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INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM Indian Rationalist Association ALLIANCE BULLETIN-10 16 May 1999 _______________________________________________________________________ Alliance Bulletins can be reproduced by recipients. Please acknowledge the source while reproducing: "Alliance Against Fundamentalism Bulletin". _______________________________________________________________________ NORWEGIAN HUMANISTS FIGHT RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION IN SCHOOLS -- By Sanal Edamaruku The wheel of history has taken a back turn in Norway. A right granted in 1845, the right of pupils to keep away from religious indoctrination in schools, does not exist anymore. Kaz Dziamka, a member of the Norwegian Humanist organisation (Human- Etisk Forbund) and also of the Norwegian Society of "Heathens" (Det Norske Hedningsamfunn), in an article in "The American Rationalist" (March-April 1997), which he edits, writes that Norway may be closer to a secular utopia than any other country in the world. But, if Norway is the most secular state in the world, he warns, "it is a secular state with a difference -- and many paradoxes." Norway, in fact, is not a secular state. It has a state religion -the Lutheran church. Quoting Kjartan Selnes, sociologist and leader of the Human-Etisk Forbund, from his speech at the 1st International Rationalist Conference in New Delhi,1995, Dziamka writes: "The organisation (Human-Etisk Forbund) was founded in 1956 with only 256 members. In 1976, the membership was still a meager 1700. Since then the growth has been exponential -- upto about 60,000 at the present time. This figure, as Selnes points out, is nearly 2 per cent of the adult Norwegian population, the total being about four and a half million." Despite this success in membership, Kari Vigeland, another leader of the Human-Etisk Forbund concedes in an article in "The International Humanist" (July 1992): "We have to be careful when criticising religion in Norway." Lutheran church is the official state religion. Article 2 of the Norwegian constitution asserts that the Lutheran faith is the ethical base of the Norwegian state. The Human-Etisk Forbund, however, is financially supported by the Norwegian state. Kari Vigeland explains in the same article: "...we have fought for and obtained the same level of economic support as the sanctioned religious communities outside the State Church. This is very important, granting us a legal foundation for our activities. In order to receive that kind of support it is, however, assumed that the activities of the Association are serious and that we do not fight against the religious communities." It looks paradoxical for outsiders that the Human-Etisk Forbund is also a member of "The National Association of Church yard Culture." Despite this paradox and contradiction, the Human-Etisk Forbund is successful in promoting and emphasising non-theistic ceremonies. This, in fact, is a major activity of the organisation and is claimed as a reason for its phenomenal increase in membership. In Norway, while about 80% choose religious confirmation, about 8.5% of the age group 14-15 years choose the civil confirmation (figures 1992). That does not mean, however, they cease to be members of religion. Barbro Sveen, editor of the journal of Human-Etisk Forbund writes: "The schools in Norway are obliged to give pupils 'a Christian and Humanistic upbringing.' (Norway has almost no private schools). This paragraph has so far only covered the education in religion which upto now has been purely Lutheran. Children not belonging to the Lutheran church have had the possibility (since 1845) of not attending those classes. In 1971 schools even started to offer an alternative to the Lutheran classes, classes that objectively gave instructions about all the different religions, philosophy and life stances." She continues: "Then a couple of years ago, it was suggested that it was not good for the children to attend different or no classes in the subject which is supposed to teach how to behave. The government asked a group of 'experts' (mostly clergy) to make a plan for a new subject for everybody. It was presented to the parliament which accepted it after some alterations." (Internatinal Humanist News, September 1997) The Norwegian Humanists, in coalition with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Socialists and even New Age people are now struggling against Lutheran indoctrination in schools. In small villages and in Oslo's affluent suburbs, parents try to keep their small children, willing to risk punishment from the state, away from the school's mandatory classes in religion. The Human-Etisk Forbund has been planning to take the new mandatory subject to the courts to test its legality. There have also been plans to take the case to the courts outside Norway to test if it is in accordance with European human rights and especially with the right to freedom of belief. Is there an important and positive change in the Norwegian "carefulness in criticising religion"? An indication is visible in a recent report of a speech by veteran Norwegian humanist Levi Fragell at the 14th International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) congress in January 1999. It is reported that he "stressed the importance of rationalist thinking and criticism of antirationalism." All the Nordic countries have a state church system. But, "in comparison with others", Kari Vigeland says, "the Norwegian state church seems to be particular, both in the tight formal bonds between state and church, and in its dogmatism." The situation in other Nordic countries seems to be better. State churches in Denmark and Iceland are comparatively liberal -- they even accord women the right to decide whether to have an abortion or not. In sweden, aiming at breaking the state church system, a process is now underway. But in Norway, Kari Vigeland writes, "the clergymen are supposed to give their loyal support to the dogmatic belief in virgin mother, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a life after death, and redemption or perdition." Will the Norwegian humanists be successful in re-establishing the right that existed since 1845, the right of pupils from non-Lutheran families to keep away from state church indoctrination in schools? And how long will it take for the pupils to get freedom from religious indoctrination in Norwegian schools? _______________________________________________________________________ Alliance Bulletin reaches a world wide community of concerned individuals and organisations. 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