Swedes continue to turn their backs on the Church of Sweden with new figures indicating that the longer term fall in members has now started to hit baptisms and weddings.
The Church of Sweden has experience a steep and continual decline in the number of confirmations, worshippers and members since 2004, but until now baptisms and weddings have helped to boost church attendance figures, and revenues.

"We have left the homogeneous society," said Jonas Bromander at the Church of Sweden to the newspaper.

The church was long the venue of choice for Swedish wedding couples but the figures, presented in the church newspaper Kyrkans Tidning, show that the proportion of weddings performed by the Church of Sweden has now fallen from 53.9 to 40.9 percent from 2004 to 2009.
Even baptisms, long a popular symbolic gesture of church membership among Swedes, have also declined dramatically in popularity, dropping from 68 to 56 percent over the five year period.(...)

Dracena wrote:

Swedes continue to turn their backs on the Church of Sweden with new figures indicating that the longer term fall in members has now started to hit baptisms and weddings.
The Church of Sweden has experience a steep and continual decline in the number of confirmations, worshippers and members since 2004, but until now baptisms and weddings have helped to boost church attendance figures, and revenues.

"We have left the homogeneous society," said Jonas Bromander at the Church of Sweden to the newspaper.

The church was long the venue of choice for Swedish wedding couples but the figures, presented in the church newspaper Kyrkans Tidning, show that the proportion of weddings performed by the Church of Sweden has now fallen from 53.9 to 40.9 percent from 2004 to 2009.
Even baptisms, long a popular symbolic gesture of church membership among Swedes, have also declined dramatically in popularity, dropping from 68 to 56 percent over the five year period.(...)

source

mrjonno wrote:40% of Swedes still get married in church really suprised its that high, anyone know the figures in the UK?

james1v wrote:The best place to get "married" is and always has been, in the mind. You do not need a building to do it in, you do not need a state or priest to legitimise your promises, you just need an honest mind, the perfect arena.

Dracena wrote:

james1v wrote:The best place to get "married" is and always has been, in the mind. You do not need a building to do it in, you do not need a state or priest to legitimise your promises, you just need an honest mind, the perfect arena.

So true and beautifully put james

Luis Dias wrote:

Dracena wrote:

james1v wrote:The best place to get "married" is and always has been, in the mind. You do not need a building to do it in, you do not need a state or priest to legitimise your promises, you just need an honest mind, the perfect arena.

So true and beautifully put james

Not really. A ritual is always a good thing to have, and a church is usually (at least in europe) a beautiful place to do it.

People marry there just for social and aesthetical reasons nowadays... and the priests know it.

Luis Dias wrote:

Dracena wrote:

james1v wrote:The best place to get "married" is and always has been, in the mind. You do not need a building to do it in, you do not need a state or priest to legitimise your promises, you just need an honest mind, the perfect arena.

So true and beautifully put james

Not really. A ritual is always a good thing to have, and a church is usually (at least in europe) a beautiful place to do it.

People marry there just for social and aesthetical reasons nowadays... and the priests know it.

mrjonno wrote:

Luis Dias wrote:

Dracena wrote:

james1v wrote:The best place to get "married" is and always has been, in the mind. You do not need a building to do it in, you do not need a state or priest to legitimise your promises, you just need an honest mind, the perfect arena.

So true and beautifully put james

Not really. A ritual is always a good thing to have, and a church is usually (at least in europe) a beautiful place to do it.

People marry there just for social and aesthetical reasons nowadays... and the priests know it.

Plenty of other options these days, castles, old Stately Homes, football grounds

angelo wrote:More people now days don't even bother to get married. Almost all Western nations give de-facto relationships the same rights as married people, so why bother.

NineOneFour wrote:

angelo wrote:More people now days don't even bother to get married. Almost all Western nations give de-facto relationships the same rights as married people, so why bother.

Well, it does give one a certain status still, in Western culture, and in the US especially.

It also immediately says "hands off", this is my mate, although there are still people who don't care about that.

And, tax benefits.

Most importantly, and this is illogical on my part, it proclaims to the world, I love this person.

mrjonno wrote:40% of Swedes still get married in church really suprised its that high, anyone know the figures in the UK?

I'm With Stupid wrote:You do wonder how much of an affect the rise of secularism in the past few years has had on it. Because that's a hell of a drop in just 5 years.

But the fact remains that as long as the church owns a lot of nice buildings, people will want to get married in them. And I suspect that religious people and people who are big on tradition (and therefore may get married in a church even if they're not particularly religious) are more likely to get married anyway. I think the real measure will actually be on funerals (though it will take longer to see the affect of that, for obvious reasons), because that is more about respecting a person's character and beliefs than having a nice set of photos to show the family. But of all the weddings I've been invited to in the past couple of years, one was in a stately home, one was in a mill, one was in a hotel, and one is in Italy (I don't know where, but I know it's not a church - can't go to that one - gutted).

Scot Dutchy wrote:

mrjonno wrote:40% of Swedes still get married in church really suprised its that high, anyone know the figures in the UK?

Here church marriages are illegal. Everyone has to marry at the town hall or a designated spot but it is never a church.