Religion in Sweden
[4] The Lutheran Church of Sweden was formed and remained the official religion of the Christian state until the turn of the 21st century.
[1] The Lutheran Church of Sweden – which was the state religion until 2000 – is by far the largest Christian denomination but is facing a continuous decline in registered membership.
The shape and location of this temple is sparsely documented, but it is referenced in the Norse sagas and Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, and is also described by Adam of Bremen.
When King Stenkil ascended to the throne in 1060 Christianity was firmly established throughout most of Sweden, although the people of Uppland, and probably Sodermanland, resisted the new religion.
The crusade was a military expedition aimed at converting the Finns to Christianity and conquering Finland as Swedish territory.
In 1531, Laurentius Petri was appointed by the Crown to become the first Lutheran primate of Sweden, and was ordained by five Catholic bishops without papal assent.
In order to appease the Holy See, king John III of Sweden, one of Gustav Vasa's sons, took measures to bring the Church of Sweden to a theological position influenced by George Cassander, but, in the heat of controversy, such a compromise position did not achieve its intent of reunion.
The move put Charles at odds with the heir to the throne, his nephew Sigismund, who was raised in the Catholic faith.
During the era following the Protestant Reformation, usually known as the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy, small groups of non-Lutherans, especially Calvinist Dutchmen, the Moravian Church and Walloon immigrants from the Southern Netherlands, played a significant role in trade and industry, and were quietly tolerated as long as they kept a low profile.
Citizens of foreign nations, mainly Russians, were granted freedom to practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity since the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617.
They forbade Swedish citizens to engage in practices other than mandatory Lutheran Sunday Mass and daily family devotions.
In 1860 it became legal to leave the Church of Sweden for the purpose of becoming a member of another officially recognised religious denomination.
The government at all levels seeks to protect this right in full and does not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The laws concerning religious freedoms are generally observed and enforced at all government levels and by the courts in a non-discriminatory fashion.
[1] Eight recognized religious denominations, in addition to the Church of Sweden, raise revenues through member-contributions made through the national tax system.
All recognized denominations are entitled to direct government financial support, contributions made through the national tax system, or a mix of both.
[1][2] A survey by the Pew Research Center found in spring 2016 that 66.7% out of a sample of 1,000 Swedes claimed to be Christians.
Leaving the Church of Sweden became legal with the so-called Dissenter Act of 1860, but only under the provision of entering another denomination.
Most Catholics in Sweden are of Slavic (especially Poles and Croats), South American or Middle Eastern (especially Assyrian) origin.
[1] According to the 2015 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, there are 22,730 active members in Sweden, and 36,270 people attended their annual memorial of Christ's death.
[24] Islam entered Sweden primarily through immigration from countries with large Muslim populations (such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Iraq, Morocco, Iran, Kosovo, Sandžak, Somalia and Syria) in the late 20th century.
[12] The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities estimates about 20,000 ethnic Jews in Sweden by halakhic criteria.
[1] Stockholm has the largest community and boasts a primary school, a kindergarten, a library, a bi-monthly publication (Judisk Krönika) and a weekly Jewish radio program.
[26] In November 2009 the Swedish paper Västerbottens-Kuriren reported that 25 local non-profit Bahá'í organization had changed their organizational form to religious communions.
[27] Buddhism is relatively well-established in Sweden with both organisations focussing on ethnic East Asians and others oriented towards converts.
Founded in 2014, the Nordic Asa-Community has quickly grown to become the largest Heathen organization in Sweden, despite being the most recently established among the three.
