One Volk, One Church? A Critique of the "Folk Church" Ideology in Finland

Bibliographic Data

ID5708253
AuthorsT Hjelm (0000-0003-4678-7374, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume62
Issue2
Pages294-315
Publication date2020-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Church and State (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-969X • E-ISSN: 2040-4867
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jcs/csz030
OpenAlexW2947046211
LanguageEN
Citations received8

Is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) a state church or not?1 The answer depends on whom you ask. Looking at international surveys and comparisons, the answer is a clear “yes.” On Chaves and Cann’s six-point scale, Finland scored the highest of all 18 countries compared in terms of the state privileging one or more denominations.2 Christensen’s analysis of historical and current debates on the issue of Finnish church and state relations—in many ways a precursor to my own aims here—says clearly, “The Church exists within a special relationship with the state, and maintains many of the same designations it held when its ties to the state were more official.”3 Robbers lists Finland among the countries with “a State Church or predominant religion.”4 Finally, Fox’s global comparison of religion and state relations files Finland under countries with “active state religions,” i.e., countries where “the state has one or more official religions and the state actively promotes the state religion through various measures.”5

Ideology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access