Religion in Iceland
Adapted from "Iceland - The Republic", Handbook published by the Central Bank of Iceland, ed. by Mr. Jóhannes Nordal and Mr. Valdimar Kristinsson, Reykjavik 1996. The Ministry is responsible for the adapted texts.
Religion in Iceland
Congregational activity in the capital is not strong and church attendance is low. This observation would indicate important characteristics of the religious situation in Iceland. On the one hand that the National Church, which includes 92% of the population, has been slow in adapting to urban life in Iceland, and on the other hand modern Icelanders are deeply conscious of their history and national identity.
Religion and social activities. Most of the churches have facilities for social activities. During the week these are frequented by various groups, from small children to the elderly. Although church attendance is generally low, churches are filled at major festivals. At family services, too, the church is almost full, especially when the children's choir is participating. Between Easter and Pentecost, all churches are also full on Sundays, because families accompany their 13-year-old children to confirmation services. Some 95% of children in Iceland are baptized and confirmed, and the "extended family" takes part in these celebrations. About 10% of the adult population participates in church services once a month.
Religion: a private matter. Religion is neither an issue in the everyday life of the Icelanders, nor a political one. Major political and ethical issues are debated without reference to religion. However, the man in the street is keenly interested in various questions about religious experience, life after death, and so on, as a private matter and without reference to official doctrine. There is an almost total absence of a fully fledged atheistic world view, or anti-clericalism.
Administration. In recent decades a certain "democratization" has been evident in the Church, notably by the establishment of the Church Council (1931) and the Church Assembly of laymen and clergy (1957). The Church Assembly has legislative power in internal matters of the Church, while financial and organizational matters are decided upon by Alþingi. However, lately the Church has become more autonomous in her relation to the State.
Sociology of Religion
Throughout this century religious conflicts in Iceland have tended to be concentrated within individuals rather than institutions or social movements. The formation of modern Iceland coincided with movements for national liberation from Danish rule in the latter part of the 19th century. The clergy played a significant role in the mobilization of the people for the national cause. Consequently there was no resistance within the Church against the structural changes that accompanied modernization, even if this eventually meant its marginalization. A clear example is the separation of School and Church. Earlier, all education in the country was under the auspices of the Church, but responsibility for it was moved to the new school authorities during the first three decades of this century. This even included religious education, and the change was carried out without any protest from Church people.
A Variety of Denominations
There are several denominations in Iceland other than the Evangelical Lutheran National Church. The Free Lutheran Church does not differ from the National Church, either in doctrine or in rite; the Roman Catholic Church is active in several places in the country; and the Pentecostal Congregations do important work for alcoholics and in other areas.
Until the Constitution of 1874 there was no religious freedom in Iceland. Mormons had visited Iceland and found occasional supporters among poor people who wanted to emigrate to the promised land. It is not until the turn of the last century that we observe some changes in the monolithic religious landscape of Iceland. The Evangelical Lutheran Free Churches were founded, and there are now three Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Iceland. They differ from the National Church only in their formal relation to the State.
Roman Catholics established themselves in Iceland during the same time. They run a primary school in Reykjavík which is also frequented by children of Lutheran parents. Until recently they also ran three hospitals and a small printing press. Their hospital in Reykjavík, built in 1902, was for many years the largest in Iceland.
The Pentecostal Movement gained a stronghold in the fishing community of the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) in the beginning of the 1920s as a result of the activities of Swedish missionaries. Since the 1940s the movement has been established in Reykjavík and several smaller congregations are active throughout the country. In the 1970s, partly as a result of the advent of the Charismatic Renewal, which mainly originated from the USA, conflicts within the leadership of the movement in Iceland resulted in new groups. Two of them have developed into independent churches, Vegurinn and Krossinn. As in several other countries, the Charismatic Renewal found its way into the youth work of the National Church and a section of this movement, Youth With a Mission (UFMH), has been faithful to the confessional foundation of the Lutheran Church.
In 1973 a small group of people interested in the Germanic pre-Christian religion Ásatrú and the culture of this time secured legitimation by the State as a special religious community. They have enjoyed extensive mass media interest.
A historical sketch
Iceland was converted to Christianity in the year 1000, about 125 years after the Norse and Celtic settlers arrived. The Christian religion was adopted by an act of the Alþingi after a period of missionary activity, chiefly from Norway. Some of the settlers were Christians, and the first known inhabitants of the country were Irish hermits. Two bishoprics were soon established: Ísleifur Gissurarson became the first bishop at Skálholt in the south in 1054 and Jón Ögmundsson at Hólar in the north in 1106.
The Church soon reached a dominating position in the cultural and political life of the nation; the monasteries and the two cathedral establishments became decisive centres, culturally, socially and politically. Monasteries played an important role in the creation of Iceland's rich mediaeval literature, including the sagas. The first foundation of this power was the tithe law of 1096, which secured the Church's economic position.
Through the Church the culture of Iceland soon became internationalized. For example, a French priest taught music at the Cathedral School at Hólar in the 12th century. Young aristocrats who went into the service of the Church studied in Germany, England and France. The first centuries after Christianity was adopted can undoubtedly be described as the formative period in the nation's cultural and social life.
The Reformation (1550) represented the culmination of a political rather than a religious struggle. When the last Roman Catholic bishop, Jón Arason, was beheaded in 1550, the Danish king had finally subdued the Roman Catholic Church. Paradoxically, however, Jón Arason has become a symbol of nationalism in Iceland. The translation of the New Testament into Icelandic at Skálholt by the young Oddur Gottskálksson (1540), and the first Icelandic Bible, printed in Iceland by Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson at Hólar (1584), represent outstanding monuments of the Icelandic language.
It was the achievement of Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson (1571-1627) to secure the position of doctrine and rite in Iceland. This was effected through vigorous literary activity and publication of a great number of religious books.
The Church and national culture. The translation and printing of the Bible in Icelandic had immense significance, since it helped preserve the Icelandic language and prevented it from being subdued by excessive foreign linguistic influence. The prolific publications of the immediate post-Reformation period set the tone for the fervid personal and communal piety which encompassed the whole nation and often found expression in excellent literary work in the best Icelandic stylistic traditions. The outstanding examples of this, apart from the Biblical translations, are the Hymns of the Passion of Hallgrímur Pétursson (d. 1674), which, even today, are read on the State Radio every evening during Lent.
The Danish king made use of the Church in extending his administration to the periphery of his state. Icelandic students were offered special privileges at the University of Copenhagen, which meant that they almost exclusively went to Denmark for university studies. The majority of clergymen, however, were graduates of the Skálholt, Hólar and later Bessastaðir Latin Schools.
According to recent surveys, the ordination of women is regarded by the Icelandic public as a self-evident right. There are 141 ordained ministers in the Church, of whom 23 are women. The number of clergywomen has been growing rapidly in recent years and figures from the Theological Faculty of the University suggest that this trend will continue, since almost half its students, and almost half of those aiming at ordination, are women. The Faculty offers a five- or six-year course towards the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, which is a prerequisite for ordination, as well as a three-year course towards a Bachelor of Arts degree, for example for teachers of religious studies, and a one-year course for those intending to undertake special services in the congregations.
Adapted from "Iceland - The Republic", Handbook published by the Central Bank of Iceland, ed. by Mr. Jóhannes Nordal and Mr. Valdimar Kristinsson, Reykjavik 1996. The Ministry is responsible for the adapted texts.
