Swedish Church members 'don't believe in Jesus'

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antonivs said:
Why would an Atheist want to be a member of the Church of Sweden? :confused:
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The same reason why there are nominal Catholics: they were baptized and confirmed into their faith and never “officially” left it. So probably the only time any of them would set foot in a church would be for a baptism, wedding, or funeral.
 
Young_Thinker said:
The same reason why there are nominal Catholics: they were baptized and confirmed into their faith and never “officially” left it. So probably the only time any of them would set foot in a church would be for a baptism, wedding, or funeral.
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I’m just surprised they even consider themselves to be nominal members.
 
A couple key figures: 6.6 million belong to the Church of Sweden, but only 400,000 attend church at least once per month. So only 6% of the membership actually attend church services.

Part of the reason for the high number of non-churchgoing members may be because, until 15 years ago, infants were automatically enrolled in in the church rosters.
the article:
Until 1996, Swedes automatically became members of the church at birth if at least one parent was a member.
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The study’s author suggests that many maintain nominal membership in the church as a way of supporting what it does, which includes social welfare.
 
antonivs said:
I’m just surprised they even consider themselves to be nominal members.
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I see what you are saying. I guess that for them , it is basically a social (since a wedding or funeral can be seen as largely being a gathering of friends and relatives) or cultural phenomenon (i.e. Scandinavian=Lutheran, like how almost everyone who spoke a Romance language, was descended from such speakers, or had O’ or Mc in his surname could assumed to be a Catholic a half-century ago; hence, the notion of a “cultural Catholic”). Maybe they also like the feel-good factor of attending church on Christmas or Easter.
 
"Every plant which my father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up "(mat 15:13).
 
CB_Catholic said:
Just in case?😉
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Good one:p

I remember back when atheism books first started being popular. One cartoonist in his work theorized that we’re all a bit more skeptical than we let on, and I think it’s true. A tragedy for Sweden, but what about us? Do we have strong faith as much as we think?
 
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