Swedish Churches

Many towns that we travel through have churches, mainly Lutheran, that are typically no-frills white structures. These reflect a 1000-year history of Christianity in the country, though religion now plays a minor role in Swedish life. Christianity supplanted paganism as the main religion in Sweden in the 11th century, and the country has been largely Lutheran since the 16th century. From the 1530's until 2000, the Lutheran Church of Sweden was the state church. Sweden is now one of the least religious countries in the world: in a 2009 Gallup poll, 16.5% answered "yes" to the question "Is religion an important part of your daily life?; only Estonia, at 16%, was lower (the figure in the United States, by comparison, was 65%). Only 2% of Swedes are regular church attendees (compared to 40% in the US), and only 18% believe there is a god (compared to over 90% in the US).

There are approximately 500,000 Muslims (5% of the population), making Islam the second largest religious group in Sweden. Approximately 2% of the country is Roman Catholic, and the Jewish population is very small at approximately 20,000.

After a 57-mile ride today, we're now in Eskilstuna, Sweden's 15th largest city with a population of 65,000.

A sampling of churches from our travels in Sweden

More sights from our ride today

Dinner outdoors in Eskilstuna