No State Church in Norway - or in Finland

The Norwegian Parliament - Stortinget - decided yesterday (21.5.12) to abolish the State Church system. Good for them!
Voices in Finland have been raised for the same thing to be done here. This shows, of course, a lack of knowledge of both history and of the background of the relationship between Church and State. I've blogged about this before.

I'm not saying that reforms couldn't be made, but a non-existant State Church cannot be abolished, can it?

Stoltenberg on showing love

If one man is able to show so much hatred, then how much love should not all of us be able to show? 

Prime minister Jens Stoltenberg
in Oslo Cathedral 24.7.11

Ecumenical News International News Highlights

First woman to lead Church of Norway bishops
Oslo (ENI 21.10.10). The (Lutheran) Church of Norway has for the first time elected a woman as its presiding bishop, although her tenure is for an interim period, the Norwegian News Agency (NTB) reports. Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien of Borg is to succeed Bishop Olav Skjaevesland of Agder, who has held the post since 2006, the bishops' conference in Norway said. Byfuglien's term will end in mid-2011, as the Church of Norway then will have its first permanent presiding bishop based in the country's ancient ecclesiastical capital of Nidaros or Trondheim as it is known now.

US Catholics approve baptism accord with Reformed churches
Baltimore, Maryland (ENInews/RNS 19.11.10). The U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on has approved a mutual agreement with four Reformed Protestant denominations to recognize each other's baptisms as valid, a pact that was six years in the making. Gathered here for their annual autumn meeting, the bishops voted 204-11 to approve the baptism agreement with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, the Christian Reformed Church, and the United Church of Christ, Religion News Service reports. Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the ecumenical and interfaith committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the agreement a "milestone on the ecumenical journey."

Finland's first woman bishop consecrated under boycott

The first Finnish woman to become a Lutheran bishop was Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund, who was consecrated Bishop of Härnösand in Sweden in November last year (as I noted at the time).
Now, the first woman has become bishop in the ELCF. Irja Askola has succeeded Eero Huovinen as Bishop of Helsinki, and will be consecrated by our new Archbishop Kari Mäkinen in the Cathedral of Helsinki next Sunday, 12 September. As usual, the Archbishop is assisted by domestic and foreign dignitaries. Representatives from at least Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Namibia, England, and Ireland will be present in different roles.

Not all who are invited will attend, however. The Lutheran churches of Latvia and Ingria (in present-day Russia) have declined, apparently because of Askola's gender. Neither church ordains women; the Ingrians never have and the Latvians have stopped doing so.
Neither church admits to this being the reason, though. In Latvia, preparations for a synod in December apparently demand such an effort that no-one can be sent to Finland for a Sunday in September. That will surely be quite a synod! The Bishop of Ingria simply declined without giving a reason, which naturally is more honest than the Latvians' pretext.

Another ecumenical problem concerns the Church of England. Suffragan Bishop David Hamid, who will represent the CofE in Helsinki, cannot participate in blessing Askola with laying on of hands, since the CofE is still struggling with the decision whether to consecrate female bishops or not. Hamid will have other roles during the service, however.
The CofE will, apparently, not accept pastors ordained by Askola as priests in England, in accordance with the Porvoo Agreement. Lutheran pastors (such as I) that are ordained by male bishops are fully accepted in the Anglican churches of the Porvoo Communion (and vice versa, of course), but women bishops will pose a problem.
Which seems weird to me - but then, I'm not Anglican...

Kaksi kirkkoa ei lähetä edustajaa Askolan vihkimykseen (Kotimaa 3.9.10)
Kotimaa: Osa kutsutuista ei tule naispiispan vihkimykseen (Helsingin Sanomat 3.9.10)
Utländska kyrkor bojkottar biskopsvigning (Hufvudstadsbladet 3.9.10)
Kyrkor bojkottar biskopsvigning (Dagen 3.9.10)

Finland: Gender-neutral marriage law in the making

Sweden and Norway have had gender-neutral marriages laws for some time now, and in June, Iceland joined them. The first to get married under the new law was Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, as I noted last week. We still wait for Denmark.
Now, the debate accelerates even in Finland, that oh, so often shows conservative tendencies. Justice Minister Tuija Brax (Green Party) says she hopes that the law will be a part of the negociations when a new government will be formed after next year's Parliamentary elections and that the law will be in place in 2012. Of the larger parties, only the agrarian Center Party hasn't taken sides yet. Only the conservative Christian Democrats and the populistic True Finns are against, and all other Parliamentary parties would accept a law of this nature - with varying degrees of enthusiasm, of course. These parties are the conservative National Coalition, the Social Democrats, the social liberal Swedish People's Party (that I represent), and the postcommunistic Leftist League; there are eight parties in the Finnish Parliament at the moment.

A gender-neutral marriage law would not change the rights of opposite-sex couples, but same-sex couples would gain the right to e.g. take a common surname and to adopt children from outside their families ("external adoption", as it is called). The present registration of partnerships gives some of the rights that marriage gives, e.g. inheritance, some tax breaks and internal adoption, i.e. the right to adopt the other partner's children.
As to getting married in church ... well, that's some way off in the main churches in Finland. The law in question would not compel the churches to marry same-sex couples. My personal view is, of course, that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, where I serve, should start marrying all couples, but I'm afraid that still is a long way off. The Bishops' Council made a decision earlier this year that allows pastors to pray for same-sex couples, but not call it a blessing. This is, of course, a craven compromise. A comment in English here.

We'll have to wait and see what comes of all this. More disappointments, I fear.

Norwegian bankrupt bishop resigns

Bishop Ernst Baasland of the Diocese of Stavanger in the (Lutheran) Church of Norway has announced his resignation from June 2009. He and his wife were made bankrupt by their 34-year-old son's extensive Internet gambling activity. He said the situation would affect his work as a bishop.
"Becoming aware of the numerous loans and witnessing the pain inflicted upon the lenders has been very hard," bishop Baasland said in a press release issued by the Church of Norway. "On top of this came the bankruptcy petition, which is difficult to live with as a bishop."
In total, the bishop's son has debts of NOK 50M (5.4 M€), the bishop's wife NOK 33.7M (3.6 M€) and the bishop himself NOK 16.6M (1.8 M€). Most of the money is owed to friends of the family, which naturally makes the situation even harder for all concerned.

There are many addictions that can ruin a family. Most known are addictions to alcohol or different drugs, but these have a psychological side, too, in addition to the physical addiction.
Someone who is addicted to gambling (ludomania) doesn't have any obvious physical craving, but on a psychological level, the situation is similar to substance abuse. The addict can't stop, and just has to have more and more until the situation is totally out of hand, as with the Baasland family. And the addicts don't hurt themselves only, but everyone around them is affected. As in this tragic case.
Please pray for the Baaslands and others in similar dire straits.

Bishop Baasland is at the moment in Stellenbosch, South Africa, where he teaches New Testament exegetics at the university. He will return to Stavanger on March 15, 2009, and his resignation will be effective June 15.

Baasland velger å søke avskjed sommeren 2009 (kirken.no 10.12.08)
– Vanskelig å være biskop under konkursbehandling (Vårt Land 10.12.08)
Norwegian bishop bankrupted by son's Internet gambling debt (ENI 11.12.08)
– Er ikke du rik og berømt? (Aftenbladet 11.12.08)
Spelskulder tvingar norsk biskop avgå (Kyrkans Tidning 12.12.08)

Norwegian pro-gay pastor boycotted

In Norway, a pastor is being boycotted because of his pro-homosexual views. Sindre Stabell Kulø, 29, holds opinions that are shared by a sizable fraction of pastors and members of the (Lutheran) Church of Norway. Another, more conservative, faction is against homosexual marriage and so forth. No surprises so far.
However, the parish that Stabell Kulø works for arranges confirmation camps at a nearby camp site owned by an interior mission organisation, that belongs to the aforementioned conservative faction. They have informed the parish that they will not rent their camp site to the parish as long as Stabell Kulø is involved in the camps. Because, you see, they don't want to have heresies preached in their hallow halls. In effect, they have declared a boycott on Stabell Kulø.
The parishioners back their pastor up. So do even many conservatives, who don't agree with Stabell Kulø, but see boycotting him as tremendeous overkill.

I was surprised to hear this piece of news. I myself hold similar views to Stabell Kulø (as my readers well know), and I've been boycotted in some quarters, called names and even recieved death threats - but then I live in conservative Finland, not in easy-going Norway.
But I suppose there are all kinds of people everywhere.

Boikotter prest for homosyn (Romsdals Budstikke 28.11.08)
Oppfordrer til boikott av presten i Bud (Stavanger Aftenblad 28.11.08)
Kirkeboikott etter homobråk (VG 28.11.08)
Homo-ja gir misjon-nei (NRK 28.11.08)
Boikottes for homosyn (Adresseavisen 28.11.08)
Vil boikotte prest (Vårt Land 28.11.08)
Präst bojkottas på grund av homosyn (Vasabladet 28.11.08)
Präst bojkottas - är för positiv till homosexuella (Dagen 28.11.08)
Religionsfrihet vs. Yttrandefrihet (Grovarbetare Rosenqvist 28.11.08)
- Glade for å ha ham her (Romsdals Budstikke 29.11.08)
Støtter preste-boikott (Romsdals Budstikke 1.12.08)
Konservativ, men støtter Sindre (Romsdals Budstikke 1.12.08)
Slo ring rundt presten (Romsdals Budstikke 1.12.08)
Homo-engasjement fylte kyrkjene (NRK 1.12.08)