Irreligion in Norway

Norway is a comparatively secular nation[1][2][3] which no longer has a state religion, though 68.7% of the 5.4 million population belong to the Church of Norway.[4][5][6]

A partial explanation for the high membership is that by law[7] all children who have at least one parent who is a member, automatically become members. This has been controversial, as many become members without knowing, and as this favours the Church of Norway over other churches, religions, lifestance organisations and over the unaffiliated. This law remained unchanged even after the separation of church and state in 2012.

A plurality of Norwegians do not believe in a god. A 2016 survey asking 4,000 people "Do you believe in God?" resulted in 39% saying "No", 37% saying "Yes" and 23% saying "I don't know".[8][9]

There are several irreligious organisations in Norway. By far the biggest, oldest and most visible is the Norwegian Humanist Association (HEF), which has close to 100.000 members.[10] Those members constitute 1.7% of the national population of 5.36 million,[11] making the HEF by far the largest such association in the world in proportion to population.

References
  1. "Beliefs about God across Time and Countries" (PDF). Norc.org. Retrieved 2013-08-16.
  2. "Religious communities and life stance communities - SSB". Ssb.no. 2015-01-01. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  3. "Beliefs about God across Time and Countries" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  4. Church of Norway Statistics Norway 17.5.2020
  5. "How important is christianity in Norway today?". NRK. March 20, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
  6. "Population and population changes". Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  7. "Lov om Den norske kirke (kirkeloven) - Lovdata". Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  8. "Hvor sterkt står kristendommen i Norge i dag?". NRK.no. 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
  9. "For first time, majority in Norway don't believe in God - The Local". Thelocal.no. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  10. er medlem nummer 95.000 https://human.no/nyheter/2019/november/medlemsrekord-hedvig-er-medlem-nr-95-000/title=Hedvig er medlem nummer 95.000 Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 2020-01-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. "Population". Statistics Norway. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
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