Headline Of The Day

Via the Independent:

Thousands of people have resigned from the Lutheran church in Finland after its Archbishop said he rejoiced “with my whole heart” following the government vote to legalise same-sex marriage. According to Finland’s YLE, between the time that the vote went through on Friday and midnight on Saturday almost 7,800 people had resigned from the church using an online system that aims to ease people’s resignation. Each person who resigns their membership also resigns their commitment to pay taxes to the church, which is the Lutheran church’s main source of income in Finland, YLE reports. Comments left by people on the website suggest a sizable portion of the resignations were due to the comments made by the Archbishop of Finland, Kari Makinen. Makinen said on Friday that he supported the decision to legalise same sex marriage, which will see gay and lesbian couples in Finland be able to marry, adopt children and share the same surname, though it will take some time to pass into law. The first gay marriages are expected to take place in 2017.

Nearly 80% of Finns are registered with the Lutheran Church.