as there may be only one parish, or cluster of parishes, in a given municipality.^{[citation needed]}

Features of Finnish religiosity

Since World War II, secularisation has taken an increasingly strong hold in all the Nordic countries, and there is a clear demarcation between the sacred and the profane. Values based on religion have lost status in society, and have been replaced by new sets of values and morals that have only tenuous links with religion and the church.

According to the 2008 ISSP data 8% people consider themselves "highly religious", and 31% "moderately religious".^[3] In the same survey 28% reported themselves as "agnostics", and 29% as "non-religious". In all World Values Surveys between 1981 and 2005 there have been some 3% considering themselves atheists.^{[citation needed]}

Statistics

Most Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (76.4%).^[5] With approximately 4.15 million members,^[5] the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world, although its membership has recently been on the decline by about one percent annually.^[6] The number of church members leaving the Church saw a rapidly increase in 2010, partly due to some conservative politicians' controversial views that homosexuality is a sin.^[7] The second largest group - and a rather quickly growing one - of 21.0% by the end of 2012^[4] of the population is non-religious. A small minority belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church (1.1%). Other Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church in Finland are significantly smaller, as are the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian communities (totaling 1.5%). The main Lutheran and Orthodox churches are constitutional national churches of Finland with special roles in ceremonies and often in school morning prayers. Delegates to Lutheran Church assemblies are selected in church elections every four years.

The majority of Lutherans attend church only for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, weddings and funerals. The Lutheran Church estimates that approximately 2 percent of its members attend church services weekly. The average number of church visits per year by church members is approximately two.^[8]

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll (2010),^[9]

• 33% of Finnish citizens "believe there is a God". (In 2005, the figure was 41%)
• 42% "believe there is some sort of spirit or life force". (In 2005, the figure was 41%)
• 22% "do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force". (In 2005, the figure was 16%)

According to Zuckerman (2005),^[10] 28-60% of Finns are agnostics, atheists, or non-believers.

Population register

Traditionally, the church has played a very important role in maintaining a population register in Finland. The vicars have maintained a church record of persons born, married and deceased in their parishes since at least 1660s, constituting one of the oldest population records in Europe. This system was in place for over 300 years. It was only replaced by a computerised central population database in 1971, while the two state churches continued to maintain population registers in co-operation with the government's local register offices until 1999, when the churches' task was limited to only mainitaining a membership register.^[11]

Between 1919 and 1970, a separate Civil Register was maintained of those who had no affiliation with neither of the state churches.^[11] Currently, the centralised Population Information System records the person's affiliation with a legally recognised religious community, if any.^[12] In 2003, the new Freedom of Religion Act made it possible to resign from religious communities in writing. That is, by letter, or any written form acceptable to authorities. This is also extended to email by the 2003 electronic communications in the public sector act.^[13] Resignation by email became possible in 2005 in most magistrates. Eroakirkosta.fi, an Internet campaign promoting resignation from religious communities, challenged the rest of the magistrates through a letter to the parliamentary ombudsman. In November 2006, the ombudsman recommended that all magistrates should accept resignations from religious communities via email.^[14]

See also

• Christianization of Scandinavia
• Roman Catholicism in Finland
• Judaism in Finland
• Islam in Finland
• Irreligion in Finland
• Hinduism in Finland
• Bahá'í Faith in Finland
• Conservative Laestadianism
• Religion in Europe

References

v t e Finland topics History Early wars Great Northern War Grand Duchy 1866–1868 famine Russification Declaration of Independence Civil War October Revolution Language strife Military history during World War II Winter War Continuation War Geography Cities Extreme points Islands Lakes National parks Provinces Regions Rivers Politics Administrative divisions Constitution Elections Foreign relations Government Human rights LGBT Judiciary Law enforcement Military Parliament Political parties President Economy Central bank Energy Government-owned companies IT innovation Markka (currency) National income agreement Ship-building Stock exchange Taxation Telecommunications Tourism Transport Society Crime Demographics Education Healthcare Languages People Finns New Finns Religion Welfare system Culture Anthem Architecture Cinema City rivalry Coat of arms Cuisine Finnishness Flag Literature Media television Music Public holidays Management by perkele Sauna Sport Outline Index Bibliography Category Portal WikiProject