🔗 Share this article

Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The statement of regret occurred at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 attack that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons 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 first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”