[8] Naturalistic evolutionary theory inspired, among others, Hjalmar Neiglick and Edvard Westermarck in Finland as early as the 1880s.
Mäkelä began publication of the magazine Vapaita Aatteita ('Free Ideas') in Kuopio, which presented development theory.
[7] The labour movement in Finland adopted the program of Marxist atheism as a challenge to the State Church.
The 1903 Forssa Program of the Finnish Social Democratic Party stated:[8][10] Religion must be declared a private matter.
The Church must be separated from the State and ecclesiastical and religious communities must be regarded as private associations which organise their own affairs.
Religious education must be abolished in schools.The magazine Euterpe, published between 1902 and 1905, was written by Rolf Lagerborg, Gunnar Castrén and Georg Schauman, among others.
The association (1905–1914) included Edvard Westermarck, Rafael Karsten, Rolf Lagerborg, Knut Tallqvist, Wilhelm Bolin, Yrjö Hirn, Georg Schauman, Hjalmar Magnus Eklund, Harry Federley, Alma Söderhjelm, Gunnar Castrén, K.H.
The association demanded the abolition of confessional religious education in schools and the acceptance of civil marriage.
[14] Freethinkers had high expectations of the Freedom of Religion Act of the independent Republic of Finland, enacted in 1922.
[13] The demand for separation of church and state did not materialise, which Jussi Pikkusaari has interpreted in his dissertation[15] as a defeat for the Social Democrats' policy on religion.
[8] Disappointed with the Freedom of Religion Act, freethinkers began to form civil register organisations in the late 1920s.
In 1937, the Union of Civil Register Associations (Finnish: Siviilirekisteriläisyhdistysten keskusliitto) was founded as a national collective body.
[7][16] Following the international, 65-year-old federation, the organisation took the name the Union of Freethinkers of Finland (Finnish: Vapaa-ajattelijain liitto, Swedish: Fritänkarnas Förbund) in 1945.
The dissolution of the key association in Tampere almost ended the civil register movement shortly before the Winter War.
After the Second World War, the Union of Freethinkers of Finland continued to grow and resigning one's membership in the church also became more common.
[7] The aim of the Union of Freethinkers is the separation of church and state and the promotion of a scientific understanding of reality.
[21] In the 1970s and early 1980s, Erkki Hartikainen, the union's secretary-general, wanted to have a separate subject for non-religious students in Finnish schools.
[23][24] From an atheistic point of view, intellectuals in Finland such as Eino Kaila, Ilkka Niiniluoto[25][26] and Raimo Tuomela[27][28] have contributed to the debate on the critique of religion and the scientific conception of reality.
Kari Cantell was awarded the prize in 1997 for his book Tiedemiehen mietteitä uskosta ('A Scientist's Reflections on Faith').
[31] Anneli Aurejärvi-Karjalainen was awarded a prize in 1999 for her book on religion-free traditional culture, Perheen omat juhlat: Siviiliseremoniat häistä hautajaisiin ('Family celebrations: civil ceremonies from weddings to funerals') (1999).
Kari Enqvist and Esko Valtaoja were awarded the prize in 2004 and 2005 for defending and disseminating a scientific and non-religious view of reality.
From 1960 onwards, church tax was no longer withheld separately at the end of the year, but was paid in advance with each salary payment.
According to freethinkers, prayer is a violation of a child's fundamental human right to freedom of thought, which must be respected.
In their view, the discriminatory special status of religion is illustrated by the fact that companies in Finland pay tax to the church.
[45] In 1999, Chapter 17, Section 10 of the Finnish Criminal Code came into force, regarding the offence of breach of the religious peace.
The Union of Freethinkers has criticised the criminal offence as unnecessary, as other laws protect the practice of religion from harassment.
According to non-religious organisations, the irreligious are a large and growing minority group in Finnish society, but they often face discrimination.
However, the European Court of Human Rights has not considered it acceptable for a person to have to declare their religious beliefs when taking an oath.
[53][54] Previously, the military oath in the Finnish Defence Forces was also sworn "before an almighty and omniscient God", but since 2000 it has also been possible to make a religion-neutral affirmation.
The aim of the camp is to encourage young people to reflect on issues, to understand and develop their own outlook on life, to respect themselves and others, and to take responsibility for themselves and the world.