Church of Norway - Current Issues

Current Issues

Norwegians are registered at baptism as members of the Church of Norway, many remain in the state church to be able to use services such as baptism, confirmation, marriage and burial, rites which have strong cultural standing in Norway.

76.9% of Norwegians were members of the state Church of Norway as of 2011, a 1,1% drop compared to the year before and down nearly 10% from ten years earlier. However, only 20% of Norwegians say that religion occupies an important place in their life (according to a recent Gallup poll), making Norway one of the most secular countries of the world (only in Estonia, Sweden and Denmark were the percentages of people who considered religion to be important lower), and only about 3% of the population attends church services or other religious meetings more than once a month. Baptism of infants fell from 96.8% in 1960 to 66.4% in 2011, while the proportion of confirmands fell from 93% in 1960 to 65.2% in 2008. The proportion of weddings to be celebrated in the Church of Norway fell from 85.2% in 1960 to 37.1% in 2011. The proportion of funerals has remained on a high level: in 2011 91,6% of all funerals took place in the Church of Norway.

In spite of the relatively low level of religious practice in Norwegian society, the local clergy often play important social roles outside of their spiritual and liturgical responsibilities. A survey conducted by Gallup International in 65 countries in 2005 found that Norway was the least religious among the Western countries surveyed, with only 36% of the population considering themselves religious, 9% considering themselves atheist and 46% considering themselves "neither religious nor atheist".

For a long time the Church's membership registry was of poor quality due to the traditionally tight connection between church and state, even listing a considerable number of people of other faiths. This fault is gradually being corrected.

While an increasing number of women have entered the priesthood and several have become bishops, there is still a small but highly vocal opposition to women clergy.

The standpoints of certain liberal-leaning bishops on whether practising homosexuals should be permitted to serve as priests is under continuous debate, and is still considered very controversial, not least among gay people. In 2007, a majority in the General Synod voted in favour of accepting people living in same-sex relations into the priesthood, while at the same time rejecting same-sex marriages. In 2008, the Norwegian Parliament voted to establish same-sex civil marriages. This question has created much unrest in the Church of Norway and seems to serve as a trigger for conversions to independent congregations and other churches.