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330
III. CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION.
are adopted, partly borrowed from the revivalist movement and partly adapted
to the peculiar conditions of to-day, the bond is maintained with Luther
and the earlier Swedish tradition. Stress is laid on the work of those that feel
they have a call and the duties to the community. A religious concentration
is combined with positions theologically new, and with the consideration of the
great working resources of the National Church, to make Christianity effective
in modern life.
Lund Cathedral.
The Constitution of the Church. The Ecclesiastical Law of 1686 is
still in force, though with essential modifications and additions. In
many points and in general the principle is retained that the Swedish
Church is the people viewed from the religious side. The supreme
governor of the Church -is the King, who has Church affairs placed
before him by the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs.
As far as possible the principle was maintained that the Swedish Church
included the whole people. Foreigners, however, who belonged to other faiths
obtained the right of practising their religion freely; those of the Reformed Faith
in 1741, of other Christian confessions in 1781, and of the Jewish belief in 1782.
The constitution enacts that "the king may in nowise constrain the conscience
nor allow it to be constrained, but he must protect all and sundry in the free
exercise of their religion, so far as they do not thereby disturb the peace of the
community, or cause public offence". The consequences of this, with respect to
the native population, have been that, since the fifties, the old restrictive legal
enactments have been removed. Legislation obtained a practical completion by
the dissenting laws of 1873. Now everyone is free, but not below the age of 18,
to notify his withdrawal from the Swedish Church to another specified Christian
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