On State Churches: Finnish Style

Yesterday afternoon, while putting off doing some revision to a manuscript I'm working on, I happened upon an article about a potential Christian revival in Eastern Europe (you can read it here).  While the article focused chiefly on Hungary and Croatia, and the comments were interesting for their back and forth, I mostly just filed it away as an interesting tidbit, and eventually got to the work at hand.

And then, this morning I got up to do a little shoveling in what might be described as near arctic conditions (blowing and drifting snow, wind chill of -30 F) I came back inside and warmed up by checking my Facebook news feed, and came upon this article posted by an old friend from Finland.  For those of you who don't read Finnish or don't have time to run the article through Google Translate (which is what I did), allow me to summarize:  Finland, like virtually every European country, has an official state church.  In this case, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.  There is currently a movement in Finland to seek disestablishment of the state church, on the grounds that having one creates an environment hostile to other religions and people who profess no faith at all.

 

I noted when I read it the translated version that the author of the piece didn't include anyone supporting retaining the state church (one can chalk this up either to indifference on the part of the author, or perhaps more likely, simply reporting on the petition for disestablishment, which has largely just begun).  So, I messaged Joel (the friend who originally posted the article) and he quickly wrote back, saying that "the proponents of the status quo will probably have many persuasive arguments.  Grab the popcorn!"

But this reminded me of a discussion I had in Boston in 2012.  I was at the Congregational Library talking about The Mainline, and one of the people at the talk raised the issue of state churches in Europe and if something similar (in terms of dwindling membership and importance) might happen in the United States.  It is an interesting comparative question.  Many conservative or orthodox Christians worry this might be the case, and many secular humanists surely hope it will happen.  The problem, in the end, is that the situation (when it comes not just to the old Mainline decline of the Seven Sisters, but possible denominational decline) in the United States is just similar enough to entertain such thoughts, but so different as to defeat much useful comparison.  Denominations, even large culturally significant ones with large memberships are simply not the same thing as state sponsored churches.  Treating them as such creates serious issues not so much about Church/State division, but perhaps more obviously on religious liberty.

Still, it is a question I hope to come back to at some point in more depth.  And that brings us back to Finland.  According to the official statistics, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland boasts a membership of 4.4 million, with 2100 pastors.  That number is quite robust, since according to most sources, Finland has a population of roughly 5.4 million people.  Let those numbers sink in for a second.  What they mean, if true, is that nearly 80 percent of the population belongs to the state church.  But, if you've read  The Mainline or follow such things, you know that there is something wrong with that membership figure (and probably not the population number), and that is one of the problems with state churches:  They count everyone as being a member whether they are or not.  And most likely, they are not (one report from a few years ago found that less than 2% of Finns go to church each Sunday).  The numbers might feel good, but reporting such figures is likely not doing anyone any real good at all.

My friend described the state church in Finland as "our church being a reformed-many-times-over, fairly non-brimstoney church."  It has, in other words, been something that is always there and rarely controversial.  Part, to put it another way, of the established order of things.  One of the issues with doing away with state churches then is that you inevitably are changing the way things "always" have been done.  As an American, I have few problems with disestablishment--chiefly because I think competition amongst denominations has tended to keep the Christian faith vital and relevant here in the United States.  As of yet, we don't take it for granted.  Perhaps disestablishment in Finland could produce similar results, maybe even (and here I'm being influenced by another article I read this morning on the anniversary of the birth of one of the leaders of the Welsh Great Awakening) it could move people to actually fill those church pews.  Watching what unfolds from afar, while keeping an eye on developments closer to home, is worthy of having some popcorn on hand to be sure!