Leaving a Folk Church : Patterns of Disaffiliation from the Church of Sweden

• Why do members leave the Church of Sweden? We address this question by employing longitudinal micro-level data, including socioeconomic variables, rootedness in the local parish and relation to the church, on the entire population of Sweden. We draw from in-depth longitudinal panel data analyses in this article. In line with secularization theory and prior work, higher education and individual income as well as being male are positively associated with disaffiliation. Moreover, moving from local parish and especially being or becoming resident of the capital city of Stockholm are significantly associated with a higher probability of leaving the church. Drawing on the theory of civil religion, we also find support for being baptized and confirmed in the Church of Sweden still being antidotes to disaffiliation.

Keyword

Church of Sweden

nones

Secularization

church membership

church leaving

geography of religion

Sociology of Religion

Religionssociologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)