The concept of a State Church is rather foreign today, especially here in the US where we try to have a firm barrier between Church and State. When we talk about a State Church, this implies that The Church (whatever religion that may be) is supported by the government. The Church then becomes an actual arm of the government.
There are many ramifications from having the church be so closely tied to the government. These include such things as:
- Tax money supports the church. This is the policy regardless of the religious affiliation of the citizens.
- The priests and clerks are essentially government employees.
- Church records are state vital records. This is the big one for us researchers.
When we do our research in European countries, it’s helpful to consider the relationship between the church and the state. It’s also good to note which religion is tied to the government. While a country may have a designated state church, this does not mean that only one specific sect existed there. We may see splinter religious groups who also kept records, although those records are not part of the official state church records. One example of this is in England where the Church of England is the state church, but there were several other religious groups, such as Methodists and Quakers.
In Scandinavia the state church from about the year 1530 was the Lutheran church. As such, the Lutheran Church records serve as the state vital records for our ancestors in Scandinavia until later years, in the 20th century, when Civil Registration became the government’s records. In the most recent years, we are starting to see a more official separation of the church from the governments in Scandinavia. As of January 1, 2017 the Norwegian government no longer recognizes an official state church. Sweden made this split between church and state in the year 2000.