Sinking boat: the popularity of the Lutheran Church is falling in Finland
In Finland, the government has sharply cut off funding for the local Lutheran church. In this regard, the churchmen warned that they would no longer be able to carry out the burial function assigned to them, and offered to transfer it to state institutions. However, the authorities, who refuse to provide the church with the same amount of maintenance, are only following public sentiment: the popularity of Lutheranism in the country is falling. This is partly the fault of the church itself, which tried to adapt to new trends and as a result began to lose its attractiveness in the eyes of believers. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
No more money for the funeral
On April 24, the Finnish government held a meeting on the state budget for 2026-2029. The plan provides for reducing the tax burden, but at the same time reducing the cost of aid to developing countries and state subsidies allocated to municipalities and various institutions. In particular, the financing of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church (the country's main religious denomination) in 2026-2027 will be "cut" by € 20 million. It is worth noting that this is not the first reduction — when approving this year's budget, the government has already agreed to reduce the financing of the church, and also by € 20 million.
The church expressed extreme concern. According to the head of the office of the church administration, Pekka Huokun, they may have to give up some functions, in particular, the burial of the dead. Huokuna warned that they could not indefinitely raise the burial fees charged to Finns, and church tithes could not be permanently used for public purposes. In his opinion, since the state no longer wants to finance the church in the same volume, funeral services could be transferred, for example, to the districts of social security services (responsible for organizing health care, social protection and emergency care in the regions).
Huokuna recalled that in 2003, the state agreed with the church that 80% of funeral expenses would be covered from the state budget. "The state has stopped fulfilling the terms of the agreement. Now, even this year, government funding does not cover our funeral expenses," said the head of the church administration office. It should be noted that currently funeral services are provided equally in Finland to all residents, regardless of whether a person is a member of the church. In addition to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, funeral services are also provided by the Orthodox Church of Finland.
Let's add that starting in May, Helsinki will start charging €10 per day for storing bodies in morgues. According to Terhi Paananen, an expert on liturgical life, the metropolitan authorities intend to solve the problem of overcrowded morgues in this way. At the same time, in the Finnish capital, the storage of the bodies of the deceased will be free for three weeks after receiving a burial permit. The fee will be charged after this period, the publication Helsingin Sanomat clarifies. But, for example, in the city of Vantaa, the fee for the daily storage of bodies in morgues after three weeks is charged in the amount of €11 daily. "This practice allows you to create a little pressure and encourage a speedy burial," Paananen believes.
Cancelled concert
The decline in interest in religion in Finland is also evidenced by the story that happened last fall at one of the secondary schools located in the Kirkkonummi community. A free joint performance by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Choir was to take place in the auditorium of this school. The concert program included the oratorio "Messiah" by Handel, the text of which is based on the Holy Scriptures and tells about the life of Jesus Christ.
Suddenly, the school canceled the concert — just a couple of days before the scheduled performance. According to the organizers of the failed event, the reason for its cancellation was religious references in the music that was going to be played at it. The school principal refused to talk about this situation with the press, and instead, official Astrid Kauber, head of the Kirkkonummi Municipal education department, spoke to reporters. Kauber defended the director — according to her, he coordinated with her the decision to cancel the concert and they are both not atheists, but reinsurers.
Kauber referred to recent recommendations from the National Board of Education, according to which schools should inform parents and guardians of students in advance about events held at schools and their content. It is believed that this will give adults time to react — in case they feel that the upcoming event does not correspond to their views on life. "However, it was only a couple of days before the concert that we learned that the libretto about the life of Jesus would be presented," complains Kauber. According to her, the organizers of the concert warned about this too late, and there was no time left to inform the parents and wait for their feedback. "The director felt that he could not reach all the guardians in a couple of days and arrange a replacement program for those who would not want to attend this concert," explains Astrid Kauber.
These explanations did not satisfy everyone. Even the Minister of Education, Anders Adlercreutz, felt that the school authorities in this case approached the rules too zealously and there was no need to cancel the concert. In his blog, Adlercreutz writes that the centuries-old cultural history of Finland and Europe is closely linked to Christianity, and that Finns have no reason to forget or abandon it. In turn, Laura Kayander, the administrator of the musicians affected by the cancellation, is not inclined to blame the director. "I understand perfectly well that the school did not want to take risks. After all, one or another parent could demand compensation for the impact of Christian values on their child," Kayander explains. She transmits the words of the headmaster, who banned the concert: he complains that nowadays, when organizing various cultural events in educational institutions, you need to think too much and figure out how not to offend anyone. In the end, he came to the conclusion that it was easier to cancel the concert.
The director's fears are not unfounded — he has a concrete example in front of his eyes. Not so long ago, the National Council for Non-Discrimination and Equality strongly recommended that a school in Hämeenlinna (Kanta-Häme region in southern Finland) pay "compensation" in the amount of 1,500 euros to the parents of one non-believing student. The educational institution was convicted of organizing a religious music concert with Christian chants, which it did not inform the student's parents in advance.
They were too "tolerant"
A recent sociological study, the results of which were released in October 2024, showed that the number of believers in the country has decreased over the past four years. Almost 40% of Finns believe in God the Almighty without any doubt. About one fifth of the population is completely non-religious. The rest did not decide on a firm opinion. Atheists are especially numerous among men under the age of forty, while women are somewhat more religious. Nominally, 63.6% of the Finnish population belongs to the local Evangelical Lutheran Church, but for many, as it turns out, this affiliation is purely formal.
The decline in religiosity in society is partly explained by the desire of the church itself to integrate into the ideology of total tolerance that has triumphed in Finland. For example, when the Finnish parliament legalized same-sex marriage in 2014, Archbishop Kari Myakinen, primate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, expressed his congratulations to everyone who rejoiced at this decision. However, after his statement, people began to leave the ELTSF in large numbers — they explained this step by saying that this church no longer lives in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. After two years of fierce discussions, the church nevertheless announced that they would marry only men with women, but by that time the authority of this religious organization in the eyes of believers had been significantly undermined.
However, the Finnish church continued to be "stormed" further: in June 2019, its leadership announced that they intended to take part in Helsinki Pride, the country's largest event dedicated to the "protection of the rights" of sexual minorities (the LGBT movement is recognized in Russia as extremist and banned). Some well—known people in the society reacted negatively to this, for example, the former Minister of the Interior of Finland and the ex-head of the local Christian Democrats party, Pyavi Ryasyanen. "The ideological goal of the Pride event is to take pride in a relationship that is consistently characterized in the Bible as sinful and contrary to the will of God," Ryasyanen said. After her words were made public, 350 people left the church in just one day.
Archbishop Tapio Luoma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church replied to Ryasyanen's letter. "We are not talking about expressing a position on the law on marriage, but about the fact that the message of the church is aimed at everyone. The Assembly of Bishops notes in its report on marriage that the church belongs to everyone and same—sex couples are always welcome in the church," the archbishop said. In turn, the organizers of Helsinki Pride said that the participation of church representatives in the gay pride parade is part of a "long process during which the church opens its doors to sexual minorities."
There is another fault line. Back in 1986, the YELTSF legalized female priests in its ranks. Moreover, a Finnish court denied local conservatives the right to refuse the services of a female priest. In 2010, a female pastor, Irja Ascola, became the bishop of Helsinki, and the first female bishop in the history of Finland. It is characteristic that Finnish Catholics expressed their regret about this at that time. In an interview with the newspaper Kotimaa, Catholic Bishop Teemu Sippo stated that "the election of Irja Ascol to the post of bishop further separates the church communities from each other."
Natalia Eremina, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with Izvestia, noted that the attitude of many Finns towards their church has traditionally been practical and utilitarian.
— Finns are used to celebrating certain rituals and rituals associated with their national mentality, with their habitual way of life, and they celebrated them in church. Plus, the church played the role of a unifier, which was important for Finland, a country with a low population density, accustomed to living separately on farms. But now the cultural landscape of Finland is changing a lot, due to the fact that migrants from Asia and the Middle East are arriving in Finnish cities. And in recent decades, the support of various minorities, rather than the traditional majority, has become more important for the local state, which has adopted all the norms of liberal ideology. Now, however, moderate conservatives are in power in Suomi, but they are cutting state funding for the church out of a desire to save money — the economic situation in the country leaves much to be desired. Representatives of the older generations, engaged in the daily struggle for survival, are not particularly eager to stand up for the church, which is also ready to adapt to the ideology of tolerance. Well, young people are no longer interested in the church," Eremina notes.
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