Religion in Finland - Other Churches and Religious Communities

Other Churches and Religious Communities

After the Reformation, the Catholic Church disappeared from Finland for centuries, finally being officially reinstated in 1929 when it was registered as the Catholic Church in Finland. It has a membership of around 9,000, the majority of whom live in Helsinki and a few other towns in southern Finland. There are seven parishes and one independent diocese that covers the whole country. The majority of the priests and nuns are from Poland. Finland has diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

Anglo-American Christianity spread to Finland in the second half of the 19th century, and a number of Protestant denominations, among them Baptists, Methodists, the Salvation Army and Adventists, became established in the country. Although support for these churches has gradually increased, their combined membership remains under 1% of the total population. Growth has been greatest in the Pentecostal movement, which reached Finland at the beginning of the 20th century and now has a membership of 50,000.

Judaism was brought to Finland in the early 19th century mainly by merchants and men working for the Imperial Russian army. By the end of the century, the number of Jews had risen to 1,000. In the early years of the 20th century Helsinki, Viipuri and Turku acquired their own synagogues. Today, there are synagogues in Helsinki and Turku and the number of Jews is 1,200.

Islam. The first Muslims also came to Finland with the Russian army towards the end of the 19th century. The foundations of the traditional community of a thousand or so Muslims were laid by the arrival of Tatar merchants from Russia around the end of the 19th century. The Finnish Islamic congregation was registered in 1925. The majority of Finnish Muslims live in the Helsinki region. In recent times an influx of refugees from Muslim countries has increased the Islamic community in Finland, but only a minority (5,000) of the newcomers has registered as members of a congregation.

Altogether there are currently about 70 officially registered religious community organizations in Finland. As in other European countries, numerous new religious movements are active in Finland. Most of these have been organized under the Associations Act (1989), i.e. they are organized according to general law governing non-profit organizations.