|
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 has a membership of about three quarters of the population, and the Finnish Orthodox Church, to which about one percent of the population belongs. Those who officially belong to the two state churches have part of their taxes turned over to their church.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222213 )〕 People can also belong to one or more registered religious communities (there were 96 in 2013).〔 Other religions practiced in Finland include Islam (about 60,000 in 2013〔) and Judaism. Prior to Christianisation beginning the 11th century, Finnish paganism was the primary religion. == Statistics == Most Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (73.8%).〔 With approximately 4.1 million members out of a total population of 5.5 million,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.stat.fi/til/vaerak/2013/vaerak_2013_2014-03-21_tau_002_en.html )〕 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. The number of church members leaving the Church saw a rapidly increase in the fall of 2010. This was at least partly due to uproar 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 The Christian Democratic Party on a TV debate on the subject. The second largest group - and a rather quickly growing one - of 23.5% by the end of 2014〔 of the population is non-religious. A small minority belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church (1.1%) and to the Roman Catholic Church (12,434 people or 0.2% of the population).〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dhels.html#stats )〕 Other Protestant denominations are significantly smaller, as are the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian communities (totaling with the Catholics to about 1.5% 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. According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll (2010), * 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),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Zuckerman, Phil. 'Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns', chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) )〕 28-60% of Finns are agnostics, atheists, or non-believers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Religion in Finland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|