Kirkeasyl og kirkebygg som hellig rom og tilfluktsted

Abstract

The article has its starting point in church asylum as a phenomenon in Norway in the 1990s. It focuses on police practice related to church asylum and the rationale for this practice by state authorities in Norway. It also looks at the theological argumentation for church asylum in official church statements at that time in Norway. Both state authorities and the Church of Norway agree that church buildings do not have a special legal status and that church asylum is not a legal right. But the state authorities respect church asylum because of the understanding of churches as sacred places and protected areas. To better understand this view, the article also looks at the history of church buildings as sacred places. From a theological point of view, church asylum has its foundation historically both in the church building as a sacred room (loci reverentia) and in the Christian duty of helping people in need (intercessio). But the article also points out that the theological argumentation of church asylum based on the understanding of churches as sacred and protected places is no longer used, neither in Catholic nor in Protestant theology. The article concludes that the understanding of churches as sacred and protected places has its foundation in a long tradition that still exists in the population. This is also regarded as the reason why state authorities in Norway do not enter church buildings with police force.