Authors

• Union of Freethinkers of Finland

Keywords

candidate selectors, church and state, evolution, parliamentary candidates, parliamentary elections, religious instruction, voting advice application

Abstract

The data contain the responses of parliamentary candidates and other users to the questions presented in the voting advice application created by the Union of Freethinkers of Finland. The application was created for the 2011 parliamentary elections.

The questions investigated whether the taxation rights of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Orthodox Church of Finland should be abolished, who should arrange burial services (the church, municipalities or private businesses), who/which bodies should have the right to officiate at weddings, should circumcision of boys be banned or allowed, and at what age people should be allowed decide for themselves whether to belong to a religious community or not. Further questions covered religious services in school, teaching of religion and ethics in school, religious programs on TV, and teaching of evolution in school.

Background variables included the date and time of using the candidate selector, the candidate's name, political party and electoral district, and other users' political party preferences and electoral district.