Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway guarantees the right to the free exercise of religion in Article 16. This article also establishes that “the Church of Norway, an Evangelical-Lutheran church, will remain the Established Church of Norway and will as such be supported by the State”. Article 2 of the Constitution states that Norway’s values “will remain our Christian and humanist heritage,” and Article 4 orders that “The King shall at all times profess the Evangelical-Lutheran religion.” Article 16, however, specifies that “all religious and belief communities should be supported on equal terms.” Until 2017, the Church of Norway was not a separate legal entity from the government and Church employees were considered civil servants. This changed in 2016 with the approval of an act in which the Church became an independent legal body.
Since 2021, the Religious Communities Act regulates the religious life of groups and institutions in the country. This law, which consolidated three acts regulating religious and life-stance communities, continues to require that a faith or spiritual organisation register with the government to receive financial support (Chapter 2,5). To register, the community must be “permanently organised” and have at least 50 registered members who are residents of Norway and not members of another religious or life-stance community (Chapter 2,4). Grants to registered communities may be denied on several grounds, including engaging in violence or coercion, violations of rights and freedoms (including children’s rights), and accepting contributions from countries that do not respect the right to freedom of religion or belief (Chapter 2,6).
Religion or belief-based discrimination and harassment are forbidden by Norwegian law. Public statements or symbols, including threats, insults, and promotion of hatred of or contempt for another person based on religion or life-stance are illegal. Complaints concerning discrimination on the grounds of religion are made to the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman.
It is forbidden to perform ritual slaughter without first stunning the animal, but halal and kosher food may be imported.
Face-covering attire, such as burqas and niqabs, is not permitted by law in any educational institution, private or public. This includes employees, students, and teachers. After complaints, mostly from Sikhs and Muslims, the rules governing passport photographs were revised in October 2020 to allow religious headwear to cover ears.
In elementary and lower secondary schools, “Christianity, Religion, Philosophies of Life and Ethics” (KRLE) instruction is required by the Education Act. (Section 2,3). While presenting “different world religions and philosophies of life in an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner,” KRLE “must not involve preaching” and must foster mutual respect. (Section 2,4). Parents may ask for their children’s exemptions from curriculum components to which they have a moral or religious concern. (Section 2, 3 a).
Incidents and developments
According to the data submitted by Norway for 2021 to the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which receives annual reports from the member’s authorities concerning hate crimes of any kind, 135 hate crimes related to religious intolerance were recorded, 71 of which labelled as anti-Muslim hate crimes and the remainder, 64, motivated by anti-religious or belief bias, but without specification of the denomination. This represents 14 percent of the total number of hate crimes (815) reported by the Norwegian Police Service for that year. The report separates anti-Semitism, representing 2 percent of the total, from the rest of hate crimes with an anti-religion bias considering anti-Semitism under ethnicity hate crimes rather than religion in consultation with Jewish community leaders. In the 2022 report published by the Norwegian Police Service, antisemite-motivated hate crimes also represented 2 percent of the total 923 reported crimes, while the rest of the hate crimes against religion decreased to 10 percent of the total recorded.
The 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom in Norway by the US Department of State reports that religiously motivated hate speech was markedly active on the Internet, particularly with anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim content, with the latter exponentially increasing after the 2022 Oslo shooting perpetrated by an Islamist terrorist. Some Internet users also noted that not only anti-Muslim but hate messages against “religion” in general also increased after the attack. Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments were frequently intertwined.
In September 2021, the chairman of the Bergen mosque reported to the public broadcaster NRK that the mosque frequently received hateful letters and that female members of the mosque had been shoved, spat on, and had their hijabs forcefully taken off. This trend led the city to launch a prevention plan to combat crimes against Muslims. A similar plan prompted by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality was already in place on a nationwide level for the period of 2020 to 2023.
New school legislation was also passed in June 2021, which has received criticism for making it more challenging for Norwegians to open private schools, particularly Christian private schools. Directly linked to this, some Norwegian Christians had previously complained about the infringement on their parental rights because they considered that “gender ideology” was being pushed on their children in schools without their consent. In January 2022, a petition titled “Protect our children from gender-confusing teaching” was launched, gaining more than fifteen thousand signatures.
In a 2022 study conducted by Ronald Mayora Synnes and Irene Trysnes, associate professors at the University of Agder, several young Christians and Muslims were interviewed about their behaviour on social media. The qualitative research concluded that many young people in Norway decide to tone down or refrain from expressing their religious beliefs and identities on social media for fear of negative reactions and missed employment chances.
A controversy started in November 2021 regarding the cross of a newly built church in Skien. Some neighbours complained that its presence bothered and provoked them. The Skien municipality notified the parish that they would have to pay for a licence in order to light the cross after some discussion between the parish, the municipality, and the neighbours. Nonetheless, the initial complainant emphasised that the symbolism, not the light of the cross, was what troubled them.
In January 2022, the State Administrator of Norway denied the Jehovah’s Witnesses 2021 community funding totalling 16 million NOK. According to the local press, the community’s exclusionary practices were the justification for the grant’s withdrawal.
In order to improve physical protection for religious and life-stance communities identified as potential targets by the Police Protection Service yearly threat assessment, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security continued its 5 million NOK subsidies. As part of its 2020-23 Action Plan Against Racism and Discrimination on the Basis of Ethnicity and Religion, the government included funding to raise awareness and promote research on hate crimes in its budget for 2021.
The Catholic Church of Norway continued its activities normally in the period under review. The highlights from this period include the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first church in Svalbard, the world’s northernmost church; and the meeting of the Nordic Bishops’ Conference that took place in Tromsø in March 2022.
Prospects for freedom of religion
The situation in the period under review remains stable, with no significant changes in terms of government restrictions or increment in hate crimes against religion. The government has focused on plans against discrimination based on religion, especially towards the Muslim and Jewish communities, which, in the interest of equal treatment, could also consider prevention plans regarding discrimination against Christians. The prospects for religious freedom remain positive.
Norway