Norway's Supreme Court Upholds Doctor's Conscience Rights

According to Irish Legal News, in a decision published last Thursday, Norway's Supreme Court held that the European Convention on Human Rights requires health authorities to respect a doctor's conscientious objection to performing certain medical procedures.  Dr. Katarzyna Jachimowicz had been fired from her position in a medical clinic after she refused an order to insert an IUD in a patient. She claims that the IUD may act as an abortifacient, and her Christian faith opposes abortion.

Church of Norway Formally Separated From the State Today

As reported by Sputnik News, today the Church of Norway, a Lutheran institution, officially became a separate entity after 500 years as an arm of the state. The movement toward disestablishing the Church was begun by Parliament in 2008. (See prior posting.) As of today, 1,250 priests and bishops will no longer be government officials. However, ties between the state and church remain. Norway's Constitution was amended to implement today's change.  While Article 2 now reads: "Our values will remain our Christian and humanistic heritage," Article 16 provides:

The Norwegian church, an Evangelical-Lutheran church, shall remain the Norwegian National Church and will as such be supported by the State.

However prior provisions making the Evangelical-Lutheran Church the "official religion" of the nation and placing the king in charge of religious matters were eliminated.

Norway's State Church Approves Same-Sex Marriage

According to Fox News, Norway's state church-- the Evangelical Lutheran Church-- voted on Monday to approve same-sex marriages.  It will adopt procedures to implement the decision at next year's church synod. While 88 of the synod's 115 members voted in favor of the proposal, the resolution also allows objecting clergy to refrain from performing same-sex ceremonies.

Norway Repeals Its Blasphemy Law

According to Sputnik News, this week the Norwegian Parliament officially repealed the country's blasphemy law.  Section 142 of Norway's General Civil Penal Code had provided:

Any person who by word or deed publicly insults or in an offensive or injurious manner shows contempt for any creed whose practice is permitted in the realm or for the doctrines or worship of any religious community lawfully existing here, or who aids and abets thereto, shall be liable to fines or to detention or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. A prosecution will only be instituted when it is required in the public interest.

While attempts at repeal have been made since 2009, the repeal now came to support free speech after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris in February.  Sponsors of the repeal argued that the blasphemy law created a perception that religious expression was entitled to special protection. Repeal was opposed by some Christian spokesmen.  The last time anyone was actually charged under the Norwegian law was in 1933. Writer Arnulf Øverland was acquitted of charges growing out of his lecture titled "Christianity, the tenth plague." [Thanks to Center for Inquiry for the lead.]

Norwegian Foreign Minister Says Government Will Not Propose Ban On Ritual Circumcision

Earlier this month, Norway's health minister said that the government would introduce new legislation limiting or regulating ritual circumcision of boys under 18. (See prior posting.) However, The Foreigner reports that last Friday after the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) warned that a ban would "stand in direct defiance of international laws protecting religious freedom," Norway's foreign minister gave assurances that a ban will not be proposed.  In a letter to the SWC, Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende wrote: "the Norwegian Government recognizes the importance of ritual male circumcision for the Jewish community in Norway… [and] it will not propose a ban on ritual circumcision." In a press release today, SWC thanked Brende and said: "The Wiesenthal Center is ... particularly grateful that Foreign Minister Brende's letter also puts his government on record as 'committed to safeguarding freedom of religion as enshrined in international law'."

It is unclear whether Brende's letter still leaves open the possibility of regulation short of a complete ban. Last month, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in a resolution on children's physical integrity recommended that member countries "clearly define the medical, sanitary and other conditions to be ensured for practices which are today widely carried out in certain religious communities, such as the non-medically justified circumcision of young boys." (See prior posting.)

Norway's Government Will Propose New Law On Ritual Circumcision

Norway's health minister Brent Hoie says that by this spring the government will introduce new legislation on non-medical circumcision of boys under 18. Each year some 2000 Muslim and 7 Jewish newborns are circumcised in Norway. According to the Jerusalem Post yesterday, the announcement follows a recommendation by Norway's Children’s Ombudswoman Anne Lindboe to completely ban non-medical circumcision of boys under 18 without their consent. Lindboe said: "This is not due to any lack of understanding of minorities or religious traditions, but because the procedure is irreversible, painful and risky."  It is not clear what the proposed bill will provide.