Religion in Denmark

According to a Eurobarometer poll conducted in 2010,{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_341_en.pdf|title=Special Eurobarometer, biotechnology|publisher=European Commission|work=TNS Opinion & Social on request of European Commission|page=204|date=October 2010|access-date=26 October 2015}} 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 a messenger of the God and saviour of the world but not son of God.{{cite web|last=Johansen|first=Tobias Stern|url=http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/350709:Kirke---tro--Hver-fjerde-dansker-tror-paa-Jesus|title=Hver fjerde dansker tror på Jesus|trans-title=One in four Danes believes in Jesus|language=da|publisher=Kristeligt Dagblad|date=23 December 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120161940/http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/350709%3AKirke---tro--Hver-fjerde-dansker-tror-paa-Jesus|archive-date=20 January 2013|postscript=: The poll was carried out in December 2009 using a cross-section of 1114 Danes between the ages 18 and 74.}} A Gallup report in 2009 found that only 19% of Danes consider religion to be an important part of their life.{{cite web |last1=Crabtree |first1=Steve |date=31 August 2010 |title=Religiosity Highest in World's Poorest Nations |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/142727/religiosity-highest-world-poorest-nations.aspx |access-date=27 May 2015 |publisher=Gallup}}

Just under 20% of the Danish population identifies as atheist as of 2013.{{cite news|last=Rekling|first=Therese|date=7 October 2013|title=Næsten hver femte dansker kalder sig ateist|language=Danish|work=Berlingske Tidende|url=http://www.b.dk/nationalt/naesten-hver-femte-dansker-kalder-sig-ateist|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008232427/https://www.b.dk/nationalt/naesten-hver-femte-dansker-kalder-sig-ateist|access-date=8 October 2024}}

{{main|Christianity in Denmark}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.km.dk/folkekirken/statistik-og-oekonomi/kirkestatistik.html|title=Kirkestatistik|trans-title=Church Statistics|language=da|publisher=Church of Denmark Ministry|date=2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119052707/http://www.km.dk/folkekirken/statistik-og-oekonomi/kirkestatistik.html|archive-date=19 January 2012}} 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.

File:Grundtvigskirken-vest-2005-3.jpg in Copenhagen]]

According to official statistics from January 2019, 74.7%[http://www.km.dk/folkekirken/kirkestatistik/folkekirkens-medlemstal/ Fler lämnade kyrkan i Danmark] 3.1.2015 Kyrkans tidning[http://www.statistikbanken.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1920 Statistics Denmark] Statistikbanken.dk of the population of Denmark are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark ({{lang|da|Den danske folkekirke}}), the country's state church since the Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein, which is designated "the Danish people's church" by the 1848 Constitution of Denmark.§ 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") Among those who report Danish ancestry (as opposed to persons of recent immigrant descent), there has been a decline in the proportion who are members of the National Church, from approx. 90% in 1985 to 75.9% in 2017.{{Cite web |last=Birk |first=Christian |date=2017-03-03 |title=Nye tal: Folkekirkens medlemstab skyldes indvandring |url=https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/nye-tal-folkekirkens-medlemstab-skyldes-indvandring |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Kristeligt Dagblad |language=da}}

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.{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|page=14|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=20 November 2015}}

Membership statistics from 1984 to 2008:

{{Main|Islam in Denmark}}

File:Nusrat Djahan Mosque Hvidove Copenhagen Denmark 02.jpg just outside Copenhagen. The firstAhmadiyya Muslim Mosques Around the World, pg. 184 purpose-built mosque in Denmark.|alt=Nusrat Djahan Mosque, an Ahmadiyya mosque in Hvidovre just outside Copenhagen. Is the first 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.[https://www.mm.dk/tjekdet/artikel/hvor-mange-muslimer-er-der-i-danmark Hvor mange muslimer er der i Danmark? Website of Danish media company Mandag Morgen, 24 April 2020.] As of 2017 there were 28 recognised Muslim communities and around 185 mosques in Denmark.[https://ebooks.au.dk/index.php/aul/catalog/view/239/171/750-2 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.] Ahmadis constructed the first mosque in the capital, Copenhagen. There were approximately 655 Ahmadis all over Denmark in 2006.{{cite book|last=Rytter|first=Mikkel|title=Family Upheaval: Generation, Mobility and Relatedness among Pakistani Migrants in Denmark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-WdFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|access-date=2 December 2016|year=2013|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-0-85745-940-4|page=14}}

{{Main|History of the Jews in Denmark}}

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."Rescue in Denmark." U.S. Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007740

Today there are approximately 6,000 ethnic Jews in Denmark, 1700 of them being members of the official organization The Jewish Community in Denmark.{{in lang|da}} [https://mosaiske.dk/jodisk-historie-i-danmark/ Dansk jødisk historie. Website of the Jewish Community in Denmark, retrieved 20 May 2019.]

{{Main|Bahá'í Faith in Denmark}}

The Baháʼí 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.[http://www.thearda.com/QuickLists/QuickList_40b.asp Most Baha'i Nations (2005)]

{{Main|Buddhism in Denmark}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://avisen.dk/danske-boern-vil-vaere-buddhister_96447.aspx |title=Article on Avisen.dk (in Danish) |date=12 August 2008 |publisher=Avisen.dk |access-date=2009-08-03}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dr.dk/Tro/Temaer/Troens+r%C3%B8dder/Damch%C3%B8+Palmo/20060810133616.htm |title=DR (Danish state news-agency), article about the History of Buddhism (In Danish) |publisher=Dr.dk |date=10 August 2006 |access-date=2009-08-03}} In the 1950s, there was a revival in interest towards Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism. Hannah and Ole Nydahl founded the first Karma Kagyu Buddhist centers in Copenhagen. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.avisen.dk/danske-boern-vil-vaere-buddhister_96447.aspx |title=Danske børn vil være buddhister |date=12 August 2008 |publisher=Avisen.dk |access-date=2013-03-26}}[http://www.globalbuddhism.org/9/borup08.htm Journal of Global Buddhism, Article by Jørn Borup, Department of Study of Religion at University of Aarhus, Denmark. 2008, based on research from 2005] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216085021/http://www.globalbuddhism.org/9/borup08.htm |date=16 February 2012 }}

{{Main|Hinduism in Denmark}}

There are 40,000 (0.5%) Hindus in Denmark as of 2020.{{cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/denmark#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010®ion_name=All%20Countries&restrictions_year=2016|title=Religions in Denmark|access-date=2021-12-04|archive-date=2021-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203220011/http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/denmark#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010®ion_name=All%20Countries&restrictions_year=2016|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Sikhism in Denmark}}

In Denmark there are about 4,000 Sikhs of Punjabi origin.{{cite book | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191831874.001.0001/acref-9780191831874-e-251;jsessionid=2FFC28CC5D913137A12D40B346F6CFE2 | isbn=978-0-19-183187-4 | title=A Dictionary of Sikh Studies | chapter=Northern Europe, Sikhs in | date=18 April 2019 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}

File:Mormons visit a country carpenter.jpg, 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/UM/English/Denmark/kap1/1-14.asp|title=Denmark – Official Denmark – Church and Religion|work=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208030036/http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/UM/English/Denmark/kap1/1-14.asp|archive-date=8 February 2006}}

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.{{cite web|first=Torben|last=Sørensen|url=http://www.fornsidr.dk/dk/17|title=Forn Siðr – the Asa and Vane faith religious community in Denmark – Forn Siðr|publisher=Fornsidr.dk|date=19 April 2007|access-date=24 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327111826/http://www.fornsidr.dk/dk/17|archive-date=27 March 2009}} 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.

{{See also|Danish Atheist Society|Irreligion}}

In 2013, just under 20% of the Danish population identifies as atheist.

Five of Denmark's prime ministers have identified themselves as atheists.

{{See also|Christian state}}

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 contributionsGrundloven på let dansk, Folketinget, 2001 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.km.dk/folkekirken/oekonomi/statstilskud/|title=Statstilskud: Statstilskud og grundloven|trans-title=Government subsidies: Government subsidies and the Constitution|language=da|publisher=Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs|access-date=1 December 2016}}
• §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|Human rights in Denmark}}

In its 2024 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House rated the country 4 out of 4 for religious freedom:{{cite news|title=Freedom in the World 2024: Denmark|work=Freedom House|url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/denmark/freedom-world/2024|access-date=10 October 2024}}

Freedom of worship is legally protected. However, the Evangelical Lutheran Church is subsidized by the government as the official state religion. The faith is taught in public schools, though students may withdraw from religious classes with parental consent.

In 2018, a general ban on the public wearing of face coverings, widely referred to as a “burqa ban” applicable to Muslim women, took effect. Between 2018 and 2020, an average of 20 people a year were charged with violating the ban. In 2021, only two charges were filed under the law, and in 2022, only one. Fines for defying the ban range from $150 to $300.

In 2018, Parliament adopted a law requiring mandatory participation in a ceremony for confirmation of newly granted Danish citizenship, with guidelines including a requirement for shaking hands. The provision was viewed as a means of requiring Muslims who refuse to touch someone of a different gender on religious grounds to adopt practices seen as “Danish.” In February 2022, one person was denied citizenship for protesting the law by refusing to shake hands during the citizenship ceremony.

In December 2023, Parliament adopted an amendment to the penal code that criminalized “inappropriate treatment” of religious texts in public, in response to several burnings of the Quran in Denmark and Sweden earlier in the year that sparked anger in some Muslim nations. Filming and distributing a video of such an act was banned as well. Violators face a fine or up to two years in prison. Critics said that the ban was a restraint on freedom of speech.

{{Portal|Religion|Denmark}}

• Christianization of Scandinavia
• Christianity in Denmark
• Islam in Denmark
• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
• Judaism in Denmark
• Rescue of the Danish Jews
• Bahá'í Faith in Denmark
• Buddhism in Denmark
• Hinduism in Denmark
• Religion in the Faroe Islands
• Religion in Greenland

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{{Cite web |url=http://nyheder.tv2.dk/2016-05-30-kendis-designer-aabner-12-meter-hoejt-tempel-til-aere-for-odin-og-thor |title=Kendis-designer åbner 12 meter højt tempel til ære for Odin og Thor |author=Del |publisher=nyheder.tv2.dk |date=2016-05-30 |language=da |access-date=2018-08-11}}

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{{Wikisource|Constitutional Act of Denmark, 5 June 1953}}

• [http://www.denmark.net/denmark-guide/religion-denmark.html denmark.net Religion in Denmark]

{{Denmark topics}}

{{Religion in Europe}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Culture of Denmark