Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.
“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why I apologise today.”
“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.
This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.
Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.
The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a painful era within the church's past”.
For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.
Internationally, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.
Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but remained staunch in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.
In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.
“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”
