A record number of Finns have left the church after a controversial TV debate about gay rights. The mass exodus from the Evangelical Lutheran state church took place last Wednesday afternoon via an online service.
According to the Eroakirkosta website, which facilitates withdrawing from the church, a total of 2,633 turned their back on the institution in a single day. This figure was 1,500 higher than the previous daily record of quitters and more than the entire number of resignations for the whole of July. The previous daily record was set at 1,049 on December 31, 2008.
Eroakirkosta information officer, Heikki Orsila, put the spike down to a YLE current affairs programme, Ajankohtainen Kakkonen, which was aired the previous night. On the show, which was entitled Homoilta (Gay Night), a panel discussed gay rights issues, including the controversial question of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in church.
The panel included Christian Democrat Paivi Rasanen, who was fiercely critical on the issue of gay marriages and same-sex couples’ adoption rights. According to the website, half of Tuesday’s 372 resignations were received during the programme.
Rakista. Which church? you have so many. In USA anyone can open a room and say this is a church, which I think is very cool because no one has to be under any big religious organization.
But lest be realistic here, religions ( all of them) turn into mass destruction weapons and create social inestability, when ignorant people think they can FORCE other people to see things the way they are. Some people declare themselves the solely HOLDERS OF THE TRUTH, and the rest is just wrong for them.
Since in democracy everyone has the right to have an opinion and everyone have to respect everyone else’s free opinion, religion has no place in our societies.
Religions should be spiritual matters people would freely choose to follow in their own terms. Of course, in respect of everyone else rights and ways of living.
If you are a man and think that men should only marry women, then go a marry a women. But don’t expect that other people do the same or think the same as you do. So as long as you don’t bother them and they don’t bother you there is no point for getting into other people’s private life.
After all, there is so many people in the world right now, we are too many. So it is very good that men and women decide for same-sex marriage. And it is even better they can adopt some of the millions of orphan children that die of hunger and lack of education and housing.
For some radical religious people it is better that children die or suffer alone than letting someone take care of them.
They say that gay men molest children, well the truth is that 90% of the rappers and people who molest and abuse of children that have been sentenced to prison are STRAIGHT!!!
unbehaun: “Hmmm, guess not all Scandinavians are liberal as we Americans think!”
We americans?? Who is “we”?? you and your neighbors? are you sure all americans think just like YOU??
Americans are slowly but surely leaving the church as well because of bigotry as well.
Quite the opposite. The discussion was between two “sides”, gays and their family members being the one side and Christians the other. For some reason all but one Christians selected to the program were hard-core fundamentalists, and it was their strong anti-gay comments that caused the ‘mass exodus’. The church realized the situation couple of days later, and has now been very loud about the fact that the official opinion of the Finnish Lutheran church “accepts” homosexuality.
Being a Finnish (pro-gay) Christian, I’m interested to see where this leads. So far the Church has avoided to take a stand in the matter, but now they really can’t avoid it anymore.
Hmmm, guess not all Scandinavians are liberal as we Americans think!
So, what was said during the program that got people to quit the church? Did someone say that gays should be allowed to marry in the church? Or was it something else?
Wasn’t a one night thing, though. Over 30,000 people have left after the programme. Interesting times.