Church And State (1942)

By Sigmund Feyling

"The church stands in the farmer's eyes in a high place," says Norway's great poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Anyone who travels along the Norwegian coast cannot avoid noticing the small white-painted wooden churches that stand so securely on the ground and share the population's hard struggle for existence. With their towers and bells, they raise the mood and call to the weekend after a busy working week.

Right from the time Christianity, after Olav the Saint's death, broke through in the Norwegian people, the people and the church have been tied to each other with strong ties. When Article 2 of the Constitution, which states that the Evangelical Lutheran religion remains the state's public religion, was established, practically the entire Norwegian people were in church. And even today, despite not so few dissenter societies that have emerged in the last couple of centuries, approx. 96% of our people in the State Church. About. 4% are affiliated with dissenter societies. There is only an insignificant number who stand outside any denomination. It does not reach 1 per mille.

308,500 square kilometers of land, must necessarily offer the church certain difficult working conditions. Sør-Varanger parish in Eastern Finnmark has an area of over 4,000 square kilometers. This means that this one parish, which is served by a vicar with a temporary assistant priest, is as large as the entire county of Østfold. For the priests in Northern Norway, it is often necessary to travel by reindeer sled over the Finnmarksvidda or by motorboat over open stretches of sea where the ocean breaks. Very few priests can afford to keep a car. For most, it will be a bicycle or reindeer sled that leads through the several mile-long parish.

So what does the church cost the Norwegian people? It has happened that the occasional person has written himself out of the church because "he doesn't want to blame the priest". We take the church's total expenses and divide by the approx. 2,700,000 standing in the church, one comes to the surprising result that there will be approx. NOK 4.50 per church member per year. If one then takes into account that a fairly large part of the church's expenses are borne by the church funds, then the expenses for the church per per capita considerably lower.

If you examine how much of the tax income goes to church purposes, it turns out that the church is the one of the public institutions that costs the Norwegian people the least. The figures, which are written from a public calculation more than 10 years ago, are these:

• Social purposes: 24.19%
• School: 18, 22%
• Public works: 12.55%
• Healthcare: 5.66%
• Judiciary: 3.17%
• The Church: 2.88%

So does the church give the Norwegian people something in return for the defunct capital? To that I will answer with all boldness: The church is not only the one of the public institutions that costs the Norwegian people the least. It is also the one of the public institutions that provides the best benefit for the people. Who can really measure the value of owning a Christian culture, a Christian legal order, a Christian upbringing, a Christian influence in society's public life?

The Norwegian People's Church is a state church. The state church rests on old Norwegian church tradition from the time of Olav the Holy, when the king personally appointed the church's bishops and led the church through them. This tradition was interrupted by the creation of the archbishop's see in Nidaros in 1152 and the development of a hierarchy (bishopric) in Norway. But the tradition was taken up again with the introduction of the Reformation in Norway. Unfortunately, there is much to say that is not good about the way the reformation was introduced in our country. But the Reformation put an end to episcopacy and returned the church to the people and the state.

In the Constitution's $ 2, the state's position to the church is legally established. It says here: "The Evangelical Lutheran religion remains the public religion of the state. The inhabitants who profess to it are obliged to raise their children in the same." In Norway, the church is still a state matter, just like the school system, the poor service and the health service. The state has a particular interest in supporting everything that raises the morale of the people and strengthens their legal awareness. Christianity is the strongest protection of morality in the Norwegian people. It is therefore a direct state task in Norway to strengthen and protect the religious life of the people. Nasjonal Samling, Norway's state-bearing party, also has the following item in its program: "Christianity's basic values are protected."

It is in the state's interest that the church in its work can reach the whole people. Therefore, the state provides support for the construction of churches and participates in the remuneration of the clergy. But then this also imposes great obligations on the church towards the people and the state. If the church evades these, then it has failed in its task as a national church.

Let me say something more about what it means for the Church of Norway to be a state church. This means that the right to pass laws for the church and the supreme administrative authority in ecclesiastical matters rests with the Prime Minister, the government and the Ministry of Church Affairs. The Constitution's $16 gives the Prime Minister extensive authority in ecclesiastical matters. It is stated in this paragraph: "The King (now the Prime Minister) arranges all public church and religious services, all meetings and assemblies on religious matters and ensures that the public teachers of the religion follow the prescribed norms." It was after Constitution 8 16 that the festive service in Nidaros Cathedral on 1 February was arranged. By deciding that a priest other than the parish priest should speak at the service, no violence was committed against the church, as alleged by the bishops in their now famous letter of 24 February.

Christian Magnus Falsen, "Father of the Constitution", speaks in his book "Norges Grundlov gännemgaaet i Spörgsmaal og Svar" about the king's (now the Prime Minister's) right and authority according to Section 16 of the Constitution. a.: ". ... he takes care that the clergy, just like any other company, forms a state within the state and becomes dangerous to civil peace and order, as well as ensures that disputes that may arise between the congregations and their teachers are settled according to the law manner in the courts.”

The Church Commission of 1908 states in its opinion p. 229: "The Government and Storting never seem to have been in the dark that Article 16 of the Constitution gives the king the exclusive right to ritual legislation." P. 230 states: "One has hardly been fully aware that this authority is, in its innermost essence, an expression of his sum episcopal authority, which the Germans call the king's "country-sovereign church regiment".

It would immediately mean that the Prime Minister, according to the current ecclesiastical legal order and Norwegian church tradition, is the Church of Norway's first bishop. Therefore, it is the Prime Minister who has the right and authority both to appoint a bishop and to entrust him with the office of ecclesiastical overseer by an authorized ordinator. When the Prime Minister in a cabinet meeting exercises his authority according to Section 16 of the Constitution, the government actually functions as a church council for the Norwegian Church.

This has far-reaching consequences for the current situation, where all bishoprics in the Church of Norway are vacant.

Many have asked the question: Who will ordain the first of the new bishops? Is it at all possible to manage this situation without calling in a foreign bishop? According to what has been stated before, the answer is: "According to $16 of the Constitution, according to the Lutheran view of episcopate and ordination, according to the Norwegian legal order, the Prime Minister must have the authority to authorize a functioning bishop to perform the consecration of e.g. the newly appointed Oslo bishop. It is thus not necessary to summon a foreign bishop. The issue can be resolved Norwegianly and nationally."

The new system in our country will of course also have consequences for the church. Its importance as a national church is given much greater weight than before. Through the Prime Minister, the Ministry of the Church and the 7 acting bishops, we can now say that the church has said yes to the new change of times in our country. The church will now enter into a factual and trusting collaboration with the state to serve the Norwegian people. The church's task is: Through its preaching, to call the Norwegian people to Jesus Christ. The Church owes the Norwegian people faith and fear of God, sustaining and supporting forces that our people cannot do without.

The Church cannot avoid taking a position on the world of reality that lies in the concepts of blood and soil, or in other words, race and living space. It is otherwise nothing else than what is in the expression: People and country.

Christianity is not primarily a doctrine, nor is it primarily a church. If necessary, Christianity can exist without dogmatics and an organized church. Christianity is life that starts from Jesus Christ. It is the church's task to transfer Jesus Christ to the Norwegian people, in Norwegian dress. The aim of a new ecclesiastical arrangement can therefore be briefly expressed with the words: "Norwegian Christianity". This work has already been taken up. Several things have been completed. Others are under preparation.

In Swedish newspapers, there has been a lot of talk lately about "the Norwegian Christian Front". According to the Swedish newspapers, the reason for this front is that Christianity and the church in Norway are now in danger. "Dagens Nyheter" for 14 January stated straight away: "Nasjonal Samling does not represent what the Norwegian people understand by Christianity."

The same propaganda weapon is also widely used here at home. It is a dangerous weapon. Let's admit it. Christianity and the church have a far stronger hold on the Norwegian people than the nominal church attendance shows. There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of our people want to preserve the life values of Christianity in our country. The vast majority of homes want their children to have religious education in our schools.

If the propaganda whips up the slogan: Christianity is in danger, then the majority of the Norwegian people are immediately engaged. If then the broad strata of the people are religiously alarmed, it is much easier work to keep this unrest going than to bring it to an end.

What are the actual conditions when it comes to the New Order and Christianity and the church? Let me mention some facts:

1. Medical director Evang's plans for legalized infanticide and sexual education according to Marxist patterns have been shelved forever. These things alone are so valuable that it would have been reasonable if the church's bishops and the organizations' joint council, which in January this year went and formed the "Kirkens Samråd", had sent the authorities an address of thanks.
2. Pornographic literature has already been removed from many libraries, and will eventually disappear from all. The lurid erotic films no longer escape the film censor.
3. The maternal hygiene offices were becoming centers for the use of contraceptives and child restraint on a large scale. These dehumanizing institutions are now closed. The new board has said a definite no to the death of the people. 
4. Unemployment, which had become a curse for our people, has now, so to speak, ceased.
5. In the previous budget year, the Ministry of Church Affairs used approx. NOK 100,000 to put some of the unemployed theological candidates and ordained priests into work. A number of priests who sit in extensive parishes received an increased grant for transport. "The Norwegian Christian Front" is the thanks the Minister of Church has received for these measures.
6. Nasjonal Samling's mayors regularly deal with ecclesiastical issues with interest and understanding. It even happens that mayors appear at the ministry and ask for increased clerical services in their municipality with a municipal grant.
7. An NS mayor in a larger municipality in Eastern Norway stated, among other things, a. in his acceptance speech: "The new age will not only accept Christ's teaching, but also put it into practice. It wants to, and has already shown in practice, that everyone should have the right and duty to work. The common good must come before self-interest. While before the slogan freedom without responsibility was celebrated, freedom under responsibility will now be implemented. Finally, I would like to pray that God will be with us and guide our work so that it can be a blessing to as many as possible." This is clear evidence that NS is against Christianity, isn't it?
8. The current head of the Ministry of Church Affairs has repeatedly expressed that the life values of Christianity must be protected and that no intervention will be made in the church's teaching, preaching and freedom of work.

By the way, does anyone think that the man who wrote "Russland og vi" and in this book spoke so decisively about the importance of Christianity for a people, would contribute to the de-Christianization of the Norwegian people? A personality like his doesn't change opinions like people change shirts. Our Leader, Vidkun Quisling, is himself the biggest guarantee that the church and Christianity will also have good working conditions for our people in the coming years. His name is a final verdict on the propaganda that NS wants Christianity to die.

The position of Christianity and the church in the Norwegian people is not only secured by the Leader of the Norwegian people, by the religion clause in NS's programme. The Nasjonal Samling's program as a whole is at such a high level that it actually requires that the principles of Christianity are applied in all areas of our public life.

But let it be said in the end: If "the Norwegian Christian Front" wants to harm the Church of Norway and give it a less free position in the new Norway than originally intended, then the path it has now taken is certainly the right one. It may be that it then succeeds in bringing an irritation towards the church into the ranks of the party and perhaps also succeeds in causing the Leader himself to lose patience.

In the past year, I have repeatedly urged the church's bishops and clergy to understand that it is now the church's Norwegian hour. May "the Norwegian Christian Front" see it before it is too late.

"There stands a house in the high north dedicated to God the Father's only begotten.

A spring flows there, a table is laid, there are chimes for the holiday season from towers.

Thither the most generous prince steered his course, there the steel-clad giant knelt

and learned at mass and octosang

the proudest wrath to subdue.

There our father sighed with glowing bosom when the bells touched their voice.

There our mother shed a warm tear,

that none of her sons will forget.

There they received penance for the heaviest privations and strength for the toil of the walk.

There they caught the peace in the name of Jesus, before meekly they closed their eyes.

When we were cradled on laps as children, God the Father set us there,

and over the rippling waters sounded

the words that give what they mention.

And there it can grow, the heavenly seed, and thrive like the willow of the water stream. Yes, there I will live and there I will die and from there I will be called to rest." (Reitan.)