The dominant confessional space in Finland: a comprehensive characteristic

Aim. Is to present a comprehensive characterisation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF), which is the dominant confessional space of the country. One of the semantic emphases is the territorial differentiation of indicators reflecting structural changes in the religious organisation under consideration at the present stage.

Procedure and methods. The empirical data were collected on the official website of the ELCF, which, being a state structure, obligatorily records and publishes them in the public domain. The obtained quantitative data were processed with the help of calculation tools, traditional for regional-confessional studies. The main methods used were cartographic, descriptive, and mathematical and statistical. In order to identify the degree of regional differentiation of the changes that the dominant of the confessional space of Finland has undergone in recent decades, the calculation of the Ryabtsev index was used (it allows us to estimate the deviation of the ratios of the fixed actual set of components of the two structures from the maximum possible amount of discrepancy). On the basis of the quantitative data obtained, conclusions have been drawn about the nature of significant changes within the dominant character of the contemporary confessional space in Finland. The statistical material, which has not been previously involved in research on confessional topics, is generalised.

Results. The indicators of the negative dynamics of the number of parishioners of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in recent decades are reflected. A decrease in the degree of activity of their religiously conditioned behavior is confirmed. The territorial differentiation in the degree of manifestation of the activity of the majority religious organization is revealed.

Research implications. For the first time, the approbation of the institutional-territorial approach to confessional research in relation to the dominant religious space of Finland was presented. The results obtained can be used in practice in the development of a strategy for religiousstate relations at the national and regional levels. Especially taking into account the recorded decrease in confidence in the majority religious organization of Russia - the Russian Orthodox Church.

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