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The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (the church of Denmark or the people's church of Denmark) (Danish:Den Danske Folkekirke) is a state church and is the largest Christian church in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands[1]. It is a Lutheran body, and is officially supported by the government. The Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs is the highest administrative authority in the Church. The current Minister is Bertel Haarder. The Danish parliament ("Folketinget") is the supreme legislative authority for the church.
According to official statistics from January 2006, 83% of Danes are members of the state church [1], although less than 5% of their members attend weekly services. Church life is organized in 12 dioceses and around 2,000 parishes.
All Danes baptised in the Danish Lutheran Church become automatically members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark ("Folkekirken"). Danes baptised in other religious groups and denominations, including other Lutheran bodies, do not automatically become members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark; they have to actively seek application for it. It is not possible to be a member of two or more religious groups or denominations in Denmark.
From the time a Dane starts paying taxes to the Danish government, all who are members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark also automatically start to pay church tax. Depending on municipality, this is between 0.42 and 1.51 per cent of the taxes. Chapter VII, §68 of the Constitution of Denmark ensures that people are not obliged to support any religion other than their own, thus church tax in Denmark is not compulsory, but a choice.
This automatic appliance of church taxes to members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark has been a constant debate in Denmark for years that surfaces every so often. While the choice of not having to pay church taxes is as easy as a phone call to the local church office in the municipality one lives in, many people feel that it should be the other way around: one should have to actively seek to pay church taxes, not to avoid paying them. On ceasing payment of church taxes one also ceases to be a member of the Lutheran Church of Denmark.