Since Bishop of Iceland Karl Sigurbjörnsson announced at the last synod that he will step down in 2012, preparations have been under way for the election of a new Bishop. Many of the likely candidates are female. Read the full story

An American Lutheran choir is beginning its Nordic tour this evening with a free concert in Iceland. Read the full story

A Christian campaign to persuade gay people to renounce their sexuality has caused a surge of resignations from the Finnish Lutheran Church and been described as a possible revenge attack against religious liberals. Read the full story

Danish priests are calling for a range of ‘off-the-peg’ cassocks after it was revealed that the tailor-made robes costs as much as fur coats. Read the full story

Despite a few more pews being filled over Easter weekend, expressions of religion remain a private matter for Finnish people. Read the full story

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church lost a total of 52,203 members last year, Helsingin Sanomat reports. The remaining members of the church now number 4,294,199, which equates to 80.6 of the population of Finland.

Before these latest figures, the church had reported its losses at only 48,268 people for the year; but that figure did not reflect Finns who had tendered their resignations at the last minute. Read the full story

In a surprising partnership, heavy metal music and religion have teamed up to lure the youths of Finland into church. In a real testimony to this Nordic nation’s obsession with heavy metal music, the concept of Metal Mass (Metallimessu) has begun to take root in many of the country’s traditional Lutheran churches, Yahoo! reports.

The music has become even more popular since 2006, when the Finnish band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest with its “Hard Rock Hallelujah.” What is somewhat of a niche genre in most of the world is unendingly popular in Finland. The capital Helsinki is loaded with local metal bands, metal nightclubs and even metal karaoke bars. In the summer, Finland hosts some of the world’s most popular heavy metal Read the full story

Hindu activist Rajan Zed’s recent request to the Icelandic parliament to include a Hindu prayer in the opening of parliament ceremony on 1st October has been rejected.

The request was handled by the Deputy Secretary General of Althingi (Iceland’s parliament), Thorsteinn Magnusson, MeriNews reports. “There is a long tradition for conducting a Lutheran mass at the opening of the Parliament and there are no plans to change this tradition,” Magnusson said.

On 1st October annually since 1845, the new session of Althingi opens with a mass in the Domskirkjan Cathedral organised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church (the state church in Iceland).

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