Gå ur Svenska Kyrkan

Dude, have you really done your research? You are making pretty bold claims right and left, without justification. "Swedish citizens born before 1996 automatically become members of the Swedish church- religious or not." No one is "made" a member anymore. This is a remnant from when church and state in Sweden was not separated. Post church state separation, you have to be baptized to become a member. "It wouldn't matter... if you didn't have to pay part of your income to them! Depending on where you live, you pay between 1-2% of your salary to the Swedish church." If you don't want to remain a member, you can leave. And if you pay close attention to your tax return you see the amount listed every single year, so all cards are on the table. But you make it sound like there's shady business involved, which is false. "You're allowed to leave, but they don't make it easy." Pick up the phone, send an email or fill out an online form. These are really some next level difficult tasks. Yes you have to sign a document with your name, but that's because the membership is connected to your taxes and you need to verify with your legal name and signature. "It's a great business they've got going" Dude, come on. It's the church. They help homeless people, sick and dying people at the hospitals, people in crisis etc. You keep making them sound like a shady corporation. "- Acquisition costs are 0 - you become a member automatically upon birth" Not true. If you are a member, the church pays for your baptism, confirmation, wedding, funeral (and gravestone maintenance after you're gone). So if you're determined to just look at the numbers (which I think is a silly thing to do) you are getting so much more than you're paying for. "- Most members are unaware that they are paying - it's not talked about a lot" I don't know how you do your taxes, but you are supposed to read through your documents before you send them in. And if people do that, they can see how much they are paying, so there are no hidden costs anywhere. "- Recurring revenue - a 1-2% royalty on productivity of millions of people..." Dude, call it what it is. A membership fee. If someone doesn't know where their money is going, even when it is spelled out clearly on your tax returns from the IRS, then they probably need to get a hold of their finances first. "- It's hard to opt-out - why would they make it easy to stop giving them money? The church asks you to print out a form (that's hard to find), sign with a blue pen (wtf?) and send to the congregation you belong to (which one do I belong to??). They make it hard. We make it easy." No it's not. You fill out a form online and send it via email or you can just pick up the phone and call the vicar. What you are describing is one of the alternatives. It's not the only way. And sure, you could argue that the membership shouldn't even be on the tax return (which is my opinion) but now that it is, of course you need to sign it, it's not only the church it is the IRS too. "Why did we build this? ----------------------------------------------- Leaving the church is free, but it's a lot of work to figure out how to do it. Over 20k people search every month about this, with little information to find. There's a few scammy sites out there that "help". They're often based in tax havens, charge WAY too much and don't deliver what they promise. We figured we could make things easy for the customer and make a small margin in the process." Dude, honestly. Why should someone give their money to you to help them leave the church? Here's the process: Send an email to your congregation where you live or call the vicar. Get a letter back that you sign and send back. DONE! And you've not spent a single dime on anything. Who is really trying to make the money here? Your process isn't much different from theirs. With your system you still require the signature. So it's not like this is a productivity game changing solution.