(literally 'church attendance duty') was the legal obligation of the population in
Sweden–Finland
Sweden–Finland ( fi, Ruotsi-Suomi; sv, Sverige-Finland) is a Finnish historiographical term referring to Sweden from the twelfth century to the Napoleonic Wars. In 1809, the realm was split after the Finnish War. The eastern half came to cons ...
to attend weekly
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
.
The obligation to attend church was abolished in Sweden with the
1809 Instrument of Government, but continued in Finland for some time. At the same time, the formal compulsion to take
communion ended. The abolition thus marked a first step towards
religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
in Sweden.
See also
*
Conventicle Act (Sweden)
The Conventicle Act ( sv, Konventikelplakatet) was a Swedish law, in effect between 21 January 1726 and 26 October 1858 in Sweden and until 1 July 1870 in Finland. The act outlawed all conventicles, or religious meetings of any kind, outside of the ...
– law outlawing religious meetings other than those of the state church
*
Kyrkoplikt
(literally: 'church duty') was a historical form of punishment, practiced in Sweden-Finland. It was a form of public humiliation in which the condemned was made to confess and repent of their crime before being rehabilitated and spared further pu ...
– a historical form of punishment
References
Notes
Sources
Sammanfattning ur Staten och trossamfunden, Rättslig reglering (SOU 1997:41)
History of the Church of Sweden
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
History of religion in Finland
History of religion in Sweden
{{authority control
19th century in Finland
19th century in Sweden
Legal history of Sweden