ARCTIC CIRCLES lain Robertson Something like 88% of Norwegians are members of the Lutheran state church, What this means in practice is that they pay a church tax which is used to support the church. Very few of these official church members will attend services anything like regularly, but the church tax ensures that the Lutheran church is much richer than the Church of England, The clergy are civil servants, paid by the state, and have a number of clearly-defined state functions to fulfil. It is for example built into the law that when there is a serious accident it is the local vicar, not the police, who must convey the news to relatives. The state-church connection carries over into education, where the Minister has the title Minister for Education and Church Affairs. Religious education along Lutheran lines is compulsory in schools (though there is an opt-out clause) and Confirmation preparation is often provided as part of the school timetable.
Virtually anyone whose job involves doing anything on church property must, by law, be a member of the state church, In a recent case in Bergen some Phillipino workers were dismissed from their posts as gardeners because they were Roman Catholics and would not become members of the state church. I myself, as a Catholic moving from Britain to work here as an organist, was surprised and dismayed to learn some months after taking up my appointment that my job could not be made permanent unless I joined the state church.
I regret to say that I was not as courageous as the Phillipinos and came to a working compromise. The Lutherans receive my church tax and the Catholics my collections! Fortunately this situation is coming to be recognised as unjust and changes in the law are under consideration.
Religiously, Norway is extremely conservative. While the state church is nominalluy Lutheran it holds under its wing a number of so-called ‘‘voluntary organisations’’ of a much more dour Calvinist hue. These organisations are sects in all but name, originating for the most part in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The roots of some lie in Lutheran pietist movements, others in revivalist movements which originated when the state church was part of the Danish administration and seen as a foreign influence. American pentecostalism has also exerted a considerable influence.
There is no doubt that it is the voluntary organisations which have long set the religious agenda in Norway.
They fight against liberalising the laws on alcohol, oppose the law allowing the registration of homosexual partnerships, and argue that Norway must keep out of the European Union because it is the Beast mentioned in Revelation! They are represented in most communities by “‘bedehus’’ (prayer houses), resembling Primitive Methodist chapels but officially part of the state. church, though there is often tension between the two. In their view, only evangelical Christians escape God’s damnation and all other religions are seen as satanic. They often run revival camps and conventions aimed at ‘‘winning youth for Jesus’’. Youth appears to enjoy this summer industry, but very few of the saved find their way into the local churches, If all this seems very bleak, it doesn’t constitute’ the whole picture. The education system encourages critical thinking, and most university students must begin their higher education by taking the Examen Philosophicum, an excellent introductory course in logic, philosophy of science and the history of western thought. Here they will be confronted squarely with clasic objections to Christian belief. For those interested in pursuing religious issues further there is an excellent theological faculty at the University of Oslo, and theology is studied by many who have no intention of becoming clergy, still less bedehus preachers!
Quite how the Sea of Faith approach would be seen in Norway is difficult to assess. Certainly the voluntary organisations which control the bedehus would see it simply as ‘‘atheist’’ and oppose it vigorously. On the other hand, it would, I imagine, be treated with great interest in the theological faculty in Oslo. An educated friend with whom I have discussed this kind of approach sees it as a very promising way of moving forward from the present polarisation of the churches and the Humanist Association. Both tend to hide behind barricades and snipe at each other. The notion that they might actually co-operate is novel, and perhaps long overdue.
Jain Robertson is one of fifty British organists in Norway. He lives at Stathelle.