Religion in Finland

Religions in Finland (2017)[1]

  Evangelical Lutheran Church (70.9%)
  Orthodox Church (1.1%)
  Catholic Church (0.3%)
  Free Church (0.3%)
  Jehovah's Witnesses (0.3%)
  Pentecostalism (0.2%)
  Adventism (0.1%)
  Mormonism (0.1%)
  Other Christians (0.1%)
  Islam (0.3%)
  Other religions (0.1%)
  Unaffiliated (26.3%)
The Cathedral of Turku is considered as the national shrine of Finland

Finland is a predominantly Christian nation where some 73% of the 5.5 million overall population follow Christianity; the vast majority being members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant), 26.3% are atheists, having no religious belief at all, and 1.6% follow other religions like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, folk religion etc.[1]

There are presently two National churches (as opposed to State churches): the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Protestant), which is the primary state religion representing 70.9% of the population by the end of 2017[1], and the Finnish Orthodox Church, to which about 1.1 % of the population belongs.[2][3] Those who officially belong to one of the two national churches have part of their taxes turned over to their respective church.[4] There are also approximately 50,000 followers of Pentecostal Christianity, and more than 12,000 Catholic Christians in Finland, along with Anglicans, and some various Independent Christian communities. Prior to its Christianisation, beginning in the 11th century, Finnish paganism was the country's primary religion.

Irreligion in Finland is claimed by one fourth of the nation's total population. Other Scandinavian and Nordic countries also have large non religious communities.

The Muslim population in Finland is 1.2%, with more than 60,000 adherents, followed by Hinduism with 5,000 adherents, Buddhism with 5,000 adherents and Judaism with more than 1,500 adherents, respectively.

Statistics

Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki belongs to Finnish Orthodox Church.
Religion in Finland (Statistics Finland)[5]
Year Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland Finnish Orthodox Church Other No religious affiliation
190098.1%1.7%0.2%0.0%
195095.0%1.7%0.5%2.8%
198090.3%1.1%0.7%7.8%
199087.8%1.1%0.9%10.2%
200085.1%1.1%1.1%12.7%
201078.3%1.1%1.4%19.2%
201177.3%1.1%1.5%20.1%
201276.4%1.1%1.5%21.0%
201375.2%1.1%1.5%22.1%
201473.8%1.1%1.6%23.5%
201573.0%1.1%1.6%24.3%
201672.0%1.1%1.6%25.3%
201770.9%1.1%1.6%26.3%

Most Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (70.9%).[5] With approximately 3.9 million members out of a total population of 5.5 million,[6] the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is one of the largest Lutheran churches in the world, although its membership has been on the decline recently. In 2015, Eroakirkosta.fi, a website which offers an electronic service for resigning from Finland's state churches, reported that half a million church members had resigned from the church since the website was opened in 2003.[7] The number of church members leaving the Church saw a particular large increase during the fall of 2010. This was caused by statements regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage - perceived to be intolerant towards LGBT people - made by a conservative bishop and a politician representing Christian Democrats in a TV debate on the subject.[8] The second largest group - and a rather quickly growing one - of 26.3% by the end of 2017[5] of the population is non-religious. A small minority belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church (1.1%) and to the Catholic Church (12,434 people or 0.2% of the population).[9]

Other Protestant denominations are significantly smaller, as are the Sikhs, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian communities (totaling with the Catholics to about 1.6% of the population).

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.[10]

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll (2010),[11]

  • 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), 28-60% of Finns are agnostics, atheists, or non-believers.[12]

The Evangelical Lutheran Church

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

In 2017, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland had about 3.9 million members, which is 70.9% of the population, registered with a parish. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland is an episcopal church, that is governed by bishops, with a very strong tradition of parish autonomy. It comprises nine dioceses with ten bishops and 408 independent parishes.[13] The average parish has 7,000 members, with the smallest parishes comprising only a few hundred members and the largest tens of thousands.[14] 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.

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 the 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 maintaining a membership register.[15]

Between 1919 and 1970, a separate Civil Register was maintained of those who had no affiliation with either of the state churches.[15] Currently, the centralised Population Information System records the person's affiliation with a legally recognised religious community, if any.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] Despite the recommendation by the ombudsman, the magistrates of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna do not accept church membership resignations sent via the Eroakirkosta.fi service.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Population by religious community, age and sex in 2000 to 2017 Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases
  2. ↑ "Kolme neljästä suomalaisesta kuuluu luterilaiseen kirkkoon". HS.fi (in Finnish). Sanoma. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Kirkon väestötilasto 2012". ORT.fi (in Finnish). Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "International Religious Freedom Report for 2013: Finland". United States Department of State. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Population". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Population by religious community, age and sex in 2000 to 2016". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Eroakirkosta.fi-palvelulla 500 000 käyttäjää - Uskontokuntiin kuulumattomien osuus kaksinkertaistunut
  8. ↑ "Up to 18,000 Finns leave Lutheran Church over broadcasted anti-gay comments". Helsingin Sanomat. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Statistics". Catholic Diocese of Helsinki. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  10. ↑ "International Religious Freedom Report 2004". U.S. Department of State. 2004-09-15. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  11. ↑ "Special Eurobarometer Biotechnology" (PDF). Fieldwork: January–February 2010; Publication: October 2010. p. 204. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  12. ↑ "Zuckerman, Phil. 'Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns', chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005)". Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  13. ↑ "Seurakuntaliitokset" [Parish mergers]. evl.fi (in Finnish). Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  14. ↑ Heino, Harri (1997). Mihin Suomi tänään uskoo [What does Finland believe in today] (in Finnish) (2nd ed.). Helsinki: WSOY. p. 44. ISBN 951-0-27265-5.
  15. 1 2 "History". VRK.fi. Population Register Centre. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Rekisteriselosteet". VRK.fi (in Finnish). Väestörekisterikeskus. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  17. ↑ "Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector". FINLEX.fi. 16 October 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  18. ↑ Jääskeläinen, Petri (30 November 2006). "Dnro 2051/4/05". Eduskunta.fi (in Finnish). Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  19. ↑ Eroakirkosta.fi - Helsingin maistraatti jarruttaa kirkosta eroamista
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