Religion in Iceland

Major religious groups by year

Line chart

  Church of Iceland

  Unaffiliated, other and unspecified

  Other Protestants, Catholics and other Christians

  Heathenism, Zuism, Buddhism, Islam, Humanism and Bahá'í Faith

Religious organisations' membership in the current year

9th–10th century: Early Germanic settlement

When Iceland was first settled by Norwegians (but also by some Swedes and people from the Norse settlements in Britain^[6]) in the mid-9th century, approximately in 870,^[7] it was inhabited by a small number of Irish Christian anchorites known as papar (singular papi). When Scandinavians began to arrive in larger numbers, the anchorites left of their own or were driven out.^[8] The migration of Norwegians was partly in response to the politics of Harald Fairhair, who was unifying Norway under a centralised monarchy.^[7]

The first Icelanders, though accustomed to a society in which the monarch was essential for religious life, did not establish a new monarchy in the colony, but rather a yearly assembly of free men, the Althing. The "things" were assemblies of free men who governed Germanic societies, and they were led by a holy kingship. The Icelandic thing developed peculiar characteristics; in place of the loyalty to a holy king, the Icelanders established the loyalty to a law code, first composed by Úlfljót who studied Norwegian laws.^[7]

Icelandic landowners (landnámsmenn^[8]) were organised into goðorð ("god-word(s)"), religio-political groups under the leadership of a goði ("god-man"). The goðar were part-time priests who officiated ritual sacrifices at the local temple and had some qualities of the Germanic kings; they organised local things and represented them at the Althing. Úlfljót was chosen as the first Lawspeaker (Lögsögumaðr), who presided the Althing which met annually at Thingvellir. The religio-political organisation of early Iceland has been defined as "pagan and anti-monarchic", which distinguished it from other Germanic societies. Concerning other religious practices, the Icelanders followed Scandinavian norms; they built temples enshrining images of the gods.^[7]

The religion was named Goðatrú or Ásatrú, "truth of the gods". Icelanders worshipped landvættir, local land spirits, and the gods of the common northern Germanic tradition, within hof and hörgar. The most popular deity was apparently Thor, whom the Icelanders worshipped in the form of high pillars; poets worshipped Odin, as highlighted by Hallfreðr Vandræðaskáld, the Landnámabók and the Eyrbyggja saga. Other people worshipped Freyr, as attested in the Víga-Glúms saga.^[9]

10th–11th century: Christianisation

Early Icelandic churches maintained the style of Heathen hofs, often featuring dragons on the roof, such as in the case of the old church of Thingvellir (the current one goes back to 1859, while the steeple was rebuilt in 1907), built by initiative of King Olaf of Norway, who provided timber and the bell, to mark the official Christianisation of Iceland in the year 1000.

Carved statue of Jesus Christ, c. 1200, National Museum of Iceland.

Apart from the Irish papar, Christianity had been present in Iceland from the start even among the Germanic settlers. The Landnámabók gives the names of Christian settlers, including an influential woman named Aud the Deep-Minded. Icelanders generally tended to syncretism, integrating Jesus Christ among their deities rather than converting to the Christian doctrine. For instance, Aud the Deep-Minded was among the baptised and devout Christians and she established a Christian cross on a hill, where she prayed; her kinsmen later regarded the site as sacred, and they built an Ásatrú temple there.^[9] These first Christians were probably influenced by contact with Norse people in Britain, where Christianity already had a strong presence.^[10] Among the first settlers, the vast majority were worshippers of the Germanic gods, and organised Christianity probably died out in one or two generations.^[10] The syncretic attitude of the Icelanders made possible for the Germanic religion to survive and intermingle with Christianity even in later periods. It is recorded in the Eyrbyggja saga that as Norway was being Christianised, a pagan temple was dismantled there to be reassembled in Iceland.^[11]

The adoption of Christianity—which then was still identical to the Catholic Church—as the state religion (kristnitaka, literally the "taking of Christianity"^[12]), and therefore the formal conversion of the entire population, was decided by the Althing in 999/1000,^[9] pushed by the king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason.^[13] In that year, Christianity was still a minority in Iceland, while the belief in the Germanic religion was strong. However, some Christians had acquired high positions in the goðorð system and therefore considerable power in the Althing.^[9]

Christian missionaries began to be active in Iceland by 980. One of them was the Icelandic native Thorvald Konradsson, who had been baptised on the continent by the Saxon bishop Fridrek, with whom he preached the gospel in Iceland in 981, converting only Thorvald's father Konrad and his family. They were unsuccessful and even had a clash with pagans at the Althing, killing two men. After the event, in 986 Fridrek returned to Saxony while Thorvald embarked for Viking expeditions in Eastern Europe. Among the other proselytisers, King Olaf of Norway sent the Icelandic native Stefnir Thorgilsson in 995–996 and the Saxon priest Thangbrand in 997–999. Both the missions were unsuccessful: Stefnir violently destroyed temples and ancestral shrines, leading the Althing to enact a law against Christians—who were declared frændaskomm, a "disgrace on one's kin", and could now be denounced—and to outlaw Stefnir, who returned to Norway; Thangbrand, a learnt but violent man, succeeded in converting some important families, but he also had many opponents, and, when he killed a poet—who had composed verses against him—, he was outlawed and he too went back to Norway.^[6]

At this point, Olaf Tryggvason suspended Iceland's trade with Norway (a concrete threat for Icelandic economy) and threatened to kill Icelanders residing in Norway (who were for the most part sons and relatives of prominent goðar) as long as Iceland remained a pagan country. Iceland sent a delegation, belonging to the Christian faction, to obtain the release of the hostages and promise the conversion of the country to Christianity. Meanwhile, in Iceland the situation was worsening, as the two religious factions had divided the country and a civil war was about to break out. However, the mediation of the Althing, presided by the lawspeaker Thorgeir Thorkelsson, thwarted the conflict.^[6] Thorgeir was trusted by both the religious factions, and he was given the responsibility to decide whether Icelanders would have converted to Christianity or would have remained faithful to the Germanic religion of their ancestors. After one day and one night, he decided that, in order to keep peace, the population had to be united under one law and one religion, Christianity, and all the non-Christians among the population would have received baptism. At first, it was maintained the right for people to sacrifice to the old gods in private, though it was punishable if witnesses were provided. A few years later, these provisions allowing private cults were abolished.^[14]

The decision of the Althing was a turning point; before that, it was difficult for individuals to convert to Christianity, since it would have meant to abandon the traditions of one's own kin, and would have been seen as ættarspillar—"destruction of kinship".^[15] Despite the official Christianisation, the old Germanic religion persisted for long time, as proven by the literature produced by Snorri Sturluson—himself a Christian—and other authors in the 13th century, who composed the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda.^[16] After the conversion, members of the goðorð often became Christian priests and bishops. The first consecrated bishop in Iceland was Ísleif Gizursson, who from 1057 to his death in 1080 was the bishop of Skálholt. He is credited with having instituted a tithe system which made the Icelandic church financially independent and strengthened Christianity.^[15]

16th century: Protestant Reformation

The Cathedral of Hólar, and Hólar University College.

1889 map showing the location in Iceland of the two major Catholic bishoprics, and of the Catholic monasteries under their jurisdiction, before the Protestant Reformation.

The last two Catholic bishops of Iceland were the Øgmundur Pállson of Skálholt and Jón Arason of Hólar. Jón was a poet of some importance and was married with many children, a usual thing among the clergy in Iceland. The two bishops, who were not well versed in theology but were men of great power, were in conflict with one another and threatened open conflict. At the Althing of 1526 they came with their own armed contingents, though they reconciled because of the threat posed by a new, common enemy, the spread of Lutheranism.^[17]

Lutheran pamphlets were introduced in Iceland through the trade communication with Germany. In 1533, the Althing ordained that "all shall continue in the Holy Faith and the Law of God, which God has given to us, and which the Holy Fathers have confirmed". Among the first Lutherans there was Oddur Gottskálksson, who had converted to Lutheranism while living on the continent for many years. When he went back to Iceland, he became the secretary of the bishop of Skálholt and translated the New Testament in the Icelandic language.^[18]

The most important figure in early Icelandic Lutheranism was, however, Gissur Einarsson, who during a period of study in Germany became knowledgeable about the Reformation. In 1536, he became assistant at the Skálholt bishopric, though he still did not formally embrace Lutheranism. When Lutheranism became the state religion of Denmark and Norway under the king Christian III, this last tried to convert Iceland too. In 1538, the "Church Ordinance" (the royal invitation to convert) was put before the two bishops Øgmundur and Jón at the Althing, but it was rejected. Then, Christian III ordered the dissolution of the monasteries. Bishop Øgmundur, now old and almost blind, chose Gissur Einarsson as his successor. He was examined by theologians in Copenhagen and in 1540 the king appointed him as the superintendent of Skálholt. Gissur was only twenty-five years old and it was difficult for him to maintain power, especially as he was opposed by the clergy and even by the old bishop. A royal emissary was sent to clinch the ordinance, and Øgmundur was arrested and died during the travel to Denmark. The ordinance was accepted in Skálholt, but rejected by Jón Arason in Hólar. Bishop Gissur, who was ordained by the Danish bishop Peder Palladius, reorganised the church in his diocese according to Lutheran principles, including the suppression of Catholic ceremonies and the exhortation of clergy marriage. He intrusted Oddur Gottskálksson with the translation of German sermons, and he himself translated parts of the Old Testament and the Church Ordinance.^[18]

Gissur Einarsson died in 1548 and Jón Arason took possession of the Skálholt diocese, despite the clergy opposed him. He also imprisoned Gissur's appointed successor. Jón Arason was consequently outlawed by the king, he was arrested with two of his sons, and all three were executed in November 1550.^[18] In 1552 also the Hólar diocese accepted the Church Ordinance. Institutional opposition to the Reformation had now vanished, so that church properties were secularised and churches and monasteries were plundered. However, it took many decades for Lutheranism to be firmly established in Iceland. Church manuals and hymnals were in bad Danish translations, and new schools had to be set up in cathedral towns to train the Lutheran clergy. Bishop Palladius took care of the development of the Icelandic Lutheran church in those early years. The able and energetic Gudbrandur Thorláksson, bishop of Hólar from 1571 to 1627, devoted his energies in improving church literature, clergy training and community education. In 1584 the first Icelandic translation of the Bible was published.^[19]

20th–21st century: Decline of Christianity and rise of new religions

Logo of the Zuist Church used for the protest in December 2015.

Since the end of the 19th century, Iceland has been more open to new religious ideas than many other European countries.^[20] In the 19th and early 20th century, religious life in Iceland, still mostly within the Christian establishment, was influenced by the spread of spiritualist beliefs.^[21] Theosophy was introduced in Iceland around 1900, and in 1920 the Icelandic Theosophists formally organised as an independent branch of the international Theosophical movement, though within the fold of the Lutheran belief and led by a Lutheran pastor, Séra Jakob Kristinsson.^[22]

Since the late 20th century there has been a swift diversification of the religious life in the country. The most notable phenomenon has been a rise of Neopagan religions, especially Heathenry, in Iceland also called Ásatrú, "truth of the gods", the return to Germanic religion. This may have been powered by the fact that the Icelandic language has a literary tradition that predates the island's conversion to Christianity, the Eddas and the Sagas, which are well known by most Icelanders, providing an unbroken link with the pagan past.^[20]

In 1972, four men proposed to found an organisation for the revitalisation of pre-Christian northern Germanic religion. They founded the Ásatrúarfélagið and asked the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs whether it could be possible for the new organisation to be recognised, giving its chief priest the same legal status as a Christian pastor. In the autumn of the same year, they asked to be registered, and by the spring of 1973 Ásatrú had become a recognised religion.^[20]

In the early 2010s, Zuism, a reinstitution of the Sumerian religion, was founded in Iceland and formally registered in 2013. In late 2015, the Board of Directors of the Zuist Church was hijacked by people who were unrelated to the movement, and under the new leadership Zuism was turned into a medium for a protest against the state church and the Icelandic church tax (sóknargjald). Zuism, unlike other religions, promised to share among its adherents the money it receives from the tax, so that in a few weeks thousands of people joined the church. After a legal struggle, the original directors were reinstated as the leaders of the movement, and by October 2017, after two years of frozen activity, the case was closed allowing the church to dispose of its taxes.^[23] This church has kept the principle of funds' redistribution among members, which is called amargi.^[24]

Christianity

As of 2017, 81.53% of the Icelandic people were registered as Christians, most of them belonging to the Church of Iceland and minor Lutheran free churches.^[1] Catholics were 3.81%, and a further 2.08% of the Icelanders were adherents of some other Christian denomination.^[1]

Catholicism

Catholic church in Reykjavík.

Main article: Catholic Church in Iceland

As of 2017, the Catholic Church is the largest non-Lutheran form of Christianity in Iceland, accounting for 3.81% of the population, many of whom are immigrant Poles.^[1] Catholics are organised in the Diocese of Reykjavík, led by the bishop Dávid Bartimej Tencer (1963–), O.F.M. Cap..^[25]

In the twentieth century, Iceland had some notable converts to Catholicism, including Halldór Laxness and Jón Sveinsson. The latter moved to France at the age of thirteen and became a Jesuit, remaining in Society of Jesus for the rest of his life. He was a valued author of books for children, written in German, and even appeared on postage stamps.^[26]

Non-Christian religions

Membership rise in registered non-Christian religions in Iceland, 1965–2010. The red line is the Bahá'í Faith, the green line Heathenry, the dark blue line Buddhism, and the light blue line Islam.

Islam

Main article: Islam in Iceland

Mosque in Reykjavík.

Islam is the religion of a small minority in Iceland. The two largest organisations of Muslims are the Muslim Association of Iceland and the Islamic Cultural Centre of Iceland, with 542 and 406 members, respectively, in 2017. Together they comprised about 0.3% of the population of Iceland.^[1] However, the total number of Muslims living in Iceland may be larger, as many Muslims have chosen to join neither association.^[31]

Irreligion and humanism

Siðmennt (short name of the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association) is the largest organisation promoting humanism in Iceland. It is similar to the Norwegian Humanist Association, and like it is recognised as a life stance community by the state since 2013, and therefore can receive funds from the state. As of 2017, it had 1789 registered members, or 0.6% of all the Icelanders).^[1] Another 6.06% of the population were registered as having no religious affiliation in 2017.^[1]