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State and Religion in Norway STATE AND RELIGION IN NORWAY INGVILL THORSON PLESNER 2.1. The Evangelic-Lutheran Confession remains the public religion of the state. Inhabitants belonging to the Evangelical-Lutheran faith should raise their children in the same. 2.2. All inhabitants should enjoy the right to free exercise of religion. This is the two-fold and, some would say, self-contradictory paragraph 2 of the Norwegian Constitution. The first part of the paragraph dates back to 1814 when the constitution was formed as a part of the process of national liberation from the union with Denmark. The second part of the paragraph was added first in 1964 at the 150th anniversary for the constitution. This paragraph lines out the two basic principles or pillars in the Norwegian politics of religion, by a) providing a basis for the state church system, and b) underlining the right to freedom of religion or belief. In the first part of this article, the main characteristics of the Norwe- gian religio-political system are presented, with a focus on the relevant constitutional provisions, the Church Act of 1996 and the 1969 Faith Communities Act. Part two gives a brief overview over the main issues in the public discourse about freedom of religion or belief and state-church relations in the year 2000, addressing i.e. the efforts of Muslims to estab- lish a private Muslim primary school and the results of two trials where Secular Humanist as well as Muslims have claimed the right for their chil- dren to be exempted from religious education in the public primary schools. I. STATE CHURCH, CHURCH AUTONOMY AND EQUAL TREATMENT? The ideal of securing both church autonomy and equal treatment within a state church system at a first glance seems a contradiction in terms, and certainly can not fully be realised within such a system. Nevertheless, 318 I. THORSON PLESNER these are ideals manifested both in religio-political legislation, jurispru- dence and practice in Norway, as we shall see in the following. According to the Constitution it is the King as the head of the church (article 4)1 who has the right and responsibility to provide statutes for the church liturgy and see to that the teaching of the church is in accordance with the Evangelic-Lutheran confession and doctrine (article 16)2. Church matters are to be discussed by the members of the government that are “confessing the state religion” (art. 27), which in practice means those who are members of the Evangelical-Lutheran State Church (the Church of Norway). Because of this clause, the constitution also decides that at least half of the government should be members of the church (art. 12). The church reforms in Norway during the last years have had as their overall aim to extend the autonomy of the church in relation to the state. As a result of these reforms, a Church Synod – meeting once a year – and a permanent Church Council have been developed. The eleven Diocesan Councils (consisting of the bishop, a priest and five lay peo- ple) are delegates at the Church Synod, electing candidates for the Church Council and the Council on International and Ecumenical Affairs at the annual Church Synod. More and more power to make decisions in matters affecting the inner life of the church have been del- egated to these new church structures over the last years. As stated in the Church Act of 1996, both the authority to decide the content of the church liturgy and the right to give statutes on the use of the church buildings have been delegated to the Church Synod. The church law of 1996 is in many ways expressing the results of previous debates on church autonomy and state church relations in Norway. It goes further than the former Church Act of 1953 in securing the self-governance of the church at all levels, especially at the local level. With the 1996 Church Act, the local parishes have the status as legal entities with rights and duties before the law, with the only restriction that they are and shall be a part of the 1 “The King” as head of the church according to the Constitution is in practice the government – or more precisely the part of the government being members of the Evan- gelic-Lutheran Church (cf. article 12). 2 The wording of this article states that the King has an overall responsibility for all church meetings and ceremonies, and for making sure that all preachers and teachers of the state church follow the proscribed norms of the Evangelical-Lutheran religion. It is clear that this article neither by intention nor by interpretation gives the King any competence in supervising the teaching of other (Christian) communities or churches than the Church of Norway. STATE AND RELIGION IN NORWAY 319 Church of Norway (art. 2)3. In accordance with the new “autonomous” status of the parishes, the employment of other church staff at the local level and the local church administration in general are now a task for the newly developed regional church councils (consisting of two elected members of each parish in the region, one representative for the munic- ipal authority, and one rural dean or priest appointed by the bishop), and no longer the responsibility of the municipal authority. But the provision of financial resources for the activity of the local church, church buildings, graveyards and for the church staff at the local level that is not employed by the state, remains a responsibility of the municipal authorities (article 15). In 1969 the new Faith Communities Act replaced the former law on Christian free churches that had been regulating the freedom of religion of these Christian faith communities since 18454. The Faith Communi- ties Act of 1969 underlines the right of individuals of all confessions to free exercise of the right to religious freedom, alone or in community with others. By stressing the universality of this right, the law takes into account the growing religious pluralism in Norway5. It also follows up 3 The church law hence gives the church at the local level far more legal autonomy than the national church body, the Church Synod, enjoys. This makes it interesting to discuss briefly what has up to now been a theoretical question: whether the Church of Norway – as a corporation existing of parishes being legal persons – might deliver a complaint against the state before the court, demanding the right to religious liberty in a certain case. Or would such a move be rejected referring to the fact that the church as such is at the same time part of the public administration, given the constitutional provisions introduced above, with the King (the Government) as its head. If one argues that the parishes as legal per- sons at the municipal level can go to court accusing the state for interfering with their affairs, one would have to cope with the fact that the church law also states that the parishes cannot be separated from the Church of Norway (§ 2). Yet, if one concludes that a com- plaint before the national courts – and hence also before the Human Rights Court of Stras- bourg – is not possible, the legal identity of the church of Norway as a faith community would be severely challenged, because faith communities as corporations have a right to have their cases tested before the Strasbourg court. There is established case law in this field, in connection with article 9 of the ECHR (cf. i.e. Canea Catholic Church vs. Greece). 4 The development towards better protection of religious freedom for all groups of believers has been very slow in Norway. The paragraph guaranteeing the general right to religious freedom (article 2) was added to the Constitution in 1964 at the 150th anniver- sary of the constitution. The paragraph preventing Jews from settling in Norway was removed in 1851 and the paragraph excluding Jesuits in 1956. Interpretations by court and legal experts made clear that despite the exact wording of article 2 of the Constitution (free exercise of religion) this article also protect the rights of non-believers not to hold or express a religious view. 5 In the year 2000 about 85% of the Norwegian population are members of the state church. The secular humanist association of Norway (the Norwegian Humanist Association) 320 I. THORSON PLESNER the second paragraph of article 2 of the Constitution, stating that all cit- izens should enjoy the right to free exercise of religion. The provisions of the 1969 Act concerning the rights and duties of different faith com- munities have as a basic intention to secure a high degree of equal treat- ment for different religious communities in Norway. By also including provisions for the Church of Norway in this law it is clearly stated that the state church is also a faith community. In its first chapter, the Act of 1969 gives rules for the registration of members in the Church of Norway and other faith communities (art. 3 to 9), and underlines the principle that no one can be forced to join or stay a member of a faith community against her or his will (art.2 and 10). For the church of Norway some of these articles are also included in the Church Act of 1996. The second chapter of the law on faith communi- ties contains rules regulating the rights and duties of other faith com- munities. The faith communities can decide whether they want to be registered by the state (art. 12-17). Non-registered faith communities enjoy most of the rights as registered groups do.
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