In a radical revision of its relationship with the Norwegian government, the (Evangelical Lutheran) Church of Norway has voted to abolish the nation’s current system under which it was the nation’s official church.
The mid-November vote at the church’s General Synod meeting in Oyer, Norway, aims to bring to an end the state-church system that has been in place since 1537, when the then-united Denmark-Norway endorsed the Lutheran Reformation. The proposal still must be affirmed and implemented by the government and likely will not take effect until 2013.
Olaf Haraldsson, a Viking warrior king, brought Christianity to central Norway in the 11th century after converting during a raiding tour of England and imposed it on his local followers.
At the Oyer meeting, delegates voted 63–19 that the Church of Norway should no longer be referred to as a state church in the country’s 1814 constitution. Rather, they said, the church should be founded on a separate act of parliament.
The Norwegian Constitution also says the nation’s values are based on those of the Lutheran Church and stipulates that half of government ministers must be Church of Norway members.
In addition, the church meeting said the General Synod — not the king of Norway and the government — should exercise authority over church matters.
The vote by the synod follows a report issued in January by a government-appointed commission that recommended the changes to reflect Norway’s evolution to a modern, multifaith society.
"This would mean the biggest changes in the church for 400 years," Trond Giske, the government’s church minister, told Reuters in January when the commission report was released.
Jens Petter Johnsen, director of the Church of Norway’s national council, called the synod’s mid-November vote "historic."
"What matters is the relation between church and people, not between church and state," he said. "We will do our utmost to strengthen the service of the church in and with our people."
The Church of Norway has about 3.9 million members, representing some 85 percent of the Norwegian population. If the changes are implemented, Norway will follow neighboring Sweden, which separated church and state in 2000. (RNS)
Share with others: