NORINT 0500 Norwegian Life and Society in 04.11.2019 Hallgeir Elstad Religion in Norway Religion, state and society in Norway • The has represented the main expression of religious belief in Norway for a thousand years. • It has belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran branch of the Christian church since the 16th century, and became a state church. • The long tradition of having a Lutheran state church • This situation was changed by the Norwegian Parliament’s changes of the Constitution in May 2012 • Since 2017 the Church of Norway is not a state church anymore The Norwegian Constitution and Religion

• The Evangelical-Lutheran Religion is no longer the public religion of the state • All have • 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 King is member of the Church of Norway The Death of Olav Haraldson 1030 Christian III – the first Protestant King The Constitution of Norway, 1814 Consecration of the King in Nidaros Cathedral 1991 Consecration of the King and Queen

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23W0A a1p7Q

The Cathedral of Nidaros Church of Norway

• A majority church • Number of members (2019): 3,7 mill (70 %) • An episcopal-synodic structure. • 1.197 geographical parishes • Around 1.600 churches • 1.290 clergy

Church of Norway Church of Norway

• The General Synod convenes once a year and is the highest representative body, consists of 115 members. • The National Council is the executive body of the Synod, consists of 18 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.

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

Theological Tensions

• Strong resistance against the Registered Partnership Act of 1993 and same sex marriages of 2008 • Earlier the Norwegian Bishops' Conference and the General Synod have not wanted to introduce a liturgy for such marriages. • In April 2016 a great majority in the General Synod voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage • In October 2016 the Bishop’s Conference approved a gender neutral liturgy for marriages • In January 2017 a great majority in the General Synod voted in favour of a gender neutral liturgy for marriages

Folk Church

• This concept came to 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

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 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 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=kNN2vuP 2Nm0

Cathedral of Oslo became the focal point for grief:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlzeu 9OKlvk

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: 70 % of the population

• Baptized: 53.6 % - 30 331 (2018) • Confirmed: 57.9 % - 35 519 (2018) • Church weddings: 34.5 % - 7 331 (2015) • Church burials: 88.2 % - 35 998 (2018) Statistics

• Religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway: 655 236 (11.6 %) (2018) • More than half of the members (54 %), 355 070, were members of Christian communities – The Roman Catholic Church is greatest with its 157 000 members (2018); 1990: 19 000 • Islamic communities have 166 861 members (25.5 %), an increase of more than 26 per cent during the past four years – Islam is the largest religious community outside the Church of Norway • 17 351, 8 965, Baha’i 1140, Judaism 769, 3 654 (2017) • The Norwegian Humanist Organisation: 95 000 (14.5 %) (2018), an increase of 8 % since 2013.

Outside Church of Norway 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