Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.
“Norway's church has brought the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I apologise today.”
“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.
This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – 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 described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.
But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.
In 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.
Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.
According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the epidemic as divine punishment”.
Globally, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, England's church apologised for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.
Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.
Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.
“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”
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