Members flee Church of Sweden in droves

1 Dec 09

The Church of Sweden (Svenska Kyrkan) is bleeding members at an increasingly rapid pace, at the same time as membership rolls in Islamic, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Christian assemblies are on the rise.

Between November 2008 and October 2009, nearly 72,000 people, or roughly 1 percent of the church's 6.8 million members, asked to leave, according to church statistics reviewed by the TT news agency.

The number of people abandoning Sweden's largest church is roughly 20,000 more than the previous year.

Church of Sweden spokesperson Henrik Pederby was unable to point to any specific reason why more people are leaving the church. the rest