Breanna Payson

GCU 114
Professor Wiens
Weebly Essay
Religion in Sweden
Religion is something that has been around for thousands
of years and it is no different in Sweden. The first account of
there being religion in Sweden dates all the way back to 1008
when Olof Stokonung the King of Sweden becomes a Christian;
this leads the other Swedes gradually follow. (Lambert)
Christianity was originally introduced to the king in the House of
Muns. Christianity is the main religion in the country of Sweden;
but there are others as well. The other major religions that are
practiced are Catholicism, Muslim, Protestants, Orthodox, Other
Christian, and Buddhist. These religions were brought up all over
the country but not as talked about.

Being that there is so many different religions that are

practiced in Sweden there are certain things that each has
brought to the people in terms of culture and social
development. Christianity, in all forms brought many different
traditions and helped the country develop in the beginning.
There are many different times throughout the year where the
people of Sweden practice their religions, the majority of which
are Christian holidays that are placed on the calendar. Though

they are seldom celebrated by church attendance, Twelfth

Night(6 January) Ascension Pentecost and All Saints Day are
each official holidays in Sweden, as is the common collection of
Easter Days. These holidays are the main ones celebrated and
both religious and non-religious people practice them. (Lambert)
There is also a social aspect in the religions of Sweden because
of the fact that there was no separation of church and state in
the beginning.

There are many sacred places of worship in Sweden. Each

religion has their own special and sacred places of worship so
there are many throughout the country. One of the biggest and
most well known would be The Church of Sweden, which is
Evangelical Lutheran and has its secretariat in Uppsala, a city
that has been the center of the Swedish church since the Middle
Ages. It is very interesting that 64% of Swedes are actually
members of the church of Sweden and were automatically
welcomed into the church until it was separated from state.
The Church of Sweden had always been connected to the
state until the year 2000. This means that there is now a
separation between church and state but for hundreds of years
they were connected in some way. There is a tax that the Church
of Sweden levies on its members and it is about 1% of their

income. The Church of Sweden has often accompanied liberal

social change rather than obstructing it. For example, in 2009
the church decided to begin performing same-sex marriage
ceremonies as Sweden legalized same-sex marriage in the same
year. At the end of 2014, 5,356 women and 4,212 men had
married a person of the same sex. (Sutherland)

There is so many interesting things about the religions of

Sweden. They for the most part try to keep up with the day and
age; with traditional but still new ways of thinking. Sweden is a
country that celebrates a lot of the traditions of religions that
have been around for centuries, but there is only 29% that
claim to actually be religious. The churches are growing and
shaping in the way of the people, which I personally find very
interesting. This could be a good and a bad thing. Good because
churches might obtain more followers of the church is more
accepting; and bad because they are removing some values that
have been around since the creation of the religions.

References
Sutherland, S. (n.d.).
https://sweden.se/society/10-fundamentals-of-religion-in-sweden/
(n.d.). Christian Assemblies International.
https://www.cai.org/bible-studies/swedish-christian-history
Lambert, T. (n.d.). A Timeline of Sweden. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
http://www.localhistories.org/swedentime.html