Denmark

Denmark is the smallest of the Nordic countries and, since 1849, a constitutional monarchy. A majority of Danes, 82.1% (as of January 2008), are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark—by Section 4 of the constitution, the state church, officially headed by the queen of Denmark. Pastors in the Church of Denmark are civil servants employed by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs, which also constitutes the head of administration. The economic base of the Church of Denmark is state-collected church taxes combined with a direct state subsidiary (12%), which symbolically covers the expenses of the Church of Denmark to run the civil registration and the burial system for all citizens.

The high membership rate and wide use of church weddings, baptisms, and burials combined with a church attendance rate of about 2% has stirred debates on the status of religion in Denmark: Is Denmark a society without God, or does the Church of Denmark function as a carrier of national identity in a civil religious manner?

The approximately 200,000 Muslims constitute the largest minority religion in Denmark. Most of the Muslims are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, the major groups being Turks, Pakistanis, Bosnians, Somalis, Iranians, and Palestinians, but there are also an estimated 3,000 converts to Islam. Efforts to establish strong umbrella organizations for Danish Muslims have been unsuccessful, though many Muslims acknowledge the need for official spokespersons for the Muslims. Most prayer halls are situated in apartments, cellars, and old factory buildings; of the few custom-built mosques, only one—a mosque built by the Ahmadiyya community—displays its identity on the outside. A Muslim cemetery was inaugurated in 2006.

Other large denominations include about 50,000 Catholics and 15,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. The European headquarters of Scientology is situated in Copenhagen.

Denmark has a strong tradition for substantial (75%) state support for private schools. Some 20 Muslim free schools, 22 Catholic schools, a Jewish school, and several Free Church–supported schools have been established on state support. The about

100 recognized/approved religious communities may receive tax-deductible donations and perform legally valid marriages, and they are exempted from various taxes, including real estate tax.

The world's attention fell on Denmark during the 2006 cartoon crisis, when the publication of 12 cartoons of the Prophet in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper provoked strong reactions in the Muslim world, leading to what has been called Denmark's most serious foreign policy crisis since World War II.