The website was created by Freethinkers of Tampere, an organisation that supports a formal separation of church and state, and opened on 21 November 2003.
Because eroakirkosta.fi is not maintained by magistrates, the website can not directly resign a person from a church.
Eroakirkosta.fi also gives the user the alternative to print the resignation form and send it through regular mail.
[5] The web service received publicity October 2010, after a gay rights panel discussion on TV on 12 October was followed by thousands of people resigning from the Evangelical Lutheran Church by using the service.
[6] From inception through the end of 2017 more than 700 000 Finns out of a total population of 5.5 million resigned using the Eroa Kirkosta website,[7] for the number of resignations by year refer table below.