Currently
| Religion in Finland |
|||||||||||
| year | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland | Finnish Orthodox Church | Other | No religious affiliation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 98.1% | 1.7% | 0.2% | 0.0% | |||||||
| 1950 | 95.0% | 1.7% | 0.5% | 2.8% | |||||||
| 1980 | 90.3% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 7.8% | |||||||
| 1990 | 87.8% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 10.2% | |||||||
| 2000 | 85.1% | 1.1% | 1.1% | 12.7% | |||||||
| 2005 | 83.2% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 14.5% | |||||||
| 2006 | 82.5% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 15.1% | |||||||
| 2007 | 81.8% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 15.9% | |||||||
| 2008 | 80.7% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 16.9% | |||||||
| 2009 | 79.9% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 17.7% | |||||||
| 2010 | 78.3% | 1.1% | 1.4% | 19.2% | |||||||
| 2011 | 77.3% | 1.1% | 1.5% | 20.1% | |||||||
Most Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (78.2%). With approximately 4.21 million members, 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. 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. The second largest group - and a rather quickly growing one - of 20.1% by the end of 2011 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 Muslim, Jewish 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, 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.
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll (2010),
- 33% of Finnish citizens "believe there is a God".
- 42% "believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
- 22% "do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
According to Zuckerman (2005), 28-60% of Finns are agnostics, atheists, or non-believers.
Read more about this topic: Religion In Finland