Panel Seeks Separation of Church and State
A religious panel has recommended that Norway end its 465-year-old state church system and give all religions equal footing.
After four years of study, a panel from the government-backed Norwegian Church Council said the time had come to separate the church and state.
It would take a constitutional amendment to end the system. The earliest date for the change would be after 2005 national elections.
In recent years, state leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway and the government have frequently been at odds, especially over hirings.
In 2000, the government defied the church’s guidelines and allowed the appointment of an openly gay clergyman in the capital, Oslo.
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