Norwegian library tried to block Christians using the building

"It is fantastic that we can stay! I have called around to our team, and everyone is very grateful", says Solveig Helene Landås Johannessen (82), as the Norwegian weekly IDAG writes based on a report by Norway Today.

Johannessen is the meeting leader for the community, which for the past two years has had regular meetings every Friday night after closing time in the café adjacent to Lindesnes Library, in the building Kulturtorvet. The group gathers between 15 and 40 people aged 50 to 80, who have no other church affiliation, and has meetings with worship, prayer, preaching and fellowship.

Neutral

Recently, the congregation was informed that it could no longer have its meeting activities there. To the regional newspaper Fædrelandsvennen Lindesnes' library manager, Ida Omdal Haaland stated that the decision was based on the Public Library Act.

"The legislation states that the library shall be an independent meeting place. To maintain the library space as a neutral space, we have set a condition that if the content is political, religious or controversial, it must be opened for debate with a neutral chairman after the event. It applies to events that are open to the public", the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land quotes Haaland based on Fædrelandsvennen.

Wording

On Tuesday, the chair of the meeting received a phone call from the management in Lindesnes Library that the congregation can continue to have meetings in the same room. At that time, the case had just been up in the Committee for operation and administration in Lindesnes municipality.

Earlier that day, Conservative politician Stanly Tørressen had announced that he would take up the matter in the Committee. "It is probably the effort of Tørressen that is the reason why it turned around", Johannessen said.

Tørressen does not want to react, but Norway Today spoke with another meeting participant. According to Margrethe Holte, a solution has been found that does justice to both parties. "It's a bit about what wording you use. This group had meetings in the café in Kulturtorvet. If you turn it around a bit and do not say that it is kept in the library, it will be better concerning the law", she says.

The plan is that the library and the café will now be physically separated after the library's opening hours. It is then considered that the café, outside the library's opening hours, can be treated in the same way as other municipal meeting rooms where the municipality's general rules for rental apply.