Court in Norway acquits Jehovah’s Witnesses from “violence against children”
Jehovah's Witnesses in a baptism service. Photo EPA, Marcin Obara
Northern Europe
The Court of Appeal in Norway rebuked the country’s government for not respecting the religious freedom of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW). The state’s accusation that the group is guilty of “psychological violence” against minors is just not true, according to the judges.
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This means that this religious group must be equally paid as other churches and religious groups and has the right to perform marriages.
This was decided by the Court of Appeal in Oslo last Friday.
In 2021, the state decided to withdraw the registration of the Witnesses because of “psychological violence” against minors. This implied that the state would no longer pay the religious group. In Norway, all registered religions are entitled to a certain amount of money per member. For the 12,000 Witnesses, this is about 1.3 million euros a year.
After the deregistration, the JWs did not only lose the money. Another consequence was that they could no longer marry their own people. Young couples from the JW community had to go to another church to get married or were forced to choose a completely secular marriage.
The Witnesses appealed to the Oslo court against the state’s decision. One year ago, the court affirmed the government’s decision, but the Court of Appeal has decided otherwise. The three judges in the Court of Appeal were unanimous.
The state has not decided whether to appeal. The only option to appeal is at the Supreme Court. The core issue in the case is the disciplining of baptised members of the Witnesses who are still underage according to national law. In the JW community, children are getting baptised at the age of 14 or 15. However, suppose they change their lifestyle after their baptism or withdraw their JW membership. In that case, they are subject to discipline from the church.
JWs are known for their radical practice of shunning former members. According to the Norwegian state, this is a matter of psychological violence if minors are involved.
In practice, said the state in the courthouse, this means that people are not really free to leave the group, which would be against the freedom of religion.
The court of appeal rejected this argument. Technically, leaving the group was no problem at all; a simple letter was sufficient. Even the rules from the Witnesses themselves say that the shunning should not be so radical if household members are involved.
Humiliating
The Public Prosecutor in Oslo read in the court’s decision that the judges agreed that children are at risk of being excluded from the Witnesses and that this is humiliating for them. However, the court does not agree with the prosecutor that this is psychological violence and a breach of children’s rights. The prosecutor’s staff will take time to analyse the verdict before deciding whether to appeal.
The Witnesses themselves were “delighted” about the decision. Spokesman Jørgen Pedersen wrote an e-mail to the Christian newspaper Dagen in which he said that the decision is in line with the highest courts in other countries and the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR). The lawyer defending the JWs in court said the verdict was “satisfying”.
“Important win”
According to Vart Land, another Christian newspaper in Norway, this decision is “an important win” for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The state’s back payment amounts to 1.3 million euros annually and 734,000 euros for court costs.
Chief editor Vebjørn Selbekk of the Christian daily Dagen wrote in a comment that the Witnesses are the “most despised religious group” in Norway. Precisely for that reason, he writes in a comment that they were an easy prey for the state. “They have few or no friends among the Norwegian public”, he says. “What’s more, they don’t vote in elections, so politicians who pass laws against the Jehovah’s Witnesses run no risk of losing even one vote.”
Precisely for that reason, the Witnesses became the first religious group that found its registration withdrawn after the new Act on Religious Communities was passed in 2021. “It is outright discrimination. Clear economic discrimination on religious grounds.”
The editor is happy that the JWs are “not completely without rights”.
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