Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’
Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.
“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.
The statement of regret was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.
Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.
Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.
Thursday’s apology received a mixed reaction. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the church’s history”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease as divine punishment”.
Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in religious settings.
In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.
Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.
“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”