Vart Land
March 4, 2024
COURT CASE: After being deprived of state subsidies, Jehovah’s Witnesses filed a lawsuit against the state of Norway. The verdict was handed down on Monday.
(VERDICT: The trial between Jehovah’s Witnesses and the State of Norway took place from 8 to 19 January in the Oslo District Court. Lawyer Anders Ryssdal (th) was legal representative on behalf of Jehovah’s Witnesses.) Published: 04/03/2024 16:20 Last updated: 04/03/2024 20:19 The verdict was handed down on Monday in the Oslo district court, and was as follows: •The state is acquitted. •Jehovah’s Witnesses are sentenced to pay court costs of just over NOK 1.1 million. The court concludes that “the conditions are met for denying Jehovah’s Witnesses state subsidies and registration under the Religious Communities Act, and that the decisions are valid”.
Relieved to be believed
Furthermore, the court considers that Jehovah’s Witnesses “through the guidelines and practice of exclusion, encourage Jehovah’s Witnesses to shun members who are ostracized or withdraw, so that with few exceptions they are exposed to social isolation from those remaining in the religious community”. Former Jehovah’s Witness member Jan Frode Nilsen, who testified in the trial, is relieved when Vårt Land gets in touch shortly after the verdict was announced. – Being believed in by the judges, in the same way as we were believed in by the ministries and the state administrator, is very important, he says.
Considering appeal –
We are of course disappointed by the result, says Jehovah’s Witnesses’ lawyer Anders Stray Ryssdal to Vårt Land. He says that they have not decided whether they want to appeal or not. – We will now look carefully at the judgment and decide on the question of appeal before the end of the deadline. The appeal deadline is just over a month, due to Easter. Spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jørgen Pedersen, writes in an email to Vårt Land that they will consider their “legal options”, and elaborates: “Since this decision is not in line with the decisions made by higher courts in other countries, nor does it correspond with what the European Court of Human Rights has come to regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses, we will consider our legal options.”
Critical of the judgment
The spokesman for Jehovah’s witnesses also believes that with this judgment the district court “fails to rectify the discriminatory decisions against Jehovah’s witnesses that have been made by the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken and the Ministry of Children and Families”. Vårt Land has not been able to get a comment from the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken, Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, on Monday evening. The Ministry of Children and Families writes in an e-mail to Vårt Land that they “note that there has been a verdict in the case, and register that the state has won”.
Was deprived of public support
Jehovah’s Witnesses filed a lawsuit against the state of Norway after being deprived of the right to state subsidies and registration as a religious community. In January, the two-week trial between the religious community and the Ministry of Children and Families took place in the Oslo District Court. The court was to decide whether Jehovah’s Witnesses should receive public support, and whether they may once again be registered as a religious community in Norway. It is the State at the Ministry of Children and Families that is acquitted. Jehovah’s Witnesses are sentenced to pay exactly NOK 1,140,505.
Refers to encyclopedia definition
In the judgment from the Oslo District Court, the court’s assessment of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ exclusion practice is revealed. They refer, among other things, to Store Norske Leksikon ‘s summary on Jehovah’s Witnesses and exclusion, where Tarald Rasmussen, former professor of church history, is responsible for the subject. The court’s assessment is that this is a correct summary of the main features. In SNL it says, among other things: “According to Jehovah’s Witnesses, exclusion or “ostracism” is necessary if a member of the congregation distances himself from the Witnesses’ teachings or repeatedly breaks God’s commandments without repentance”. The judgment also devotes a lot of space to several of the witnesses’ statements and personal experiences with exclusion.
Free cancellation
In court, the state has claimed that the practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses prevents free expression. They have argued that members who opt out are no longer allowed to have contact with family and friends in the congregation. Thus, they may feel pressured to remain in the religious community. The practice also involves negative social control and psychological violence against children, as the state sees it. In Jehovah’s Witnesses, one can be admitted as a full member before the age of 18. This means that baptized children can be excluded if they break the religious community’s rules. The state believes this violates children’s rights.
Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that their practice prevents free speech. In court, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ lawyer Anders Ryssdal defended the exclusion practice and argued that the break between remaining and former members is not as absolute as the state claims. He has also claimed that family ties are not broken, and that families still have a responsibility to take care of each other, even in cases where someone is no longer a member. Relatives who live together are exempt from the principle of avoiding contact, the lawyer pointed out. In court, board member Kåre Sæterhaug also claimed that it is up to each family whether they want to cut contact with family members. Jehovah’s Witnesses have also denied that there is ongoing psychological violence and negative social control aimed at children in the religious community, and have claimed that the state cannot provide evidence of this.
Million claims
The state administrator deprived Jehovah’s Witnesses of their state subsidy in 2021. The subsidy for Jehovah’s Witnesses’ 12,686 members in 2021 amounted to approximately NOK 16 million. For three years, the religious community has not received public funding for its members. In court, their claim has been to be reimbursed over NOK 50 million in lost state subsidies with interest, as well as to retain their status as a registered religious community.
Left with a profit
Although public support has been lacking, Jehovah’s Witnesses are making millions in profit. Vårt Land has mentioned that Jehovah’s Witnesses received NOK 118 million in gift income in Norway last year. That is 20 million more than the previous year. The religious community made a profit of NOK 5.9 million last year. The religious community’s annual accounts are calculated from September 2022 to August 2023.