NORINT 0500 Norwegian Life and Society

Religion in Norway26.10.2015

Hallgeir Elstad

Religion, state and society in Norway

• The long tradition of having a Lutheran state church (since the 16 century)

• This situation was changed by the Norwegian Parliament’s changes of the Constitution in May 2012

• The Evangelical-Lutheran Religion is no longer the public religion of the state

• All Norwegians have freedom of religion • The Church of Norway is an Evangelical-Lutheran Church and

remains as Norway’s Folk Church • For this reason it shall be supported by the state, and all life

stand communities shall according to their number of members be supported in same way.

The Constitution of Norway, 1814

Church of Norway

• A majority church• Number of members

(2014):

3 835 973 (74 %)• An episcopal-synodic

structure. • More than 1.250

geographical parishes • Around 1.600 churches • More than 1.200 clergy

Church of Norway

Church of Norway

• The General Synod convenes once a year and is the highest representative body.

• The National Council is the executive body of the Synod, consists of 15 members.

• The Bishops' Conference convenes three times a year

• The Council on Ecumenical and International Relations deals with international and ecumenical matters.

• The Sami Church Council deals with church work among the indigenous Sami people.

The official symbol of the Church of Norway

Theological tensions

• There are strong theological tensions between different groups in the Church

• Over several decades of the second half of the 20th the church conflict revolved around the question of legitimacy of female pastors

• The first female pastor, Ingrid Bjerkås, was ordained in 1961• The first female bishop, Rosemarie Køhn, was ordained in

1993.• Strong resistance against the Registered Partnership Act of

1993 and same sex marriages of 2008• The Norwegian Bishops' Conference and the General

Synod have not wanted to introduce a liturgy for such marriages. This could be changed in 2016.

Ingrid Bjerkås

• Ingrid Bjerkås was ordained in Vang Church, near Hamar, as Norway's first female priest:

• http://www.nrk.no/skole/klippdetalj?topic=nrk:klipp/717317

Folk Church

•This concept came to Scandinavia from Germany (Volkskirche).

•Schleiermacher: Volkskirche was a church of freedom from ecclesiastical power and bureaucracy, a church for freedom and pluralism.

•Later 'Volkskirche' got another shaping in the program for a home mission.

•In addition to these two concepts of ‘Volkskirche’, the 'Norwegian folk church' contains some of the same ambiguity as the concepts of people and nation

Folk Church (Valberg Church, Lofoten)

Nidaros Cathedral

Church and welfare state

• A historical relation between the Lutheran tradition and the Nordic welfare states

• An important precondition building a welfare state is literacy among the people.

• The church administered the schools and the poor relief

• The Lutheranism has been one of several important factors that have contributed to the building of the Nordic welfare states.

The church and July 22

• Traces of a mentality linked to the historical Norwegian church were displayed after the terror attacks in Oslo and on Utøya July 22 2011

• On Sunday July 24, the sunday service in the Cathedral of Oslo became a Mourning Service

• The Cathedral of Oslo became the focal point for grief

• The importance of church rituals

• Sunday July 24, the sunday service in the Cathedral of Oslo:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNN2vuP2Nm0

Cathedral of Oslo became the focal point for grief:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlzeu9OKlvk

A Church minister and an imam together at the funeral of Bano Rashid– after Utøya 2011

Some consequences of changed relations • The responsibility for appointments of

bishops and deans is no longer a task for the Government but for diocesan councils (appointment of deans) and the board of the National Council (appointment of bishops).

• For the time being, Church of Norway has no proper church order

Religion is more than Church of Norway• Although Church of Norway has an important role

concerning religious life in Norway the concept of religion and life stance has become much wider.

• This process of pluralization started in the middle of the 19th century with the first steps towards freedom of religion

• It accelerated from the 1970s at the same time as the Norwegian society went through strong changes.

Statistics

• Church of Norway: 74 % of the population

• The percentage of baptized: 59 % (2014)• The percentage of confirmed: 63 % (2014)• Church weddings: 35 % (2014)• Church burials: 90 % (2014)

Statistics

• Religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway: 587 400 (11 %) (2014)

• Other Christian denominations: 337 300 (57 %) (2014)– The Roman Catholic Church is greatest with its 140 000

members, an increase of 16 %• Islam: 132 000 (22,5 %), an increase of 9 %

– 1990: 19 000• Buddhism 17 000, Hinduism 7 400, Baha’i 1127, Judaism 781,

Sikhism 3 363 (2014)• The Norwegian Humanist Organisation: 86 444 (15 %)

(2014)

Outside Church of Norway

Diversity of religion

• The changes regarding religious statistics referred to above, are partially related to migration and ethnic and cultural diversity, which are changing the composition of the Norwegian population.

• Religious pluralism implies diversity of religion. Increasing membership numbers of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway reflect a quantitative pluralisation of religion in Norway. Through a wider range of various religious communities a quantitative diversification also takes place.

The mosque in Åkebergveien, Oslo

Belief and non-belief

• Surveys covering religion also indicate religious changes. • A decreasing number of respondents saying they believe in

God, while the number of those responding they do not believe in God is increasing.

• God has become less important in people’s lives. • These changes of statistics can be interpreted as an impact of

secularisation. • Religion and its role in society are changing, but that does not

necessarily mean a weakening of religion.• Secularity in Nordic context is rather an intertwinement

between secularity and religion

The future of religion i Norway

• The decline of membership rate and participation in ceremonies within the Church of Norway probably will continue but also the intertwinement of secular and sacred

• A wider range of various religious communities increase and at the same time more diversification will take place.

• To meet the new situation with increasing multi-religiousness and pluralism the Church of Norway has chosen dialogue and co-operation.

• the hope for future is to avoid violent conflicts based in religious differences, cultures and ethnicities