The Swedish Commission for Government Support to Faith Communities Nämnden för

Statligt Stöd till Trossamfund

Nämnden för statligt stöd till trossamfund (SST) [the Swedish Commission for Government Support to Faith Communities] is a government authority. One of its roles is to provide government support to faith communities. The government decides which faith communities are entitled to receive state support. No support is provided to the Church of via the SST. Financial support from the government for the is provided in some other way.

Government support is intended to help faith communities to conduct active and long-term religious activities in the form of religious services, spiritual care, education and pastoral care.

Three kinds of grants are provided:

 Organisational grants.  Working grants, provided for spiritual care in hospitals, etc.  Project grants, which include grants for premises for religious activities.

Government grants are only provided to faith communities which help to maintain and enhance the fundamental values that are essential to society, which are stable and which have their own independent vitality.

The SST’s tasks

 Providing government grants  Providing general support to faith communities  Coordinating the roles of the faith communities in coordinating emergency planning  Providing a discussion forum on values, respect, tolerance, etc.  Acting as an expert authority in dealings with the government with regard to general questions and projects involving faith communities and religion.

The SST and emergency planning by faith communities

Disasters such as the 2004 tsunami in Asia showed how important it was for the country’s various municipalities to have contacts in their multicultural local societies.

The Church of Sweden (which was the state church up until 1 January 2000) has been involved in emergency planning within society for a long time. The role of the SST is to shape cooperation with other faith communities: the Buddhist community, Catholics, orthodox and other Christians, and also the Muslim, Jewish and Mandean communities.

Many of these communities have premises, committed members and parish workers which may be potentially useful. However, they also have traditions, services and rites intended to express grief and pain as well as hope and solace.

Faith communities:

CHRISTIANS

Free Churches InterAct The Adventist Church Joint Future (A union of The , The Methodist Church and The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden) The Pentecostal Movement The Salvation Army The

Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches The Armenian Apostolic Church The Assyrian Church of the East The Bulgarian Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church The Eritrean Orthodox Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Church The Finnish Orthodox Church The Greek Orthodox Church The Macedonian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church The Swedish Orthodox Deanery The Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia The Syrian Orthodox Patriarchal-Vicariate of Sweden

Evangelical Lutheran Churches The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden The Hungarian Protestant Church in Sweden The Icelandic Evangelical Church in Sweden The Latvian Lutheran Church in Sweden The Mission Society Bibletrue Friends The National Evangelical Missionary Society The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden

Other Christian Churches The Anglican Church in Sweden The Catholic diocese of Stockholm (covering the whole of Sweden)

JEWS The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities

MUSLIMS The Swedish Muslim Federation The Union of Islamic Cultural Centers in Sweden The United Islamic Associations in Sweden The Swedish Islamic Federation The Shia Muslim Alliance in Sweden The Bosniak Islamic community

BUDDHISTS The Swedish Buddhist Union

MANDEANS Mandean Sabian Community

Contact details

Postal address: Box 14038, SE-167 14 Bromma, Sweden E-mail: [email protected] Visiting address: Gustavslundsvägen 18, 2 tr, Bromma, Sweden Tube and Tvärbana: Alviks torg Website: www.sst.a.se

Tel. no.: +46 (0)8 453 68 70 Bank giro: 781-7364 Fax: +46 (0)8 453 68 29 Corp. reg. no.: 202100-5141

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