Spirituality School Controversy
On 22 June 2007, Märtha Louise and business partner, former ship mechanic Elisabeth Samnøy, announced the planned opening of a new private school, Astarte Education, in Oslo. According to the information on the company's official webpage, the school will offer a three-year program, at the cost of 12,000 Norwegian kroner (about $2100 US) per semester, in which students will be introduced to the techniques of healing and reading. Märtha Louise also promised that the school will teach students to communicate with angels. The slogan of the school is "Use angels and your own power to create miracles in your life". The course began on 22 August 2007 and the classes filled up immediately. The address listed on the website is the princess' own home address at her home in Lommedalen, west of Oslo, and the phone number listed on the official website is the Royal Palace phone number.
The princess has come under media scrutiny in Norway after the announcement, with some, such as the newspaper Bergens Tidende, calling for her to give up her royal titles. Swedish author and columnist Jan Guillou urged Märtha Louise to "seek treatment". Norwegian state director of Health Lars E. Hanssen, prominent Norwegian alternative medicine advocate Dr. Bernt Rognlien, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), religious historian Asbjørn Dyrendal and University of Oslo theology professor Inge Lønning all expressed misgivings about the princess' plans. Norwegian televangelist Jan Hanvold accused the princess of "blasphemy" and said she was "an emissary from hell."
On 11 August 2007, Märtha Louise defended the school on NRK, the Norwegian public service television network.
Read more about this topic: Emma Tallulah Behn
Famous quotes containing the words spirituality, school and/or controversy:
“Zen ... does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”
—Alan Watts (1915–1973)
“School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.”
—Ivan Illich (b. 1926)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)