Church of Norway Issues Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.
“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to come after the apology.
The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for the murders.
Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.
In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a first for the church.
The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.
Internationally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to make amends for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, England's church expressed regret for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, though it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in church.
Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.
Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.
“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”
