Swedes are continuing to shun the church in droves, with new data indicating that wider declines in membership have now begun to impact on weddings and baptisms.

Since 2004, the Church of Sweden has experienced a steady slump in membership, worshippers and confirmations. Until now, baptisms and weddings have been largely unaffected; and both are seen as crucial in boosting flagging church revenues and attendance figures.

Long the popular choice for couples tying the knot in Sweden, the church has seen the number of nuptial ceremonies fall from 53.9 percent of the nation’s total to just 40.9 percent in the past five years. Baptisms, traditionally considered as a symbolic gesture of Swedish church membership, have also dropped dramatically, from 68 percent to 56 percent in the same period.

In the ten years since the state and church were separated, membership across the entire population has decreased from 82.9 percent to 71.3 percent, and around 73,400 people left the Church of Sweden in 2009. “We have left the homogeneous society,” the Church of Sweden’s Jonas Bromander told The Local, adding that the trend would continue over the next decade to reach a level of 60 percent.

“This is the time curve in a situation that is very much shaped by our history. We see similar curves for all the churches that are associated with a majority culture and where religion has become something that we face as an active choice,” said Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who added that the church would continue its confirmation work regardless. “I am extremely happy that each autumn we are able to scrape together 40,000 young people. There is no other organisation that is able to, not within sport not a political party youth league,” he said.

Be Sociable, Share!

•