Items of Interest September 12, 2011 Issue

New survey notes Sweden’s trend toward secularism

Gary G. Yerkey

“Church for ‘unbelievers’ ” The Christian Science Monitor. August 1, 2011.

Nearly three-quarters of Sweden’s population of 9.4 million continue to belong to what was long the official state church of this Nordic nation, according to a recent survey. Yet only 15 percent of the members say they believe in Jesus, and an equal percentage do not even believe that God exists.

The survey—conducted over the past year by the Church of Sweden—found, moreover, that only about 400,000 of the roughly 6.6 million church members attend church services at least once a month.

Local clergymen such as Sven Björkborg, who serves several rural parishes southwest of Stockholm, says he is not surprised by the findings of the survey, citing the gradual secularization of Swedish society over the years. Members of the church, he adds, are not required to be believers.

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