Protestant Church of Switzerland

Breakthroughs began in the 1520s in Zurich under Zwingli, in Bern in 1528 under Berchtold Haller, and in Basel in 1529 under Johannes Oecolampadius.

The French-speaking cities Neuchâtel, Geneva and Lausanne changed to the Reformation ten years later under William Farel and John Calvin coming from France.

A feature of the Swiss Reformed churches in the Zwinglian tradition is their historically very close links to the cantons, which is only loosening gradually in the present.

[7] The Reformed Church in Aargau has also permitted prayer services of thanksgiving to celebrate a same-sex civil union.

[8] The Reformed Church of Vaud, in 2013, also permitted prayer services as a way for same-sex couples to celebrate their civil union.

As early as 1999, the Reformed Churches in St. Gallen, Fribourg, and Lucerne had permitted prayer and celebration services for same-sex couples to recognize their civil unions.

They are governed synodically and their relation to the respective canton (in Switzerland, there are no church-state regulations at a national level) ranges from independent to close collaboration, depending on historical developments.

Distribution of denominations in Switzerland in 2008 (green: Protestant , red: Catholic )
Reformed "Landeskirchen" of Switzerland (Districts and Sub Districts as of 2009)