Norway’s Lutheran Church voted on Monday in favour of allowing same-sex marriage, becoming the latest of a small but growing number of churches worldwide to do so. Last year the French Protestant Church allowed gay marriage blessings, while the US Presbyterian Church approved a change in the wording of its constitution to include same-sex marriage.In a vote at the annual conference of the Norwegian Lutheran Church on Monday 88 delegates out of 115 in total backed same-sex marriage.
“Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with,” said Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, a religious movement within the church that had campaigned to change the rules.

Under the new rules, priests who do not want to marry a same-sex couple will still have the right to object.

The vote by Norway’s Lutheran Church reflects increasingly liberal attitudes in wider Norwegian society to issues such as homosexuality.

Norway became the second country in the world after Denmark to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993. The Nordic country of 5.2 million people has allowed civil same-sex marriage since 2009.

Some 74 percent of Norwegians were members of the Lutheran Church last year, according to the national statistics agency, but that number has been declining.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration ruled Wednesday that a popular Oslo mosque would not be allowed to house refugees because all offers of help needed to be “neutral,” a spokesman said. More than 700 refugees, mainly from Syria, were expected to arrive in Norway throughout the week and local authorities have begun setting up temporary housing ahead of their arrival.”Those behind an offer of reception may well have basic values, even if they are religious or political,” said Frode Forfang, the director of the Department of Immigration, as reported by the Local, adding “We could have used the Salvation Army — or the Church City Mission, for that matter. But the actual offer needs to be neutral.”
The Islamic Cultural Centre that made the offer is Norway’s oldest mosque. One of the leaders there told journalists that the mosque is only a small part of the building and that, with its primary function as a community center, it could comfortably meet the sanitation and housing needs of many people.

The Oslo mosque was not the first religious institution to offer to help refugees. Pope Francis has called on Catholics worldwide to house and care for refugees in their homes and parishes.

Norway received 2,300 refugees in August, the highest number the nation has seen since the Balkan Wars in the 1990s. The government has struggled to accommodate such a large number of people, and even more refugees were expected to arrive throughout September.

“It cannot be a mosque or a church,” said agency spokesperson John Olav Kroken, as reported by the Associated Press. He added: “I think they were disappointed because they wanted to help.” Leadership from the Islamic Cultural Centre have said they respect the government’s decision and will remain available to help if the situation changes.

The government of Norway is demanding $5.1 million from the Oslo diocese, in compensation for what the government sees as fraud in the inflated reporting of Church membership figures. The government charges that the Oslo diocese obtained nearly $6 million in state subsidies by routinely registering immigrants as Catholics if they came from predominantly Catholic countries, without obtaining any evidence of the immigrants’ actual affiliations.
The government charges that of the 65,500 new Catholics registered by the Oslo diocese between 2010 and 2014, more than 56,000 were not confirmed as Catholics.
After a government raid on diocesan offices in February, Church officials conceded that they had used “unsatisfactory” methods of identifying members of the Catholic Church, but denied “any conscious or intentional fraud.”

The diocese has indicated that it plans to appeal the assessment of $5.1 million, saying that the case is “legally complicated.”

Nearly 60 percent of respondents in a new survey say they are negative to get an in-law of Muslim faith into the family, the annual integration barometer by the Directory of Integration and Diversity shows. The skepticism of Muslims is bigger than the skepticism of any other faith, and it applies both to the general population and among different groups of immigrants, writes Aftenposten.Meanwhile, 24 percent said that they are skeptical about getting an in-law of the Jewish faith into the family. Here the skepticism is greatest among those Pakistani background, where over four out of ten, 42 percent, admitting that they do not want a Jewish in-law.
Pakistanis are however even more skeptical to a Hindu in-law. Here the proportion who is negative is 50 percent. Most skeptical are Pakistanis to Buddhists.
58 per cent of those questioned in the survey said they did not want in-law with Buddhist backgrounds.

Also the survey shows that immigrants, except for people with backgrounds from Chile and Bosnia, are more religious than the general population. Immigrants from Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia are the most religious and highly educated immigrants are less religious than those with little education.

To eight of twelve immigrant, the value “respect for gays” was the value that receive the lowest endorsement of the values that were asked.

The greater importance religion plays in their lives, the less percentage lends credence to the claim that respect for gays is important.

(speisa)

Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo is under investigation for complicity in fraud after he admitted that his diocese used telephone directories to estimate the number of Catholics and thus receive increased funding from the state.“The Church has registered immigrants from Catholic countries as members without asking them,” the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation reported, leading to an alleged illegitimate increase of 50 million kroner ($7.5 million) in government funding.

(catholicculture)

A FORMER Norwegian priest has admitted embezzling about 15 million kroner (1.9 million dollars) from a welfare foundation to spend on lavish parties with prostitutes in Spain. “It was totally out of control, the size of the sum shows that,’’ Are Blomhoff told the District Court in Drammen, south-eastern Norway. Blomhoff said that there was nothing left of the money he embezzled over a seven-year period when asked by the judge.
The embezzlement came to light in 2013, when Blomhoff was the head of Stiftelsen Betanien foundation, and was able to transfer funds to a fake account he created.
Report also says that he appeared to be linked to a nursing home the foundation runs in Spain.

According to the investigation, the foundation employs over 500 people and also runs a hospital, a daycare centre and a nursing school in Bergen, western Norway.

“This is the toughest day of my life to admit to something that was so removed from me, yet part of me,’’ he said in court.

Report says he also confessed that he had a drinking problem, but took full blame for his actions and apologized to his former employer and family.

The funds were mainly used for large parties where female prostitutes were paid to attend and then offered their services to male guests.

The women received between 1,300 and 1,700 dollars per party.

However, no date has been announced for sentencing.

(dpa/NAN)

The Diocese of Oslo, Norway, has revealed that Church membership statistics have included many people who had not identified themselves as Catholics and may not have been aware that they were counted as members of the Catholic Church. Bishop Bernt Eidsvig said that the diocese had counted immigrants who came to Norway from predominantly Catholic countries. This practice which the diocese now agrees was “not satisfactory”—allowed the Catholic Church to claim greater government subsidies.Bishop Eidsvig said that the number of people “assumed to be Catholics” without evidence was “at least a thousands, maybe many times that.”

Hindu temple

A Hindu temple in Norway offers a matchmaking service for the Scandinavian Hindu community. “Those who may be interested to find his/her life partner or parents interested to find bride or groom for their children can register themselves in our register of match finding”, website of Sanatan Mandir Sabha Hindu Temple of Slemmestad (Norway) states. “Matrimonial Personal Data” asked in the registration form, besides other information, includes hobbies, appearance (in addition to photograph) and family information. Registration and service charges are 500 Norwegian krone (about $81).In addition to this matrimonial service, this Hindu temple also offers various other services in all of Scandinavia, including first haircut of the child known as “mundan”.

Meanwhile, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, commended efforts of temple management and area community for realizing this Hindu temple complex.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this Scandinavian temple would help in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

One of the aims of Sanatan Mandir Sabha Norway, first registered in 1988, is “to promote piece & harmony in the Norwegian society”. Harkesh Sharma, Harvinder Prashar and Vijay K. Sangar are President, Vice President and Secretary respectively of the temple Executive Committee; while K.R.Mishra is the Priest.

Slemmestad, west of Oslo, is a village on the Oslofjord in Royken municipality. It is home to a Cement Museum and Norwegian female footballer Melissa Wiik was born here.

Norway’s prime minister and other politicians have joined Muslim leaders and thousands of other people for a demonstration in Oslo against radical Islamists. Monday’s rally was an initiative by young Norwegian Muslims who wanted to show a united front against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq and their sympathizers in Norway. Mehtab Afshar, head of the Islamic Council in Norway, told the crowd: “They stand for terrorism, they stand for terror … and we condemn that in the strongest terms.”A small radical group in Norway has expressed support for Islamic State militants, angering moderate Muslims in immigrant communities in the country.

According to the Norwegian security service at least 50 people have left Norway to become foreign fighters for militant groups in Syria.

(abcnews)

For the first time in the Norewgian capital’s history, Mohammed is the common name for boys and men, said a study on Thursday. Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå – SSB) has counted the population of Oslo and found that Mohammed is the most common male name in Oslo for the first time ever. Jørgen Ouren of SSB said to NRK: “It is very exciting.” Altogether 4,801 boys and men are named Mohammed or variations of Mohammed as their first name, and Mohammed has thereby passed both Jan (4,667) and Per (4,155).The name has spent four years in a row at the top of the list of baby names in Oslo, but this is the first time that Mohammed tops the men’s name list for Oslo.

(macedoniaonline)

Norway’s intelligence service says it is seeking a Norwegian-born Muslim believed to have joined rebel ISIL fighters in the al-Qaida breakaway group in Syria. Spokesman Martin Bernsen says the agency wants to question Bastian Vasquez, who earlier was suspected of threatening the lives of the Norwegian prime minister and members of the royal family before he fled the country. Bernsen told the AP on Tuesday that Vasquez was suspected of “joining and/or supporting” the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, classed as a terror organization in Norway.
He said officials had identified Vasquez as a man who appeared in a video clip apparently released by the Sunni-led group last weekend, which purported to show the blowing up of a police station in Syria.

(bradenton)

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), addressed the theme “Free to speak, believe and serve” at the recent Synod of the Church of Norway. The synod was held in Kristiansand, in conjunction with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian constitution. The anniversary represents an important milestone for Norway as a nation and for the Church of Norway. “its give me particular pleasure to stand here as a representative of the World Council of Churches, the worldwide fellowship that the Church of Norway has belonged to since 1948,” said the WCC General Secretary, a Norwegian himself.Tveit has served the Church of Norway and other Norwegian ecumenical organisations in several capacities in the past.
He said, the “WCC has many reasons to be grateful to the Church of Norway. That gratitude also extends to Norwegian Church Aid, the Christian Council of Norway and other Christian groups here in Norway, as well as to the Norwegian state.”

“For many years Norway has used its freedom and its resources in a variety of ways to support other people in their struggles for freedom and peace. One of those ways is through the WCC, ever since the late Bishop Eivind Berggrav, a Norwegian Lutheran church leader, helped to found the WCC at its first assembly in Amsterdam [1948].”

Tveit said that “free” is a powerful word. He said that it is a word that keeps a person or an ethnic group or a nation state going. “Liberation is about change and fellowship, about dynamism and solidarity.”

“Free is the word that gives you hope,” he continued, and in that freedom we find ourselves firmly grounded, “in peaceful and meaningful interaction with other people.”

Tveit said, “In many churches in villages along the Norwegian coast, there is a ship hanging from the ceiling. The WCC’s logo is also a boat and a cross. Christian faith is about the freedom to set our course, together, because we are all in the same boat. That is perhaps the dream that lies behind today’s theme: Free to speak, believe and serve.”

Tveit said at the synod: “This 200th anniversary [of the Norwegian constitution] can probably help us to see the value of our own freedom, and to realise how much of the world cannot take freedom for granted.”

Tveit went on to say that the “theme for this anniversary relates to the vision for cooperation between the world’s churches through the World Council of Churches over the coming years”, including the vision for a “pilgrimage of justice and peace” a call from the WCC Assembly in South Korea last autumn.

Tveit exhorted members of the Synod to contribute to national renewal, “The Church has a role to play in the public debate on the nature of good, proper and true freedom, and on what belongs in a free democracy based on Christian and humanist values.”

“That’s why even a General Synod must discuss the state, society and individuals, and must ask how each person can be free – to speak, believe and serve, here and elsewhere in the world,” he added.

“If Christ liberates us, we can move on from a milestone like this anniversary with renewed confidence. If we can be liberated to be ourselves, without becoming self-sufficient, we can truly become a people’s church for Norway,” Tveit concluded.

(ekklesia)

The protestant Church of Norway on Tuesday rejected a proposal for religious same-sex marriage, even though it had the support of most of the country’s bishops. Norway was among the first countries in Europe to grant homosexuals full rights, including marriage and adoption in 2009, but the Church does not marry same-sex couples. Eight of Norway’s 12 bishops said in October they favoured such a move, but on Tuesday the Church’s highest decision-making body the synod rejected the proposal. “We are disappointed,” said Baard Nylund from a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group.
“It’s sad that the Church did not seize the occasion to be the Church of the people — open and generous — that it says it wants to be,” he told AFP.
Delegates at the national synod also rejected proposals to allow priests to bless a gay marriage on the sidelines of a civil ceremony.

But they also voted against a proposal to maintain the status quo and reserve marriage for heterosexual couples, plunging the synod into chaos.

“It (the rejection of all options) is something that no one had foreseen and no one knows now what will happen,” bishop Tor Berger Joergensen told public broadcaster NRK.

“We must have a little time now to look into the procedures.”

In neighbouring Sweden, the Lutheran church approved same-sex marriages in 2009.

(phy/AFP)

This fall, Oslo may get its first Islamic primary school. The Association Mothers for Muslim Primary School has fought for several years to have their application approved to open up a school with up to 200 students. The association’s proposal has been rejected several times, but now the Directorate of Education has approved the application, and the new school may be accepting students already this fall.The association states in its application that the children will receive an education based on Islamic values. They will also have a separate subject on religion, as well as Arabic. The purpose of the new curriculum will also be to give an education that aims to ensure successful integration into the Norwegian society.
The Oslo City Council, however, is skeptical towards the new school. The council points to another Islamic school, Urtehagen, which only remained open from 2001 to 2004. The controversial school was eventually shut down by the County Governor as a result of several complaints and unrest.

“In principle we support new private schools, but it is important to us that they are serious and able to secure a good education for the children,” says school council Anniken Hauglie (Høyre/The Conservative Party).

She thinks that the school has a lot to prove, and asks that it will be monitored closely. Many of the same people who were involved in the opening of the other Islamic school project, Urtehagen, are also involved in this initiative. At the same time, she trusts the Directorate’s decision.

“As far as we can tell, this is the same application as last time, but with changes to the board. We are unsure if this is good enough, but we assume that the Directorate has processed the application thoroughly, and that they feel confident that the same thing won’t happen again,” Hauglie says.

(Aftenposten/norwaypost)

A priest in Norway has had his wallet and phone stolen while conducting the Sunday service, BBC reported. John Olav Hodne, parish priest at Melhus Church outside Trondheim, says he left them in the changing room at the back of the church. He only noticed they were missing after the service was over, reports local newspaper Tronderbladet.”This is a particularly disagreeable and unusual theft,” says Ebbe Kimo from the Sor Trondelag county police, public broadcaster NRK reports. Authorities have no clues to follow up and have issued an appeal for information.

While Tronderbladet remarks: “Unsurprisingly, the priest was not available for comment by telephone,” The Local website does appear to have tracked Mr Hodne down.

“I think I saw someone moving around back there at the time, but you cannot do much while you’re leading worship,” he told the website. “You also have to get pretty close to the priest holding a church service when you go in there. It’s a bit cheeky.”

Muslims in Norway will be able to follow local Christmas food traditions this year, after a butcher unveiled the country’s first halal reindeer meat. Harry Dyrstad, owner of specialist wildlife abattoir Vilteksperten, north of Trondheim, enlisted the help of a certified halal butcher and has 100 reindeer ready to be sent off to the shops. The butcher has had interest from as far afield as Dubai, and he is looking forward to bringing reindeer to the previously unexplored Muslim market.
After invitation from Mr Dyrstad, the Islamic Council of Norway visited the abattoir and has given their seal of approval on the reindeer meat.
Mr Dyrstad is currently in the process of butchering the animals to send them off to shops around Norway, but says he plans on exploring other markets.

‘We had the idea one-and-a-half years ago,’ Dyrstad told The Local.

‘We spoke to someone who had some contacts in Dubai, and he said that if you want to sell reindeer meat, it has to be halal, so we had to try.’

Mr Dyrstad has also looked into the possibility of curing some of the halal reindeer in order to introduce ham to the Muslim community.

Muslims in Norway will now be able to join in the tradition of reindeer for Christmas dinner, as well as tasting ham as the abattoir plans to cure reindeer meat to produce something similar to pig.

‘We got some information that we could produce some ham from the reindeer, so Muslim children can have ham on their sandwiches,’ he said.

Reindeer meat is popular across Scandinavia and is served in many homes as part of Christmas dinner, a tradition in which Norwegian Muslims will now be able to take part in,

‘It is going to be exciting to see how Muslims receive the novelty of reindeer. This is a completely new halalproduct that Muslims have not had access till before,’ Mehtab Afsar, General Secretary of the Islamic Council of Norway, told Adresseavisen.

‘I have been told that this is a very good meat, but I have never tasted it myself.’

Reindeer is both farmed and wild in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. The Sami, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, have been herding reindeer for centuries and are the group of people more often found still living off reindeer farming.

Their local language has more than 400 words for reindeer, the meat and products involved in reindeer herding.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency)