Religion is a part of the Finnish curriculum. According to the law, religious instruction does not involve practicing religion; it is a compulsory subject for all pupils who are members of a Christian church and instruction must be pedagogically justified. Every pupil is entitled to receive instruction in his or her own religion. If the school has a minimum of three pupils who belong to the same religious denomination, then religious instruction for that denomination is arranged for them.
The objectives of the instruction are to familiarize the pupil with his or her own religion and with the Finnish spiritual tradition, introduce the pupil to other religions and educate the pupil in ethical living.
Instead of instruction in religion for those pupils who do not profess any religion there is instruction in ethics. The objectives in ethics studies is to help the pupils to develop their identities and philosophies of life, educate the pupils to act in ethical way, gain an understanding of the principles of human rights, tolerance and justice. The average number of weekly lessons in religion or ethics is one.
The Finns are very homogenous when it comes to religion: 84 per cent of the population belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Orthodox Church has 60 000 members, and there are also about 9 000 Roman Catholics. Other significant Christian groups in Finland include Pentecostals, who number just under 60 000, i.e. around 1 per cent of the population. Other Christian movements are represented by a few tens of thousands of members. There are more than 20 000 Muslims in Finland, and this figure is gradually growing due to immigration. 13,5 per cent of the population are not registered with any religious domination.