page_title: Religion in Sweden
section_title: Germanic Heathenism
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Sweden / Religions / Germanic Heathenism
caption_attribution_description: English: Forn Sed: Sveriges Asatrosamfund (i.e. The Swedish Asatru Society) holding a blót (an Asatru ceremony). The three ceremony leaders at the Spring blót in the ancient monument Ale stenar near Kåseberga at Österlen in Scania in the south of Sweden in connection with the Annual Thing och the Society 26th April 2008. Note that the altar is the actual ground, and that the cult images has the simple forms of symbolic genitals for the fertility deities (a male genital for the Old Norse god Freyr and a female genital for the Old Norse goddess Freyja). Svenska: Forn Sed: Sveriges Asatrosamfund håller blot. De tre blotförättarna från vårblotet i fornlämningen Ale stenar vid Kåseberga på Österlen i Skåne i samband med samfundets årsting 2008-04-26. Notera att altaret är själva marken och att gudastöttorna har formen av en stiliserad fallos för Frej och en stiliserad vulva för Freja. Foto av Gunnar Creutz. This is a picture of an archaeological site or a monument in Sweden, number Valleberga 20:1 in the RAÄ Fornsök database.
context_page_description: Religion in Sweden has, over the years, become increasingly diverse. Christianity was the religion of virtually all of the Swedish population from the 12th to the early 20th century, but it has rapidly declined throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.
  Christianity came to Sweden as early as the 9th century mainly as a result of an expansion in trade. The ancient Nordic religions were slowly replaced. Several centuries later all monarchs were Christian and Christianity became the established official religion. The church belonged to the Catholic Church until 1527 when the Swedish state church was established as a Protestant church based on Lutheran principles, following the Protestant Reformation enacted by Martin Luther which converted most of Germanic Europe. The Lutheran Church of Sweden was formed and remained the official religion of the Christian state until the turn of the 21st century.
  In recent years, the Swedish religious landscape has become increasingly diverse, with Christians comprising in 2016 some 67.8% of the total population and rising numbers of people of other religions and people who don't belong to any church.
context_section_description: Germanic Heathenry, the contemporary continuation of ancient Germanic religion, is represented by various organizations, including the Nordic Asa-Community (Nordiska Asa-samfundet), the Swedish Forn Sed Assembly (Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige) and the Community for Nordic Faith (Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed). The Nordic Asa-Community, despite being the most recently founded amongst the three (it was founded in 2014), has quickly grown to become the largest Heathen organization in Sweden.
caption: Members of Forn Sed Sweden holding a sacrifice.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "Z800", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:04:28 13:59:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "300", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "582", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6262", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:04:26 19:09:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:04:26 19:09:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "405", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "338", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "456"}