On 11 June 2025, Norway’s education authority ordered Samfundets skole Sentrum, a Christian independent school, to change parts of its teaching and learning materials concerning marriage, relationships and sexuality. The orders formed part of a wider dispute involving other Christian schools and political challenges to their public funding. The schools appealed, while Catholic bishops and Christian school owners opposed what they described as state interference in religious education and parents’ freedom to choose an education consistent with their faith.
Christian schools in Norway have faced political pressure and official orders to change aspects of their religious teaching. During a debate on 26 May 2025 in the Stortinget (Norwegian Parliament), MP Hege Bae Nyholt of Rødt (Red Party) cited Samfundet’s schools while calling for stronger supervision and sanctions against faith-based schools, transmitting a traditional understanding of marriage to pupils.
The Utdanningsdirektoratet (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, Udir) issued orders to Samfundets skole Sentrum on 11 June 2025 and published the results of inspections covering four Samfundet schools and Gamleveien skole, which is operated by a separate religious community on 12 June. Udir said it had identified breaches concerning teaching, admissions, the school environment and governance, and ordered the schools to change their instruction and learning materials.
A central point of disagreement was Udir’s position that, even in religious education, schools could not present particular forms of relationship as “right” or “wrong” for an individual pupil while meeting the required educational standards. This directly affected the schools’ ability to communicate Christian moral teaching in the classroom.
The Samfundet schools appealed parts of the orders, as reported on 27 August 2025. The appeal challenged restrictions concerning their teaching on “homosexuality, relationships and equality” and questioned whether the authorities could require Christian schools to change the religious and moral beliefs communicated in their classrooms. Christian opposition also included public calls for resistance.
On 27 January 2026, the Norwegian Catholic Council of Bishops submitted a statement supporting the schools. Bishops Fredrik Hansen and Erik Varden argued that the orders interfered with the schools’ religious foundations and that Udir had no authority to determine Christian doctrine on marriage, sexuality, the human person or moral responsibility. Although the Samfundet schools are not Catholic, the bishops warned that the same approach could prevent Catholic schools and other Christian institutions from teaching central elements of their faith.
A separate joint statement, also dated 27 January 2026, was signed by six Christian organisations and school owners: Det evangelisk-lutherske kirkesamfunn (Evangelical Lutheran Church Community), Indremisjonsforbundet (Inner Mission Federation), Kristen-pedagogisk nettverk (Christian Educational Network), Normisjon, Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband (Norwegian Lutheran Mission) and Oasen skole holding AS. Sambåndet reported on 19 March 2026 that this statement and additional submissions from other Christian school owners had been sent to the Kunnskapsdepartementet (Ministry of Education and Research).
The six organisations argued that Christian schools must be allowed to communicate the beliefs and values on which they were established. Christian school owners also formed a committee to seek discussions with ministry leaders. Reidar Røyland, chairman of the Inner Mission Federation, said they were prepared to stand together and pursue the matter before higher authorities if the appeal failed. Their concern extends beyond the Samfundet schools: if these restrictions remain in place, other Christian schools could face similar orders, limiting parents’ ability to obtain an education for their children consistent with their religious convictions.
Source: Dagen
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