Lestadian movement no longer steers members toward parties

The Lestadian movement no longer tells its members which parties they may vote for, a shift that could be reflected in Finland’s parliamentary elections next spring, Yle reports. Centre remains important to the movement, while the Christian Democrats and Finns Party have gained support, says Jouko Talonen, an emeritus professor of church history at the University of Helsinki.

In the past, the National Coalition Party and especially Centre were the parties most closely associated with Lestadians. Talonen says members now have more political freedom, particularly since the 2000s.

“The movement can no longer operate by calling people who vote for the Greens or the left in for religious questioning. The media would immediately react,” Talonen said.

In the 1970s, left-wing politics and communism were not accepted in the movement. So-called disciplinary meetings were held to address members who departed from its norms. Talonen said the meetings sometimes went too far and intruded on people’s private lives in problematic ways. They ended in the early 1980s, he said.

The Finns Party’s predecessor, the Finnish Rural Party, was also viewed with suspicion because it was considered too divisive in its criticism of the authorities. The Christian Democrats’ predecessor, the Finnish Christian League, was seen as too ecumenical because it crossed boundaries between denominations.

Three reasons for the shift

Talonen points to three reasons why the movement’s relationship with party politics has changed. First, the profiles of Centre and the National Coalition Party have shifted from parties associated with “home, religion and fatherland” towards economically conservative politics, he said, with those traditional values becoming less prominent.

Second, the spread of information and the arrival of the internet have made it harder for even a close-knit religious community to control what people know or make their views uniform. Political disagreements can now be discussed much as they are among Finns generally, Talonen said.

The third reason is the younger generation, which continually brings change, he said.

Centre’s influence has waned

Centre has changed substantially over recent decades and is now, in Talonen’s view, a liberal party in which members of local peace associations, who are Conservative Laestadians, can follow their own conscience. Alcohol policy is one issue on which they may take a distinct position, he said.

The influence of Lestadianism on Centre’s policies was discussed particularly during the 2015–2019 premiership of Juha Sipilä, who belongs to the Peace Word branch of Lestadianism. Talonen said the idea that Centre would strongly accommodate Lestadian interests is now a thing of the past. Since the 1990s and 2000s, he said, the party has no longer been guided by the movement.

Lestadianism is a revival movement within the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Its largest branches include Conservative Laestadianism, estimated to have more than 100,000 members, with a strong presence in Northern Ostrobothnia, the Oulu region and Koillismaa; Firstborn Laestadianism, with about 12,000 people in Finland; and the Peace Word movement, a theologically more flexible grouping with about 7,000 members in Finland.

Talonen said the movement’s teachings and values have clearly influenced individual members’ political views and voting behaviour. He cited strict abstinence as one value reflected in opposition to measures that would expand access to alcohol.