Google translation.
Jehovah's Witnesses are suing the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken
LAWSUIT: Jehovah's Witnesses are suing the state following a decision to strip them of registration as a religious community. Uses harsh words about the state administrator.
On Friday, Jehovah's Witnesses sent a lawsuit against the State Trustee in Oslo and Viken to the Oslo District Court.
The background is that before Christmas, the state administrator withdrew the Jehovah's Witnesses' registration as a religious community.
"The state administrator's decision is not based on any judgments or any evidence whatsoever of alleged violations of other people's rights," Jehovah's Witnesses write in a press release.Vårt Land was in contact with state administrator Valgerd Svarstad Haugland on Friday afternoon.
- Now this will be a case in the judiciary. Then we have to deal with it when the time comes, she says to Vårt Land.
The core of the dispute: exclusionary practices
The State Administrator's decision is linked to Jehovah's Witnesses' exclusion practice, which the State Administrator considers illegal.
Losing the status as a registered religious community means that state support and the authority to marry disappear.The decision is not yet legally binding after the Oslo district court decided on a so-called temporary injunction.
This is what the State Administrator said about the decision in December:- In our opinion, the religious community violates the members' right to free expression. We believe this violates the members' right to freedom of religion. We also believe that they violate children's rights by allowing the exclusion of baptized minors, and by encouraging members to socially isolate children who do not follow the religious community's rules.
Stop complaining to the ministry - go to court
"Due to the importance of the question, and the time aspect, we have decided not to complain to the Ministry of Children and Families, but to bring the decision on refusal of registration to the courts," Jehovah's Witnesses write in their press release.
The religious community claims that a complaint to the ministry would only be "an unnecessary postponement of the situation"."Furthermore, the ministry has already expressed its view in connection with the decision to deny us state subsidies for 2021", it continues.
Accusations of prejudice and stigmatization
Jehovah's Witnesses claim in the press release that the state administrator's decision "is based solely on a prejudiced and erroneous interpretation of a religious teaching."
They call the authorities' decision "discriminatory" and claim it "conveys a message that there is something seriously wrong with Jehovah's Witnesses".
This "affects the lives of the more than 12,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Norway", believes the religious community.The decision "stigmatizes a religious minority that was brutally persecuted under the Nazi regime, and which is still persecuted in countries such as Russia," Jehovah's Witnesses write further.
This is how state administrator Valgerd Svarstad Haugland responds to descriptions such as "discriminatory" and "prejudiced":- I have met many nice Jehovah's Witnesses. I will not use such words against them. Beyond that, I have no comment.
Valgerd Svarstad Haugland: - Can still practice his faith
There is no one who has deprived Jehovah's Witnesses of the right to be Jehovah's Witnesses and to practice their faith, stresses state administrator Valgerd Svarstad Haugland.
- But we have deprived them of financial support and registration, because we believe that their exclusion practices are on a collision course with Norwegian law, says Haugland.