Bishops from three churches defended religious education in an opinion piece published in Helsingin Sanomat on 12 March 2026. Archbishop Elia of the Orthodox Church of Finland, Bishop Teemu Laajasalo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki of the Catholic Church emphasise in their article that the current model of worldview education takes religious minorities and the non-religious well into account.
According to the bishops, the proposal by a working group of the Ministry of Education and Culture to replace religious education with a common worldview subject would overlook the rights of minorities and fail to take sufficient account of children’s stage of development. They also remind readers that worldview education is connected to a child’s cultural and family background and to the formation of personal identity.
The article states that dialogue between different worldviews requires knowledge of one’s own worldview and that the current model should be developed rather than abandoned. Religious education, they argue, is not a relic of the past but part of the continuity of education and of the cultural roots of Finland.
The full text can be read on the website of Helsingin Sanomat:
Fides