Religion in Norway

Part of a series on
Norwegians
Culture
Diaspora
Other
Norwegian Portal
The Heddal Stave Church in Notodden, the largest stave church in Norway

Religion in Norway is dominated by Lutheran Christianity, with 63.7% of the population belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway in 2022.[1][2] The Catholic Church is the next largest Christian church at 3.1%.[3] The unaffiliated make up 18.3% of the population. Islam is followed by 3.4% of the population.[4]

Religions in Norway (31 December 2019)[2][4][3]

  Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway (68.68%)
  Catholic Church (3.08%)
  Pentecostal congregations (0.76%)
  Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox (0.53%)
  Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (0.36%)
  Other Christian denominations (2.21%)
  Islam (3.41%)
  Buddhism (0.40%)
  Hinduism (0.21%)
  Secular Humanism (1.85%)
  Unaffiliated (18.32%)
  Other religion (0.09%)

A bill passed in 2016 and effective as of 1 January 2017 created the Church of Norway as an independent legal entity.[5][6] Until the 2012 constitutional amendment Lutheranism was the state religion of the country.[7][8][9][10] The Church of Norway will still obtain financial support from the state of Norway, along with other religious communities.[11][12]

Early Norwegians, like most Scandinavians, were once adherents of Norse paganism; the Sámi having a shamanistic religion.[13] Norway was gradually Christianized by Christian missionaries between 1000 and 1150. Before the Protestant Reformation in 1536/1537, Norwegians were part of the Catholic Church.

  1. ^ Church of Norway Membership 2022, 6 December 2023
  2. ^ a b Church of Norway Archived 25 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Statistics Norway 17 May 2020
  3. ^ a b Members of Christian communities outside the Church of Norway. Archived 5 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine Statistics Norway 8 December 2020
  4. ^ a b Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. Archived 1 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine Statistics Norway 8 December 2019
  5. ^ Offisielt frå statsrådet 27. mai 2016 Archived 9 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine regjeringen.no "Sanksjon av Stortingets vedtak 18. mai 2016 til lov om endringer i kirkeloven (omdanning av Den norske kirke til eget rettssubjekt m.m.) Lovvedtak 56 (2015–2016) Lov nr. 17 Delt ikraftsetting av lov 27. mai 2016 om endringer i kirkeloven (omdanning av Den norske kirke til eget rettssubjekt m.m.). Loven trer i kraft fra 1. januar 2017 med unntak av romertall I § 3 nr. 8 første og fjerde ledd, § 3 nr. 10 annet punktum og § 5 femte ledd, som trer i kraft 1. juli 2016."
  6. ^ Lovvedtak 56 (2015–2016) Vedtak til lov om endringer i kirkeloven (omdanning av Den norske kirke til eget rettssubjekt m.m.) Archived 3 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Stortinget.no
  7. ^ "The Constitution of Norway, Article 16 (English translation, published by the Norwegian Parliament)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2015.
  8. ^ Løsere bånd, men fortsatt statskirke Archived 8 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Nyheter
  9. ^ Staten skal ikke lenger ansette biskoper Archived 18 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, NRK
  10. ^ Human-Etisk Forbund. "Ingen avskaffelse: / Slik blir den nye statskirkeordningen". Fritanke.no. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  11. ^ "Norway Ends 500-Y-O Lutheran Church Partnership, 'Biggest Change Since the Reformation'". 2 January 2017. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  12. ^ Gran, Even (2 December 2016). "Hvor mye penger skal brukes på tro og livssyn?: Her er modellene departementet vurderer". Fri tanke – nettavis for livssyn og livssynspolitikk (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Pre-Christian Religion". Archived from the original on 29 June 2007.