Religion in Iceland

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The religion in Iceland has been mainly Christian since the introduction of Christianity by the Althing in the year 1000. As of January 1, 2017, 67.2 percent of the Icelandic population belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Icelandic State Church . The membership of Lutheran free churches , other Christian denominations and non-Christian denominations has increased in recent years.

Todays situation

Dómkirkja in Reykjavík , the Evangelical Lutheran Episcopal Church.

The constitution of the Republic of Iceland guarantees freedom of religion . She names the Evangelical Lutheran Church as the Icelandic state church , which is supported and protected by the state. While 96% of Iceland's residents belonged to this in 1994, it was 67.2% on January 1, 2017. The head of the Icelandic state church is the bishop or bishop of Iceland. With Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir has since 2012 the first woman to hold this office.

Various Lutheran free churches belonged to a total of 5.7% of the population on January 1, 2017, and 3.9% of the Roman Catholic Church . The neo-pagan religion, organized in Ásatrúarfélagið and recognized since 1972, accounted for 1.2%. This was followed with 0.7% Siðmennt , a non-religious organization affiliated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union , which is legally equivalent to the religious communities, 0.6% belonged to the Pentecostal Church and 0.3% were Buddhists . There are also Jehovah's Witnesses (0.2%) and two different Muslim communities with a combined 0.3%. In 2017, 11.3% of the population belonged to another (not state-registered) religious community or did not provide any information. 6.7% did not belong to any religious community.

In early 2018, no registered Jewish community in Iceland was listed on the Icelandic Statistics Agency's online portal. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in its online portal in 2011 that fewer than a hundred Jews lived in Iceland, most of them in the capital Reykjavík . The desirability of a state registration as a religious community was discussed at the time. Representatives of the Chabad Hasidic movement opened a Jewish center with a synagogue in Reykjavík in 2018 .

In a 2012 WIN / GIA survey on religiosity and atheism around the world, Iceland shares 10th place with Austria , Australia and Ireland in a ranking of countries with a significantly atheistic proportion of the population. In each of these four countries, 10% of the respondents described themselves as “staunch atheists”. 57% of the Icelanders surveyed described themselves as "religious", 31% as "non-religious" and 2% did not answer the question or were not sure. In a survey from 2005, 74% described themselves as “religious”.

The Icelandic form of church tax, the so-called "community fee" ( sóknargjald ), is deducted from income tax and goes to the state-recognized religious community or secular-humanist group of which the person is registered. A religious community registered under the name Zuism in 2013 for the practice of the Sumerian religion in Iceland initially remained meaningless, but recorded a strong one at the end of 2015 when it was organized as a protest movement against this “community fee” and the promise to its members that the fee would be refunded Growth. The Zuist movement is now one of the larger religious communities in Iceland and on December 1, 2015, with almost 3,000 members, it also overtook Ásatrúarfélagið as the sixth largest community to date. The influx of members continued in December 2015, as a result of which almost one percent of the Icelandic population professed Zuismus. In 2017, only 0.6% of the population belonged to Zuism (1,900 people).

Icelandic criminal law provided for fines or up to three months in prison for "mocking or insulting the dogma or belief of a legitimate religious community". Verbal or physical attacks on a person or group on the basis of their religion can also be punished with fines or up to two years in prison. On July 2, 2015, the Althing parliament decided, on a proposal from the Icelandic pirate party Píratar , to abolish the criminality of blasphemy . Of the 63 MPs, 44 cast one vote, only one no vote. This resulted in an acceptance with 68.3% of the votes and 97.7% with no absentee and abstentions.

history

Paganism and Christianization

“Olav Tryggvason's Arrival in Norway”, 19th century fantasy by Peter Nicolai Arbo .

The permanent settlement of Iceland began by Norwegian Vikings in the 870s. Ingólfur Arnarson , a staunch supporter of the North Germanic religion, is traditionally the first settler . According to the Íslendingabók , Irish monks, called papar , were said to have been in Iceland at the time of the arrival of the Vikings . If so, the monks either left the island quickly or were driven away. Among the first settlers, however, there were also Christians , people who had come to terms with both religions, as well as declared irreligious , who were called "godless" ( goðlauss ).

After the establishment of the Icelandic Free State around 930, influences of Christianity initially waned and Iceland remained predominantly pagan until the end of the 10th century . The Saxon bishop Friedrich proselytized between 981 and 986 together with his Icelandic assistant Þorvaldur Koðránsson with some success, but the two had to leave the country after Þorvaldur had committed several murders. The baptized Norwegian King Olav I. Tryggvason , who reigned from 995 to 1000, sent missionaries to Iceland after the Christianization of Norway and urged a general acceptance of Christianity, in the meantime with threats of violence. Olav threatened to have all Icelanders killed in Norway after the missionary Þangbrandr (Thangbrand), who had returned from Iceland, told him that there was little prospect of Christianization in the country. Though Þangbrandr managed to baptize some Icelandic chiefs, he had to leave the country after murdering people who contradicted him.

The Christian chiefs Gissur Teitsson , known as "The White", and Hjalti Skeggiason were able to reassure Olav and promised him that Christianity would soon be introduced to Iceland. They returned to the Althing in Iceland in 1000 . At first, no consensus could be reached there on the religious question; in order to avoid a religious war, the opposing camps agreed to appoint the law spokesman Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði Þorkelsson as a mediator and to follow his ruling . Þorgeir ruled that Christianity should be accepted and all Icelanders should be baptized, but that it should also be allowed to quietly serve the old gods. This verdict was recognized by the participants in the Althing. The Christianization of Iceland was largely peaceful and bloodless, which historian Jón R. Hjálmarsson assesses as an "almost unique historical event". In contrast to Norway, there was no revival of paganism in Iceland after the death of Olav Tryggvason in the naval battle of Svold on September 9, 1000. The mediaevalist Jenny Jochens writes that the Icelanders were apparently willing to stick to their decision once they had made them.

reformation

Dioceses and monasteries of Iceland before the Reformation.
Hólar, depiction from 1870.
Memorial stone for Jón Arason at his place of execution in Skálholt.

The Reformation in Iceland is described in recent research as a "revolution from above". In Hafnarfjörður , Lutheran services took place around 1537 in a church that Hamburg merchants had built. Four Lutherans stayed at the Skálholt bishopric , among them Oddur Gottskálksson , whose translation of the Bible is the oldest surviving printed book in Icelandic, and the later Lutheran Bishop Gissur Einarsson . However, a Protestant movement did not exist in Iceland.

The Danish-Norwegian King Christian III. , an ardent Lutheran, sent a Protestant church ordinance to Iceland in 1537 or 1538. Ögmundur Pálsson and Jón Arason , the bishops of the two Catholic dioceses of Iceland, Skálholt and Hólar , responded negatively. Ögmundur, the Bishop of Skálholt, had a pastoral letter read out in the churches of his diocese in which he warned against Luther's teachings and threatened their followers with excommunication . In 1539 the governor of the Danish governor Klaus von Merwitz , Dietrich von Minden (Icelandic Diðrik af Minden ) stormed the Viðey monastery and confiscated its property in the name of the king. In August of the same year Dietrich rode out with ten men with the intention of also taking the monasteries of Kirkjubær and Þykkvibær . In order to irritate Bishop Ögmundur, they made a detour via Skálholt, where they were treated to food and beer. Although they had been warned by the bishop, they stayed in Skálholt the following day, where they were attacked by peasants from the neighborhood and all but a twelve-year-old boy were killed. The managers of Skálholt had summoned the farmers. A little later Viðey was recaptured by Icelanders, with four other people of the Danish king who came from Denmark or Germany were killed. This initially wiped out the entire Danish administration in Iceland.

Bishop Ögmundur, old and almost blind, had chosen Gissur Einarsson as his successor, although it is uncertain whether he knew of Gissur's inclination to Protestantism. While Jón R. Hjalmarsson in his History of Iceland (1994) writes that Gissur played with marked cards to his benefactor, "who thought he was a strict Catholic," Gunnar Karlsson (2000) also sees it as possible that Ögmundur was tempted briefly to bow to royal power. Gissur had been sent by Ögmundur to be consecrated in Copenhagen before the Skálholt murders. The king sent Gissur back to Iceland, not yet ordained a Protestant bishop, but destined for the episcopate. Ögmundur withdrew to Haukadalur and Gissur took over the Skálholt bishopric. In the winter of 1540/1541 Ögmundur thought differently and tried to get rid of Gissur, who had unsuccessfully campaigned for the Lutheran religion before the Althing in 1540. Ögmundur wrote a letter to the Bishop of Hólar , Jón Arason, in which he complained about Gissur and proposed that a council of priests be convened to judge him. The letter ended up in Gissur's hands. When a Danish ship arrived in Iceland in May 1541 and regained royal rule, Gissur had his predecessor arrested by the captain's men, who then took him to Denmark. Ögmundur's fortune was confiscated by the Danish crown. According to contradicting information in the sources, he either died on the trip to Denmark or lived there for a few years.

Gissur Einarsson was now able to introduce the Lutheran faith unhindered in the Diocese of Skálholt, proceeding carefully and gradually. In Hólar in northern Iceland, however, the Catholic bishop Jón Arason still resided and was not bothered by men of the Danish king or by Gissur in his diocese. There seems to have been some kind of agreement between the two bishops to keep the peace. The conflict did not arise again until after the death of Gissur Einarsson in 1548. Jón Arason opposed the election of Marteinn Einarsson as bishop of Skálholt and had twenty-four priests elect an abbot as bishop, whereby he himself acted as administrator. Jón Arason had Hólar expanded like a fortress and imprisoned Marteinn Einarsson there.

1549 commissioned King Christian III. to arrest the administrative officer Daði Guðmundsson , a brother-in-law of Marteinn Einarsson, Jón Arason, who was now the only Catholic bishop in the Nordic countries . However, Daði initially made no move to obey this order. Jón Arason was not captured and was able to expand his power considerably: after he had taken Skálholt forcibly in the summer of 1550, during which he had the bones of Bishop Gissur excavated and thrown into a pit, he succeeded in making the Althing lord of Skálholt explained. Then he also restored the monasteries of Viðey and Helgafell . Jón Arason had risen to the de facto ruler of Iceland in the face of a weak royal administration.

Jón Arason's reign was short-lived. In the autumn of 1550 he rode with armed men to West Iceland to subdue Daði Guðmundsson. However, his troops proved to be superior and the bishop was captured, along with his sons Ari and Björn (he had several children with his mistress Helga Sigurðardóttir). The bishop and his sons were supposed to remain imprisoned in Skálholt until a decision by Althings in 1551. However, their guards feared that northern Icelandic supporters of Jón Arason could free them, and so they beheaded all three on November 7, 1550. In the summer of 1551, two Danish warships with a crew of 300 reached Iceland, which the king had dispatched to fight the rebels before news of Jón Arason's death reached Copenhagen. The bishop and his sons were subsequently sentenced to death as traitors , their property was confiscated, and the Reformation was enforced in Iceland.

literature

  • Carsten Wilms: "Religion in Iceland" In: Handbuch der Religionen. Published by Markus Porsche-Ludwig and Jürgen Bellers . Volume 2: Europe. Nordhausen 2012: Traugott Bautz, pp. 231–233

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 197 .
  2. ↑ Icelandic Lutheran Church introduces first woman to the office of bishop . Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy. July 11, 2012. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ https://px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en/Samfelag/Samfelag__menning__5_trufelog/MAN10001.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=e9b67606-d567-44f2-a62d-92903ddcca5d. Retrieved October 4, 2018 .
  4. ^ Judy Maltz: Iceland Jews Are Left Out in the Cold ( English ) In: Haaretz . December 23, 2011. Accessed January 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ Jewish Center of Iceland ( English ) Retrieved on 24 September 2018th
  6. ↑ WIN-Gallup International: Global Index of Religion and Atheism ( English , PDF; 1.19 MB) Red C Research. P. 4. 2012. Accessed January 24, 2016.
  7. ↑ WIN-Gallup International: Global Index of Religion and Atheism ( English , PDF; 1.19 MB) Red C Research. S. 6. 2012. Accessed January 24, 2016.
  8. ^ A b c Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor: International Religious Freedom Report for 2014: Iceland . US Department of State . 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ Fjöldi zúista hefur þrefaldast síðasta sólarhring ( Icelandic ) In: Vísir . December 1, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2015.
  10. ↑ Harriet Sherwood: Icelanders flock to religion revering Sumerian gods and tax rebates ( English ) In: The Guardian . December 8, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ a b Anna-Sophie Harling: Following the initiative of the Pirate Party: Blasphemy is no longer punishable in Iceland . In: Tagesspiegel . July 3, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  12. ↑ Alþingi 144. löggjafarþing. 144. fundur. Atkvæðagreiðsla 51926 ( Icelandic ) Alþingi. July 2, 205. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  13. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 14 .
  14. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 10 .
  15. ↑ Jenny Jochens: Late and Peaceful: Iceland's Conversion Through Arbitration in 1000 , in: Speculum 74,3 (1999), p. 639.
  16. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 29 .
  17. ↑ Jenny Jochens: Late and Peaceful: Iceland's Conversion Through Arbitration in 1000 . In: Speculum . tape 74 , no. 3 , July 1999, p. 653 , doi : 10.2307 / 2886763 .
  18. ^ A b Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The history of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 30 .
  19. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 31-32 .
  20. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 32 .
  21. ↑ a b Jenny Jochens: Late and Peaceful: Iceland's Conversion Through Arbitration in 1000 . In: Speculum . tape 74 , no. 3 , July 1999, p. 654 , doi : 10.2307 / 2886763 .
  22. ^ Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 129 .
  23. ^ Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 128-129 .
  24. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 70-71 .
  25. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 71 .
  26. ^ Georg Schwaiger: The Reformation in the Nordic countries . Kösel, Munich 1962, p. 91 .
  27. ^ A b c Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 130 .
  28. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 71 .
  29. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 72 .
  30. ^ Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 131 .
  31. ^ Jón R. Hjálmarsson: The History of Iceland . Iceland Review, Reykjavík 1994, ISBN 9979-51-093-5 , pp. 73 .
  32. ^ Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 131-132 .
  33. ^ Gunnar Karlsson: Iceland's 1100 Years. The history of a marginal society . Hurst, London 2000, ISBN 1-85065-420-4 , pp. 133 .