Religion in Denmark 2011: Presentation

Welcome to the e-yearbook Religion in Denmark 2011, 3rd volume.
The e-yearbook presents information annually on the approved religious communities, such as how many members they have. It has a special focus on religious minorities, but it also brings the latest figures about the Church. The e-yearbook Religion in Denmark 2011 is published by the Centre for Contemporary Religion at Aarhus University.

The recognized religious communities are only part of the religious landscape, e.g. less than 5% of Hindus in Denmark are members of recognized religious communities, while about a third of the 20-25,000 Buddhists living in Denmark are members of recognized Buddhist faiths. Of the approx. 220,000 Danish Muslims, about 10% are members of a recognized religious community.

Because of statistics from Statistics Denmark that specified the membership of recognized religious communities until 2001, we can compare membership figures for those communities such as ten or twenty years ago.

Several of the 'old' acknowledged or recognized religious communities have deteriorated.

Membership of Mosaisk Troessamfund (the Mosaic Religious Community) has declined 40% since 1990.

Baptistkirken (The Baptist Church) has gone from 5,886 in 1990 to 5,282 members in 2000 to 5,152 members in 2010.  

Jehovas Vidner (Jehovah's Witnesses) in the last 20 years lost approx. 2,000 members and also the Seventh Day Adventists have lost members. The two "Tibetan" groups Karma Kagyu School and the Karmapa Trust has, according to the figures had reduced their membership over the ten-year period to one fifth. It may be due to the "market", which has become more diverse with multiple offers.

While other faiths with can present a stable membership (e.g. Pentecostals), or a slight increase (e.g. Missionsforbundet (the Mission League) and Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)), the increase in membership for Den Katolske Kirke (the Catholic Church) is outstanding: Membership has increased by over 9,000 from 29,783 members 20 years ago to 39,067 in 2010.

This year's special focuses on religious education of children and adolescents in the approved churches.

Religion in Denmark 2011: Methodological approach

Introduction

The e-yearbook Religion in Denmark collects and presents statistics and information on approved and recognized religious communities in Denmark. In the period 1984 - 2001 such statistics were published by Statistics Denmark, but this ceased in 2001 even though it served as an important source for the description of religion in Denmark. Without these figures, one cannot see if there are fewer or more Christians, Muslims, Buddhists or whatever you might be interested in. You need to collect data covering a period of time in order to interpret the trends from this material in the wider perspective.

Who are we investigating?
We have contacted the recognized religious communities, which are listed at the Department of Family Affairs’ website. Some churches have closed down and some have refused to participate, either because they could not devote time to it or because they cannot or will not provide the information we ask for. The yearbook has limited itself to look at the approved / recognized religious communities, as it allows us to compare with figures from previous years’ statistics on these groups with the new figures from the yearbook. The approved / recognized religious communities are also expected to be easier to get in touch with and more willing to supply the information we ask for than other faiths. The figures in this yearbook do not comprehend all religious groups in Denmark, but only those communities that are recognized / approved.

What do we ask?
We have primarily asked for membership information. Although membership is not just important for all faiths, it gives an idea of ​​the size of a religious community is and whether it is growing or not. The number of buildings (churches, temples, mosques and centers) says something about where the established groups are and their financial capability, but it also reflects the geographic spread. The number of religious specialists (priests, imams, monks) may reflect the size of groups, but it also says something about the emphasis on having such resource persons. On the religious practice, we asked in order to get the estimated number of participants for weekly ceremonies / services, the most important festivals of the religions, and the most important rites of passage, including burials / cremations.

How do we ask?
We contacted the various groups by phone and / or e-mail in order to get the relevant information in numbers. If the community gives the relevant information on a website, we also used these. When we had no current figures from the community or from a website, data were adapted from the estimate of such total number of members from previous years, or other sources were referred to, e.g. Lene Kühle’s book Moskeer I Danmark (Mosques in Denmark) with information collected in 2004 / 5. For some of the migrant churches, information originates from Birthe Munck-Fairwood’s book, Andre Stemmer (Other Voices, 2004), and from the Churches’ Integration Ministry.

What limitations must be borne in mind when reading the figures?
The figures quoted are those handed to us by the churches. In some cases we received a number that did not seem credible and in such cases we have discussed the denominational membership concept and tried to obtain a more realistic figure. But it is obvious that membership is understood differently by members of different faiths. Some Christian churches count only baptized adults as members, while others include all with a specific background, such as orthodox, as (potential) members. Many Muslim groups estimate their membership in family units, while report their numbers per individual. Finally, some groups differentiated between active and supporting members and between paying / not paying or based on the actual number of participants in their ceremonies. How all these types can be converted to a comparable figure can thus be problematic, but we have tried to count adult active members as standard for the figures.

Who is behind the e-yearbook: "Religion in Denmark"?
Religion in Denmark has been prepared by researchers affiliated with the Centre for Contemporary Religion at the Faculty of Arts, University of Aarhus. The data collection has been led by Lene Kühle and Henrik Reintoft Christensen and performed by the staff at the Center in collaboration with the postgraduates Marc Andersen, Sara Jul Jacobsen and Rikke Gotfredsen. The Centre for Contemporary Religion is an interdisciplinary collaboration with a focus on the study of religion in Denmark today.

The e-yearbook Religion i Danmark 2011 is published by the Centre for Contemporary Religion at Aarhus University.