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Finland Lutheran Church of Finland
Religious life in Finland since the Protesrant
Reformation
has been dominated by the Lutheran Church of Finland. For
most of
this period, almost all Finns belonged to it. In the late
1980s,
about 90 percent of the population were members, and an
even
greater number participated in its rituals. During the
time of
Swedish rule, the church was the country's state church,
and it
was part of the national government, subordinate to the
Swedish
king. Even when headed during the nineteenth century by
Russian
tsars of the Orthodox faith, the Lutheran Church remained
a state
church. Since 1809, however, it has had to share this
distinction
with the Orthodox Church, which had followers in the
eastern
province of Karelia.
The Ecclesiastical Law of 1869 gave the Lutheran Church
a
measure of independence from the state by allowing it a
representative body, the Synod, that could decide many
important
church matters on its own. When Finland became
independent, the
church gained a greater degree of autonomy, although it
still was
subject to state supervision. The president, for example,
decided
who was to become a bishop, using a list of three
candidates
submitted by the Lutheran Church. In 1943 the formation of
its
own central administration, separate from the Ministry of
Education, meant the church was largely self-sufficient.
Some
practical matters, such as levels of church taxes,
salaries and
pensions, or reorganization of church districts, were
still
decided by the government or required its approval, but in
many
other matters the church set its own course.
A study commission of 1977 recommended a greater
separation
of church and state as a goal for Finnish society. The
next
decade's discussion of abolishing the presidential
selection of
bishops was one example of efforts to realize this goal.
The
gradual movement away from the national government meant
that the
Lutheran Church of Finland, although still a state church,
was
more independent than the other Lutheran churches of the
Nordic
region. This independence was so marked that students of
religion
commonly regarded it not so much as a state church, but as
a folk
church that served all Finns, members and nonmembers
alike.
Data as of December 1988
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