The Norwegian Church Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’
Against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.
“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I apologise today.”
The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.
The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons 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 first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
During 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.
The apology on Thursday elicited a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a painful era in the church’s history”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but arrived “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as punishment from God”.
Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.
Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but remained staunch in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.
Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.
“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”
