Norwegian students creatively protest church visit

christmas1Most schools in Norway close the final school day before Christmas with a visit to their local church. But the members of the Norwegian Humanist Youth feel that they are being force-fed religion, and have decided to protest against it by handing out earplugs for any student who does not want to hear the sermon.

Siri Engen, the 20 year-old deputy head of Norwegian Humanist Youth, told Aftenbladet newspaper, “This is not a loud protest, but a quiet one. And we’ve already received several orders for earplugs over the Internet, so this appears to inspire many.”

Local priest Georg Tumyr’s only reaction to that statement was a chuckle. “If they wish to hand out these earplugs, that does not pose a problem for us. We have a good loudspeaker system, so it will not be easy to shut out all sound,” he joked.

The Aftenbladet discovered that nine in ten schools in 16 municipalities have a church service, but most of them offer alternative activities for students who don’t want to go to church. Engen still feels this is not enough, and wants every school to offer more alternative ways to finish the school term. Engen hopes his group’s protest will make Norwegian youth more aware of the fact that they can choose not to attend church on the last day of the semester.

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