Norway's Church Makes Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.
“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I apologise today.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to come after the apology.
The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.
Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.
But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.
The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but had come “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.
Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, though it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.
Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.
Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.
“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”