ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANISATION
Sin c e 1537, the Evangelical Lutheran religion has been the «public
religion of the State», and is generally designated®- in legislation
also—the «Norwegian Established Church» (dennorske statslrirke). Its
symbol is formed of the three (ecumenical creeds (the Apostolic, the
Nicene-Constantinople and the Athanasian), and of the'original Augsburg
Confession of the year 1530, and of Luther’s shorter catechism.
By public agency religious instruction is given in the government and
municipal schools; and the church holy days are protected by legislation.
The king must always belong to the established church,
as also the members of his council, and the clerical office-bearers,
the university professors belonging to the theological faculty, and
upon the whole those whose duty it is to give religious instruction, and
all superintendents or inspectors of the primary schools, and principals
of schools for the higher public education. All parents belonging
to the established church are. obliged to bring up their
children in the same. Jesuits are excluded from the kingdom.
For the rest, freedom, for the public practice of their religion is
granted to all who profess the Christian religion, including monks
and nuns, Unitarians and Jews, if not transgressing the limits of
the law and decency. They may form congregations with their
own priests or directors; but Divine service or religious gatherings
that do not come under the head of family worship, must not be
held with closed doors. The number of Christians outside the
established church is comparatively trifling; about 1000 Boman
Catholics, 4200 Baptists, 8200 Methodists; the Evangelical Lutheran
Free Church numbers 8200 members, the Adventists, 560. There
are also a few hundred Quakers, Jews and Mormons. In addition
to these, there are a. few who have left the established church
without joining any other sect. In 1891, 30,685 of the population
belonged to various dissenting communities, or were otherwise outside
the established church. The Salvation Army maintains a fairly neutral
position as regards the various creeds, and cannot therefore be reckoned
as a community outside the established church, from which a minority
have withdrawn. It numbers 3418 members and 309 officers.
The kingdom is divided ecclesiastically into 6 dioceses or bishoprics
(stifter, bispedemmer), and each diocese into deaneries (provstier),.
of which there are 83. The deaneries are again divided into several
livings (prestegjeld, sognej, whose number at present amounts to
478 ; and these, especially in the country, are divided into a principal
parish and one or more sub-parishes, each with its church or chapel-
of-ease. The total number of parishes at the present time is 956.
The highest authority in the affairs of the established church is in
the hands of the king ; but in the establishment of the legal position of
the members of the church to the state or the church, and with regard to
the organisation of the church, especially in financial matters, laws are
required, and thus the co-operation of the Storthing. There is no
exclusively ecclesiastical representation, such as synods, and the
like. The king appoints the • bishops, as well as all the rest of the
clergy. At the appointment of bishops, a right of nomination
is given to the . clergy, the theological university professors, and
the other bishops, which is not, however, obligatory on the
king. Thedeans are always parish priests as well, and are gene-,
rally chosen by the priests of the deanery. They are appointed
by the king.
The king also ordains all the public services of the established
church, and all meetings and assèmblies about religious matters',
and sees that the public teachers of religion conform to the prescribed
rules. This authority is exercised through one of the
government departments, the Ecclesiastical and Educational Department,
whose head is the king’s responsible special counsellor in
these matters. The' Ecclesiastical Department has the administration
of the considerable sums that have been realised by the sale
of real property belonging to the clergy and the monasteries from
Boman Catholic times. The capital consists of the so-called «Op-
lysningsvæsenets fond» (Fund, for the Advancement of Education),
the principal fund, of. about kr. 17,800,000, whose annual yield,
besides what belongs to certain offices, is employed for the benefit