Abstract
Abstract
How do you belong to the church? Depending on your home country, belonging ranges from being a subjective notion to a legal and formal membership. Belonging to the church is no longer an obligation in Europe but has changed into consumption. Taking part in religious activities is a choice (Davie 2013: 283). Religion is increasing set free from the institutionalized churches (Heelas & Woodhead 2005). You would thus expect to see dramatic declines in church affiliation in all our majority churches. The Church of England is declining at the fastest rate. Yet, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark experiences a rather slow decline (see Kjems, chapter x). How can we explain this difference? In this chapter, we will outline church membership and affiliation for the two churches. Using theories explaining the declines, we will cautious compare the declines in the two churches. The discussion suggests that they may not be that different, but instead staggered in time. The British decline could hit Denmark during the next 30 years.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Persistence of Societal Religion. The Old National Churches of Northern Europe |
| Editors | Linda Woodhead, Hans Raun Iversen |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2018 |