wfn.org | Proposal to Loosen Church - State Ties in Norway

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

Commission Recommends Constitutional Change to Reflect
Multi-religious Society

OSLO, Norway/GENEVA, 19 April 2002 (LWI) - During spring all
Church of Norway parish councils are invited to comment on a
report proposing that the strong ties between church and state be
loosened. A church-appointed commission presented its
recommendations in March after conducting a four-year evaluation
on the church-state relationship in the country.

According to a Church of Norway press release, the November
General Synod will discuss the proposals presented in the
commission's report, "The Same Church - A New Order," and
incorporate comments from the parish councils. It is expected that
the government will appoint a state commission to follow up on the
issue after the 2002 synod.

A great majority of the commission members proposed that the
Constitution be changed in order to reflect the "multi-cultural
and multi-religious Norwegian society." Around 86 percent of the
Norwegian population belongs to the Church of Norway. Article 2 of
the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway states that "...The
Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion
of the State." The king, as the constitutional head of the church
exercises this authority through the Government Council of State,
which consists of the government together with the king. In
church-related matters, only government members who are also
members of the Church of Norway can vote. The parliament
(Storting) decides on church legislation and finances.

Rev. Dr. Trond Bakkevig, who moderated the commission stressed
that its report aims at a new policy that would provide religious
freedom for individuals and all religious communities as well as
active government support to such communities.

The commission calls for reforms on church members' right to vote.
Today parish councils are elected by all church members in the
parish, and all members can vote but only around three percent
participate. Only parish council members have the right to vote
when the 85 members of the General Synod are elected every four
years. The commission wants a change so that all church members
can have a direct vote in all church elections.

The commission also wants the right to appoint bishops and deans
to be transferred from the Government Council of State to a church
body. Since 1989 parish pastors-who had been chosen by the king
since 1660-have been appointed by diocesan councils.

The press release says that the report of the church
council-appointed commission may strengthen signs of a recent
change of attitude among politicians in the Norwegian parliament
on the church-state issue. Church and media observers seem to
agree that the strong ties between the two institutions would be
loosened in the next 10-15 years.

The 3.8 million-member Church of Norway has 1,300 parishes served
by 9,200 elected council members, 1,200 clergy and over 5,000 lay
employees. The church co-founded the Lutheran World Federation in
1947.

Out of a total population of 4.5 million, Norway's largest
non-Lutheran denominations are Pentecostals (46,000 members) and
Roman Catholics (42,000 members). The biggest non-Christian groups
are humanists (68,000 members) and Muslims (56,000 members).
Norwegian society has of late been reflecting its increasingly
multi-faith nature, particularly in urban areas. Two years ago
Muslims in the capital Oslo were granted the right to broadcast
their Friday call to prayer through loudspeakers. The Norwegian
Heathen Society-which claims there is no God-was also granted the
right to broadcast calls from a rooftop once a week, including the
call, "God does not exist." Until then, the only legal prayer
calls in Norway were the ringing of church bells.

(Ecumenical News International contributed to this report.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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