De nordiske kirkers glidebane

Yesterday, the Norwegian Association for Lesbian and Homosexual Emancipation (Landsforeningen for lesbisk og homofil frigjøring, LLH) said that it wants quota introduced for them.

Another organization, the Open Church Group (Åpen kirkegruppe), stated that dioceses with a positive view towards homosexual clergymen should actively go out and recruit them for their parishes.

The LLH notes that homosexual clergymen are not welcome everywhere. Sometimes their applications are not considered when a new vicar has to be appointed. The spokesman of the association, Nils Riedl, compares the fight for homosexual clergymen to the fight for female clergypersons.

Therefore the association wants to improve the position of the lesbians and male homosexuals within the Norwegian Lutheran Church by imposing quota.

In a reaction to the proposal both the social democratic Labor Party (Ap, Arbeiderpartiet) and the conservative Right (H, Høyre) emphasized that they support the organization's objectives, but not the demand for quota. They think the latter would damage the interests of homosexuals in the long run.

Will there soon be a demand for quota for atheist clergy too? The latter do exist.

Remember the story of the Danish vicar Thorkild Grosbøll a few months ago. He caused a row when he said he did not believe in God. He was briefly suspended but was immediately allowed to resume his job when he declared that he had regained his faith in God.

So what will come next in this surreal tale of female, homosexual and atheist vicars? Muslim vicars perhaps? Believe it or not, but in Sweden there is already a debate about removing the word "Swedish" from the name Swedish Church (Svenska Kyrkan) because it is perceived to be hostile to immigrants.

Some say that in a multicultural society the Church should become multicultural too, and hence include immigrants. References to the Swedishness of the Swedish Church should therefore be avoided.

I assume that once they start to go down that road, Muslim vicars should not be excluded either.

Two thousand years ago, Christianity was founded by a young, religious Jewish man. If He took his religion seriously (and if there is any truth in The Da Vinci Code) Jesus was a heterosexual. If the Open Church Group achieves its aims soon vicars like Him will be the exception rather than the rule in "enlightened" dioceses.

Next time God tries to save the world, He had better send His lesbian daughter who does not believe in Him or in her brother.

Filip van Laenen er belgisk, elektroinkingeniør i et norsk software-firma og engageret i politisk debat på internettet. Hans kommentar er bragt med tilladelse fra The Brussels Journal, hvor den først er publiceret.