Norway

With a population of 4.7 million, Norway has made the transition from an industrial society to an information and welfare society with an oil-based economy. The large majority of Norwegians continue to be members of the national Lutheran church, which has the King of Norway as its head, but there are trends toward more diversity in the religious landscape.

Since the 1970s, a growing number of Norwegians have moved away from the Church of Norway. From 1974 to 1999 membership went down from 93% to 87%, infant baptism from 96% to 79%, confirmation from 93% to 72%, and church weddings from 84% to 54%. Some have joined other churches, some remain outside any religious community, and others have joined the growing Norwegian Humanist Association (Human-Etisk Forbund), which had 80,0000 members as of 2007.

Parts of the decline in church membership can be explained by changes in the Norwegian population due to immigration. In 2007, almost 9% of the population were members of faith communities outside the Church of Norway, and this number continues to grow. The Christian church that is experiencing the most growth is the Roman Catholic Church (51,508). However, the largest community of faith outside the church is Islam (79,068). Buddhists have 10,753 members; Hindus, 4,098; Sikhs, 2,444; and Jehovah's Witnesses, 14,756. The new religious diversity has led to changes in public policies. The traditional course in Christianity in public schools has been replaced by a new interfaith course. Although all registered religious communities, including the Church of Norway, receive an equal amount of public funding based on membership, the Church of Norway has maintained a privileged position in the military, prisons, and public hospitals. Thus, ties between church and state are under pressure, and there are calls for reforms.

[Page 949]Most Norwegians consider religion to be a private matter. According to a 1998 survey, 76% believe in God or a higher power, but only 10% attend church once a month or more. The content of the Christian tradition has changed to a more subjective turn, even among religious professionals. The older generation relates religion to duty and morality to religion and the law. The younger generation connects religion to their true inner self and morality to individual responsibility. Gender also structures religion. Women are more religious than men, and the two genders speak of religion differently. Women tend to see religion as a source of meaning, whereas many men view it as a moral factor. With the growing diversity and generational divide, the Norwegian religious landscape is undergoing change.

Norway's tolerant acceptance of multiculturalism was the target of a horrendous terrorist attack by Andres Behring Breivik on July 22, 2011. Breivik killed 8 in a bomb blast in downtown Oslo and 69 in an automatic weapon assault on a nearby youth camp. According to his 1500-page manifesto posted online shortly before the attack, Breivik imagined that he was precipitating a new Christian crusade against the rising presence of Muslims in Europe permitted by liberal social policies. During the national grief that followed the attacks, Norwegian leaders encouraged the nation to respond by renewing its pledge to support the multicultural acceptance of people of all faiths, including Muslims.

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