The present Norwegian state
church system goes back to 1536 when the
Reformation in Europe led to the establishment of
Lutheranism in Norway.
The Norwegian Lutheran
State Church,
often simply called the Norwegian Church,
is led by and largely financed by the state. In practice the state has for many
years not really led the church and it has mostly only interfered in the
management of the church in cases of unrest or irregularities. In such cases
bishops or other
clergy in the church have referred to existing regulations and
have appealed to the state to interfere to put an end to the irregularities.
Apart from such cases, the state has mostly only served as a rich uncle to
which the state clergy and other religious believers have appealed for
financial assistance. The clergy and other representatives of the church have
also many times stressed their wish to manage their own affairs within the
framework of the state church system.
Even though the Norwegian state nowadays largely functions as a rich uncle
distributing money to his poor relatives, it may be noticed that the state
church today as a real estate owner is much poorer than it was about 150 years
ago. At that time the Norwegian state church was a big real estate owner and
also owned forests. After the second world war many of its possessions have
been sold, and as a real estate owner the state church is much less important
today than it was 150 years ago. Even so the number of state churches have
increased slowly during the period after the second world war. On the other
side, people sympathetic to the Norwegian
Church tend to complain that the
church does not get enough funds for a satisfactory maintenance of its houses
and churches. It is also maintained from that side that the state clergy
generally get a somewhat lower salary than people with a comparably long
education.
The state continues to appoint the bishops and higher clergy. In the case of
bishops the church is allowed to present its candidates, and from the
list of
candidates presented by the church, the state selects the new bishop. Often the
state has followed the list slavishly, and when a
person is proposed as number
one on the list of candidates, the state has usually also appointed the person
in question as bishop. Occasionally, however, the state deviates from the vote
of the church and has appointed a person who has not been number one on the
list. But the state has in recent years invariably taken a person from the list
of the church.
The state does not interfere in the doctrinal conflicts which take place in
the state church. These conflicts are handled by the church itself. From 1988
on the state church has had its own doctrinal council. This council consists of
the eleven bishops, five other theologians, and four laypersons.
The state has sometimes, in the case of internal conflicts, interfered in
the administration of the church. One such conflict has been the role of
women in the church. Conservative
forces within the church did not want to have women
among the clergy. But liberal forces wanted to appoint women as clergy. In this
case the state interfered and with the assistance of the liberal forces in the
church appointed the first female priest in 1961. In the 1990s the first female
bishop was appointed. Conservative forces in the church continue, however, to
fight the equality of men and women in the church.
More summaries about the Church and State in Norway