Religion in Denmark

Religion in Denmark is prominently Christianity in the form of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (Danish: Folkekirken), the state religion. Hence, Denmark is not a secular state as there is a clear link between the church and the state with a Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs. However, pockets of other major faiths can be found among the population. In January 2020, 74.4%[1] of the population of Denmark were registered members of the Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke), the officially established church, which is Protestant in classification and Lutheran in orientation.[2][notes 1] This is down 0.6% compared to the year earlier and 1.2% down compared to two years earlier. Despite the high membership figures, only 3% of the population regularly attend Sunday services[3][4] and only 19% of Danes consider religion to be an important part of their life.[5][3]

Roskilde Cathedral has been the burial place of Danish royalty since the 15th century. In 1995 it became a World Heritage Site.

Vor Frelsers Kirke in Esbjerg, Jutland.

Religiosity

According to a Eurobarometer Poll conducted in 2010,[6] 28% of Danish citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", 47% responded that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 24% responded that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force". Another poll, carried out in 2008, found that 25% of Danes believe Jesus is the son of God, and 18% believe he is the saviour of the world.[7] A gallup report in 2009 found that only 19% of Danes consider religion to be an important part of their life.[5]

Just under 20% of the Danish population identifies as atheist.[8] Phil Zuckerman, an American professor of sociology, after spending 14 months in Sweden and Denmark talking to hundreds of people about religion, reported that they were “often disinclined or hesitant to talk with [prof. Zuckerman] about religion, and even once they agreed to do so, they usually had very little to say on the matter.”[9]

Many Danish people define themselves as spiritual but not religious.[10][11]

Religious communities

St. Ansgar's Cathedral, Copenhagen

Christianity

Church of Denmark

year	population	members	percentage
1984	5,113,500	4,684,060	91.6%
1990	5,135,409	4,584,450	89.3%
2000	5,330,500	4,536,422	85.1%
2005	5,413,600	4,498,703	83.3%
2010	5,534,738	4,479,214	80.9%
2015	5,659,715	4,400,754	77.8%
2016	5,707,251	4,387,571	76.9%
2017	5,748,769	4,361,518	75.9%
2018	5,781,190	4,352,507	75.3%
2019	5,806,081	4,339,511	74.7%
2020	5,822,763	4,327,018	74.3%
Statistical data: 1984,[12] 1990-2019[1] Source: Kirkeministeriet

Christianity is the predominant religion of Denmark, with three quarters of the Danish population estimated as adherents of the "Folkekirken" ("People's Church"), Denmark's national Lutheran church.[13] Aside from Lutheranism, there is a small Catholic minority, as well as small Protestant denominations such as the Baptist Union of Denmark and the Reformed Synod of Denmark.

According to official statistics from January 2019, 74.7%[14][15] of the population of Denmark are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (Den danske folkekirke), the country's state church since the Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein, and designated "the Danish people's church" by the 1848 Constitution of Denmark.[16]

There are around 8,000 Christians who have converted from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.[17]

Buddhism

Buddhism in Denmark was brought back from expeditions that explored the Indian subcontinent. Initial interest was mainly from intellectuals, authors, Buddhologists and Philologists. In 1921, Christian F. Melbye founded the first Buddhist Society in Denmark, but it was later dissolved in 1950 before his death in 1953.[18][19] In the 1950s, there was a revival in interest towards Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism and Hannah and Ole Nydahl, founded the first Karma Kagyu Buddhist centers in Copenhagen.[18][19] The third wave of Buddhism came in the 1980s, when refugees from Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China came to Denmark.

In 2009 Aarhus University estimated that there were 20,000 practising Buddhists in Denmark.[20][21]

Judaism

A Jewish community has been present in Denmark since the seventeenth century, when the monarchs began allowing Jews to enter the country and practice their religion on an individual basis. Emancipation followed gradually and by the end of the nineteenth century most Jews were fully assimilated into Danish society. In the early decades of the twentieth century there was an influx of more secular, Yiddish speaking, Eastern European Jews. Nearly 99% of Danish Jews survived the Holocaust, in part due to the actions of the Danish resistance, and to the Swedish authorities' offer of asylum to the Danish Jews.[22]

Today there are approximately 6,000 ethnic Jews in Denmark, 1700 of them being members of the official organization The Jewish Community in Denmark.[23] There are three synagogues located in Copenhagen.

Islam

An Ahmadiyya mosque in Hvidovre just outside Copenhagen. The first[24] purpose-built mosque in Denmark.

According to Danish researcher Brian Arly Jacobsen, Muslims living in Denmark make up ca. 256,000 people or approximately 4.4% of the population in 2020 and form the country's second largest religious community and largest minority religion.[25] As of 2017 there were 28 recognised Muslim communities and around 185 mosques in Denmark.[26] Ahmadi Muslims constructed the first mosque in the capital, Copenhagen. There were approximately 655 Ahmadis all over Denmark in 2006.[27]

Other groups

"Mormons visit a country carpenter" (1856) by Christen Dalsgaard, depicting a mid-19th-century visit of a Mormon missionary to a Danish carpenter's workshop. The first Mormon missionaries arrived in Denmark in 1850.

According to a survey of various religions and denominations undertaken by the Danish Foreign Ministry, other religious groups comprise less than 1% of the population individually and approximately 2% when taken all together.[28]

Baha'i Faith

The Baha'i Faith arrived in Denmark in 1925, but it did not make much impact until the arrival of American pioneers in 1946. A National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1962. In 2005, it was estimated that there were about 1,251 Baha'is in the country.[29]

Hinduism

In Denmark there are about 7,500-8,000 Hindus of Tamil Origin.The Hindu Community in Denmark is Registered as reported in International Religious Freedom Report 2006, Denmark. Also reported is the Krishna devotees. Out of a population of 5.3 million, the Indian community (PIOs and NRIs) is approximately 5,000. (This Percentage excludes Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus.) Indian Nationals in Denmark are mainly Computer Professionals, Doctors, Kiosk and restaurant owners and students.

Neopaganism

A neopagan religious group, Forn Siðr — Ásatrú and Vanatrú Association in Denmark, describes itself as a revival of the Norse paganism prevalent in Denmark before Christianization. It gained state recognition in November 2003.[30] There are about 500 registered heathens (0.01% of the population) adhering to the old Norse beliefs.

In 2016, the designer Jim Lyngvild established the heathen building Manheim in Korinth on Funen.[31]

Politics and government

Politicians in Denmark will not generally be found making use of any religious rhetoric or arguments in their declarations, and this is especially the case for government ministers, with the possible, occasional exception of the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs in the course of his or her duties. Four of Denmark's prime ministers have identified themselves as atheists.[32]

The Christian Democrats is the only major political party to regularly employ religious rhetoric and arguments, and they have not been represented in the Folketing since 2001, as they have not been able to acquire the minimum 2% of the votes needed to secure representation.

Danish Constitution

The Constitution of Denmark contains a number of sections related to religion.

• §4 establishes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark as the state church of Denmark.
• §6 requires the Danish monarch to be a member of the state church.
• §67 grants freedom of worship.
• §68 states that no one is required to personally contribute to any form of religion other than his own. As state subsidies are not considered personal contributions[33] the Church of Denmark receives subsidies – according to §4 – beyond the church tax paid by the members of the church. The Church of Denmark is the only religious group to receive direct financial support from the state. Other religious groups can receive indirect support through tax deductions on contributions.[34]
• §70 grants freedom of religion by ensuring civil and political rights can not be revoked due to race or religious beliefs. It further states race and religious beliefs can not be used to be exempt from civil duties.
• §71 ensures no one can be imprisoned due to religious beliefs.

See also

• Christianization of Scandinavia
• Buddhism in Denmark
• Bahá'í Faith in Denmark
• Islam in Denmark
  • Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
• History of the Jews in Denmark
  • Rescue of the Danish Jews
• Hinduism in Denmark

Notes

1. The Church of Denmark is the established church (or state religion) in Denmark and Greenland; the Church of the Faroe Islands became an independent body in 2007.

References

1. "Folkekirkens medlemstal" (in Danish). 1 January 2020.
2. Denmark – Constitution – Part I – Section 4 [State Church]: "The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State."
3. "Denmark – Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor". International Religious Freedom Report 2009. U.S. Department of State. 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
4. Manchin, Robert (21 September 2004). "Religion in Europe: Trust Not Filling the Pews". Gallup Poll. Gallup. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
5. Crabtree, Steve. "Religiosity Highest in World's Poorest Nations". Gallup. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
6. "Special Eurobarometer, biotechnology" (PDF). TNS Opinion & Social on request of European Commission. European Commission. October 2010. p. 204. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
7. Johansen, Tobias Stern (23 December 2009). "Hver fjerde dansker tror på Jesus" [One in four Danes believes in Jesus] (in Danish). Kristeligt Dagblad. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013: The poll was carried out in December 2009 using a cross-section of 1114 Danes between the ages 18 and 74.
8. "Næsten hver femte dansker kalder sig ateist". Berlingske Tidende. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
9. Steinfels, Peter (27 February 2009). "Scandinavian Nonbelievers, Which Is Not to Say Atheist". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
10. Zuckerman, Phil (21 December 2009). Atheism and Secularity - Google Books. ISBN 9780313351822. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
11. "Beliefs about God across Time and Countries" (PDF). Norc.org. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
12. Church membership 1984 Danmarks statistik (in Danish)
13. "Kirkestatistik" [Church Statistics] (in Danish). Church of Denmark Ministry. 2011. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012.
14. Fler lämnade kyrkan i Danmark 3.1.2015 Kyrkans tidning
15. Statistics Denmark Statistikbanken.dk
16. § 4, "the Evangelical-Lutheran Church is the Danish people's church and is supported as such by the State" ("den evangelisk-lutherske kirke er den danske folkekirke og understøttes som sådan af staten")
17. Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". IJRR. 11: 14. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
18. "Article on Avisen.dk (in Danish)". Avisen.dk. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
19. "DR (Danish state news-agency), article about the History of Buddhism (In Danish)". Dr.dk. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
20. "Danske børn vil være buddhister". Avisen.dk. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
21. Journal of Global Buddhism, Article by Jørn Borup, Department of Study of Religion at University of Aarhus, Denmark. 2008, based on research from 2005 Archived 16 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
22. "Rescue in Denmark." U.S. Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007740
23. (in Danish) Dansk jødisk historie. Website of the Jewish Community in Denmark, retrieved 20 May 2019.
24. Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World, pg. 184
25. Hvor mange muslimer er der i Danmark? Website of Danish media company Mandag Morgen, April 24, 2020.
26. Kühle, L. and M. Larsen (2017): Moskeer i Danmark II: En ny kortlægning af danske moskéer og muslimske bedesteder. Center for Samtidsreligion,123 University of Aarhus.
27. Rytter, Mikkel (2013). Family Upheaval: Generation, Mobility and Relatedness among Pakistani Migrants in Denmark. Berghahn Books. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-85745-940-4. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
28. "Denmark - Official Denmark - Church and Religion". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark). Archived from the original on 8 February 2006.
29. Most Baha'i Nations (2005)
30. Sørensen, Torben (19 April 2007). "Forn Siðr – the Asa and Vane faith religious community in Denmark – Forn Siðr". Fornsidr.dk. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
31. Del (30 May 2016). "Kendis-designer åbner 12 meter højt tempel til ære for Odin og Thor" (in Danish). nyheder.tv2.dk. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
32. List of atheists in politics and law#Denmark
33. Grundloven på let dansk, Folketinget, 2001
34. "Statstilskud: Statstilskud og grundloven" [Government subsidies: Government subsidies and the Constitution] (in Danish). Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs. Retrieved 1 December 2016.

External links

• denmark.net Religion in Denmark