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The conversion of Norway to Christianity began in 1000 AD. Prior to the conversion Norwegians practised Norse paganism. The Norwegian Bible, Bibelen.. Christianity is the largest religion in Norway and it has historically been called a Christian country.
Religion in Norway is dominated by Lutheran Christianity, with 63.7% of the population belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway in 2022. [1] [2] The Catholic Church is the next largest Christian church at 3.1%. [3] The unaffiliated make up 18.3% of the population. Islam is followed by 3.4% of the population. [4
While Christianity had been present in Norway dating back at least to the rule of Haakon the Good (c. 920–961), the first king to attempt to convert Norway to Christianity, successful attempts to formally incorporate Norway as a Christian kingdom and the complete conversion of its population did not occur until the 1000s at the earliest. [2]
The history of Christianity in Norway started in the Viking Age in the 9th century. Trade, plundering raids, and travel brought the Norsemen into close contacts with Christian communities, but their conversion only started after powerful chieftains decided to receive baptism during their stay in England or Normandy.
Religious intolerance is on the rise as modern technologies merge with age-old authoritarian policies of oppression to increasingly target Christians across the globe in a yearslong concerning trend.
There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa where Christianity is the second-largest religion after Islam. The United States has the largest Christian population in the world, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Russia, and the Philippines. [12]
The Catholic Church in the Nordic countries was the only Christian church in that region before the Reformation in the 16th century. Since then, Scandinavia has been a mostly non- Catholic ( Lutheran ) region and the position of Nordic Catholics for many centuries after the Reformation was very difficult due to legislation outlawing Catholicism .
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