Norway Abolishes State Church

[Mike-O]

This is pretty great news.

All parties of the parliament have accepted the changes to the constitution that will separate church and state in Norway, making Norway a secular state, dismissing the evangelic-lutheran church as the Church of Norway.

The King will no longer appoint bishops, this will be done by the congregation. After the change all religions will be treated on equal basis, although the values of the country will still remain based on Christian heritage. 80% of Norwegians are members of the church, but only a fraction goes to church regularly.

The abolishment will bring many changes. For one, the funding of the church will be completely re-organized as priests' salaries have been paid by the government until now. One solution would be to charge membership fees to pay for salaries, upkeep and programs in the future. There has also been a seat in the government for a Church Minister, but this will now be merged with another seat.

Although Nordic church nations are quite similar to each other, the reformation by Gustav I of Sweden left Finland and Sweden under a top-down roganization with bishops in the lead, while Norway and Denmark have had a more layman-inspired approach and organization.

But yeah, I hope this creates a domino effect around here.

 

[Dr.Gonzo]

thats good? seems like a pretty obvious thing to do, i didn't know countries still operated like that.

 

[LiquorLanch]

I'm not really sure how the clergy in Norway works but that sounds like a good idea. It's one less thing your taxes pay for which could potentially slightly lower taxes? And the churches will probably revert to what I believe the churches here in America do which is provide quarters for the priests and allocate small amounts of money to them for necessities.

 

[Bill.Nye]

Isn't Norway one of the most non-believing countries in the world anyway?

 

[Bateman]

Well most of Norwegians are, but theres a ton of muslims, hindu's and a handful of buddhists here aswell. Jews are somewhat more rare. Also christians, alot of norwegian christians.

Most people i meet are atheist or non-believing.

 

[Bateman]

also, i dont know if people are aware, but people seem to think that the king is the guy who runs this place. Well its not. He has basically no power. He just chills at his "castle" (pictured below) and visits elementary schools, and stuff like that.

Also, its our national day tomorrow. (YAY) Happy 17.th of may everyone.

And how Oslo looks like tomorrow and every 17.th of may

 

[Mike-O]

I fucking knew it, everyone turns into a child for a day! So you've discovered The Fountain of Youth.

Norway truly is the greatest country in the world.

 

[sherwood4099]

That is good news. Kinda of crazy that your government was paying priests salaries. Why did it take so long? Is it controversial at all over there or do people generally agree that it was archaic and time to rearrange the relationship between the state and that preticular church?

 

[Bateman]

I love that people have that opinion of Norway. Hellsyeah!

Tomorrow will be

However, ill be breaking tradition tomorrow.. ill be eating spear-ribs at t.g.i fridays. Treason?

 

[Mike-O]

Would be great to hear as well. At least in Finland many people are baptized when a few months old mostly due to tradition, some kind of cultural hegemony and the romantic dream for people to get married in a church for which you have to be a member. I only know one person who regularly goes to church, and she sings in the damn choir.

I think church is seen in Nordic countries not so much as a basket of faith but as a charity instituion and organization that just happens to spread the word of God.

 

[lofth]

spear-ribs ar t.g.i? gotta eat hot dogs all day...