The dominant religion in Iceland is Christianity, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland claiming roughly 60% of the population, while a small but fast-growing Norse pagan movement, Asatru, gives the country one of the most distinctive religious landscapes in Europe. Iceland blends a long-established Lutheran state church with rising secularism, growing immigrant faith communities, and a remarkable revival of the pre-Christian beliefs that its Viking settlers once practiced. The result is a nation that is constitutionally Christian, culturally Lutheran, increasingly non-religious in practice, and quietly fascinated by the old gods of its founding sagas.
Iceland's Religious Demographics
The Church of Iceland (Thjodkirkjan), an Evangelical Lutheran body, is the official state church and the largest single faith group, accounting for around 60% of registered citizens — a figure that has steadily declined from over 90% in the late 20th century. Because Icelanders are registered to a faith group at birth and church membership is recorded by the national population registry, these numbers are unusually precise compared with most countries. The broad picture today looks like this:
- Church of Iceland (Lutheran): roughly 60% of the population
- Other Christian denominations: around 12%, including the Free Lutheran congregations of Reykjavik and Hafnarfjordur, plus a growing Roman Catholic community boosted by immigration
- Asatru (Norse paganism): over 1% and rising rapidly
- Unaffiliated, secular, or no religion: a substantial and growing share, well above 10%
- Other faiths: small communities of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and others, largely tied to immigration
The trend over the past two generations has been a steady drift away from the state church. Some of this reflects active disaffiliation — the church tax that follows membership gives Icelanders a practical reason to formally leave — and some reflects immigration that has diversified a once near-uniformly Lutheran society. Yet even Icelanders who leave the church often retain a strong sense of Lutheran cultural identity, marking life's milestones with church rites rather than weekly worship.
How Christianity Came to Iceland
Iceland was settled in the 9th and 10th centuries by Norse migrants who worshipped the gods of Norse mythology — Odin, Thor, Freyr, and others. The conversion to Christianity is one of the most famous episodes in the country's history. Around the year 1000 CE, with tension mounting between pagan chieftains and an increasingly Christian faction backed by the Norwegian crown, the matter was put to the Althing, Iceland's open-air parliament at Thingvellir.
The lawspeaker Thorgeir Thorkelsson, himself a pagan priest, was asked to decide. After a day and night under his cloak in contemplation, he ruled that all Icelanders should accept Christianity to preserve national unity — then, according to the sagas, threw his pagan idols into a waterfall now known as Godafoss, the "waterfall of the gods." The compromise allowed private pagan worship and certain old customs, such as eating horsemeat and exposing unwanted infants, to continue quietly for a time. This made Iceland one of the very few nations in history to adopt a new religion by peaceful parliamentary vote rather than through war or royal decree.
From Catholicism to the Lutheran State Church
For over five centuries Iceland was Roman Catholic, organized around two bishoprics at Skalholt and Holar, which became the island's great centers of learning, literacy, and manuscript production. Much of the medieval Icelandic literature that preserves the Norse sagas and Eddas was copied and kept by these church communities, an irony given that the texts record a pagan world the church had displaced.
The Reformation reached Iceland in the mid-16th century, imposed largely from Denmark, which then ruled the island. Resistance ended dramatically in 1550 when Jon Arason, the last Catholic bishop of Holar, was beheaded along with his sons. Lutheranism then became the established faith, monastic lands were seized by the crown, and the Church of Iceland has remained the state church ever since — supported through a church-tax system and named explicitly in the national constitution, which still obliges the state to "support and protect" it.
The Revival of Norse Paganism
One of the most striking features of modern Icelandic religion is the legal revival of the old Norse faith. In 1972 the Asatruarfelagid (Asatru Association) was founded and soon won official recognition as a registered religious body, allowing it to perform legally binding weddings, child-naming ceremonies, and funerals using Norse rites for the first time in roughly a thousand years. Membership has grown several times over since 2010, making it among the fastest-expanding faiths in the country.
The association has long been building a modern pagan temple, or hof, on a hillside overlooking Reykjavik — the first purpose-built Norse temple in Iceland since the Viking Age. Worshippers gather for blot, seasonal feasts held around the solstices and equinoxes that honor the gods with poetry, toasts, and shared meals. Modern Asatru is generally a tolerant, nature-centered, and inclusive movement, far removed from the political extremism sometimes associated with Norse symbolism elsewhere, and its leaders have publicly distanced the faith from any racial or nationalist interpretation.
Folklore, Faith, and Everyday Belief
Religious and folk beliefs blend seamlessly in Icelandic culture. Surveys repeatedly find that a large share of Icelanders will not rule out the existence of elves and "hidden people" (huldufolk), and road and construction projects have occasionally been rerouted to avoid disturbing rocks believed to be their dwellings. These beliefs are less a competing religion than a layer of national folklore that coexists comfortably with both Christianity and secular life.
Christmas, or Jol, fuses Christian observance with older Yule traditions, including the thirteen mischievous Yule Lads who visit children in the nights before December 25. The midwinter festival of Thorrablot celebrates Viking heritage with traditional foods such as fermented shark and storytelling. Confirmation in the Lutheran church remains a popular rite of passage even among nominally secular families, often marked with large gatherings and gifts. For more on the country's geography and culture, see our Iceland country guide.
Religion and the Icelandic State Today
Although Iceland maintains an established church, it also guarantees full freedom of religion, and citizens may register with any recognized faith group or none at all. A portion of income tax (the "parish fee," or soknargjald) is allocated according to a person's registered affiliation, funding the Church of Iceland, recognized minority faiths like Asatru, and secular humanist organizations alike. Debates over formally separating church and state surface periodically, reflecting the gap between Iceland's official Christianity and its largely secular daily life. For now, the arrangement endures: a constitutional Lutheran identity wrapped around one of the most religiously relaxed populations in the world.
Key Facts
- State church: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (Thjodkirkjan)
- Largest faith: Lutheran Christianity, roughly 60% of the population
- Year of conversion: around 1000 CE, by vote at the Althing at Thingvellir
- Reformation: Lutheranism imposed in the mid-16th century under Danish rule, completed by 1550
- Notable revival: Asatru (Norse paganism), recognized since 1972, fastest-growing faith
- Religious freedom: guaranteed by the constitution alongside the established church
- Folk belief: widespread cultural acceptance of elves and "hidden people" (huldufolk)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main religion in Iceland?
The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, represented by the Church of Iceland, the official state church to which roughly 60% of the population belongs, though membership has been declining for decades as the country becomes more secular and diverse.
Is Iceland a religious country?
Iceland is officially Christian and has a constitutionally established state church, but in practice it is highly secular. Regular church attendance is low, the share of unaffiliated people is rising, and many citizens treat religion as a cultural identity rather than active worship.
Do Icelanders still practice Norse paganism?
Yes. The Asatru Association, founded in 1972, practices a modern revival of the old Norse religion. It is officially recognized, performs legal ceremonies, and is one of Iceland's fastest-growing faith groups, even constructing the first new Norse temple in a thousand years.
When did Iceland become Christian?
Iceland adopted Christianity around the year 1000 CE through a vote at the Althing parliament at Thingvellir, a rare peaceful conversion brokered by the lawspeaker Thorgeir to avoid civil conflict between pagan and Christian factions.