Aftenbladet’s editor-in-chief Lars Helle writes that we are narrow-minded because we think it is a particularly bad idea to spend over NOK 90 million of the community’s funds on a new church in Sola, in a municipality where all statistics for church actions point steeply downwards. It is also in line with society’s development in general.
Only 3 out of 10 Norwegians believe in a God. There is therefore a majority of non-believers in the country who want a secular value base, and that the municipalities would rather build ceremony rooms open to their outlook on life. All this is expressed in our population survey in 2016 carried out by TNS Gallup.
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the Norwegian Humanist Association believes that open ceremony rooms that can be used by all faith and life-view communities are for the best.
Listen to the people
Public involvement is to be commended and is often the seed for changed decisions. When a large group of people involved in Sola municipality, who did not want the community’s funds to be used for yet another church, contacted us at the Norwegian Humanist Association, Stavanger local team, we listened. Because they did not experience that their arguments were heard by the political leadership in Sola municipality, who believed that the population wanted this church.
A collection of hundred notes was therefore initiated among those involved, and they were able to collect NOK 12,000. We chose to support with the rest so that a population survey about this church specifically could be carried out by a recognized company. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that we believe that open-minded ceremony rooms that can be used by all faith and life-view communities are for the best.
The survey also showed that 66 per cent of the population in Sola are against the building of the church. Only 21 percent are in favor. The rest, 13 percent, do not know what they mean.
After the population survey was published, mayor Ole Ueland replied that the municipality is not governed by opinion polls, and that he is convinced that when the church is in place, everyone will think it is a positive addition to the municipality and the center of Sola. It shows a distance between politicians and the population that is not fortunate.
Building a church at over NOK 90 million for an increasingly small congregation when the municipality already has many churches is not good management of the community’s funds.
A secular state with religious freedom for all
Norwegian Humanist Association is not against Christianity or other religions, Lars Helle. We are for a secular state with full freedom of religion and an inclusive society consisting of different religions and views of life. The public’s role must therefore be ideologically neutral.
Building a church at over NOK 90 million for an increasingly small congregation when the municipality already has many churches is not good management of the community’s funds. It is equally unlucky that we and other religious and life-view communities will receive millions of kroner in compensation if this church is built. There is also little good management of the community’s funds.
If the Church wants more space, our advice to Sola municipality is to build an open ceremony room for everyone to use. It will live into the future, and Sola municipality will be a pioneering municipality.
Is it narrow-minded to think that the community’s funds must be used as sensibly as possible, Lars Helle?
Post in Stavanger Aftenblad on 15 November 2016: Stavanger Aftenblad.
Photo credit: JAJA Architects
