From the start of July to the end of September this year, 605 members of the Icelandic state church left the congregation. Conversely, membership of the three free churches in Iceland rose by 149 collectively in the same time period.

The same stretch of time also saw an increase of 21 people prescribing to other religions and 435 people with no religion whatsoever. This information was released on the website of Statistics Iceland today. Iceland’s state church is Lutheran, like in other Nordic countries.

All Icelanders are automatically members of the state church unless they opt out. Many Icelanders still hold baptisms and confirmation ceremonies are commonplace, even if they are only an excuse for a party and presents for most Icelandic teenagers.

Source: Morgunblaðið
Image: Flickr

Labels: Church, Religion, Statistics