Religion, how big a part of it is it?

Based on the  norwegians I hang around with at work and outside work, they are not religious.  They enjoy the long religious holidays like easter but they hardly go to church.

As for as I can tell, a lot of them will still perform baptism for their babies or confirmation at church but only because it is "traditional" to do so, not because they are religious.

fornight wrote:

Based on the  norwegians I hang around with at work and outside work, they are not religious.  They enjoy the long religious holidays like easter but they hardly go to church.

As for as I can tell, a lot of them will still perform baptism for their babies or confirmation at church but only because it is "traditional" to do so, not because they are religious.

Oh right ok, fair enough! It does seem like a very high % but then I'm from London where everything was basically spread out and most people I know aren't religious.

I am interested in whole Nordic religion and Thor, Odin etc. Is that still celebrated there? I know it won't be an actual belief, but in terms of museums, architecture, events, etc. Is there ever anything that pays tribute to that? Or is it kind of 'forgotten'? I'm fascinated by the history of that and I know it was Olaf that brought Christianity to Norway and a hospital in Trondheim is named after him.

LoreleiLee wrote:

Oh right ok, fair enough! It does seem like a very high % but then I'm from London where everything was basically spread out and most people I know aren't religious.

I would not trust the statistic provided.  The Church in Norway has a scandal last year for automatically registering all new immigrants from Europe into their member register...which means they inflate the number of their christian members.  Why?  The suspicion is to get more funding from the state because the funding is based on member size.

I agree with what fortnight has observed.

I would say that Norwegians are generally "culturally Lutherans". They baptize their children, they attend confirmation, most will get married at the church or have a marriage ceremony, they celebrate Christmas and observe Easter but that's really about it.

Most do not believe in God. Some may but not necessarily the Holy Trinity God but perhaps some higher being that is unknown. And some do believe but they keep it to themselves as something like a personal thing. They don't talk about God/religion as overtly as say Americans or Filipinos (my country). They don't wear shirts or display signs that say I love Jesus (lol) If you talk about it or display it, the conversation can become quite awkward. 

This is just my observation.

Don't publicly swear, don't publicly preach, don't go full burzum.
You'll be fine then