page_title: Christianity in Denmark
section_title: Lutheranism
hierarchical_section_title: Christianity in Denmark / Lutheranism
context_page_description: Christianity is a prevalent religion in Denmark; 25% of Danes believe Jesus is the son of God, and 18% believe he is the saviour of the world. 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.
  Denmark has Lutheranism as the state religion, as such its culture is heavily influenced by Christianity.
context_section_description: According to official statistics from January 2019, 74,7% of the population of Denmark are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (Den danske folkekirke), the country's state church since the Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein, and designated "the Danish people's church" by the 1848 Constitution of Denmark.
  This proportion is down by 0.6% as compared to the preceding year and 1.2% down compared to two years earlier. However, in similar fashion to the rest of Scandinavia, and also Britain, only a small minority (less than 5% of the total population) attends churches for Sunday services. In addition, the number of people leaving the Church has been on the rise: in 2012 21,118 Danes left the Church, an increase of 55% in comparison to 2011. Individuals automatically become members when baptized, as most people born in Denmark are at birth, and cannot leave of their own accord until they are 18 years old. Members are not informed of their membership or their ability to leave. Further, there are no standard formulas for leaving the church; one must personally contact the priest or office of one's parish.
caption: St. Canute's Cathedral, Odense
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