Civil Religion in a Low Key: The Case of Norway

Abstract

In this paper I examine Robert Bellah's thesis about civil religion as a universal phenomenon by applying it to Norwegian society. Two aspects of civil religion are considered. First, I study the presence of civil religion in Norwegian society. I ask: Is civil religion a phenomenon that exists and has existed in Norwegian history? Second, I distinguish between periods of social stability and of national crises. I attempt to assess whether national crises have a stronger effect on the presence of a civil religion than periods of social stability. In the empirical analysis, I use historical data on national rituals and celebrations from the period 1905-80. The main findings are: (1) Civil religion was found only in a low key in Norway during the years studied. (2) National crises only partially had an expected stronger effect on the presence of civil religion. I found that the constitutional transformations in 1905 did not have a stronger effect on the presence of civil religion, whereas the German occupation in 1940-45 did have a stronger effect on the presence of civil religion. (3) I found civil religious values among the middle class, the Lutheran state church and the religious lay movement until the late 1950s. Later, only the religious groups expressed civil religion.