Denmark Accused of Favoring Evangelical-Lutheran Church

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, MAY 29, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Danish citizens accused their country at the European Court of Human Rights of seriously marginalizing religious confessions in favor of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

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Joern Arpe Munksgaard, the group´s spokesman, told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that the citizens are protesting the fact that Danish taxpayers, regardless of their religious confession, pay the salaries of Lutheran pastors.

The group also said that birth certificates are handed out by the offices of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, which in Denmark is a state church.

The accusation also says that burials are more expensive for people who do not belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran community.

Moreover, theology scholarships are only allocated to university theology students, marginalizing students of religious institutions of other confessions, the accusation contends.

The group, composed of Catholic citizens, had earlier presented a consultation on these issues to the Danish Ministry of Worship but received no reply.

The Evangelical-Lutheran Church comprises 84.7% of Denmark´s population of 5.3 million. Islam is the second religion (3% of the population), followed by other Protestant denominations and the Catholic Church, which together represent 3% of the population.

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