Utviklingshemmedes rett til religionsutøvelse i Norge. Kap. 1

Abstract

This chapter attempts to give a brief overview of how the key legal acts and policies of the Norwegian state and the Church of Norway address religiosity and religious needs of people with intellectual disabilities. The main focus is on how those issues are connected to universal human rights and civil and political freedoms, as well as to national policy for combating all forms of discrimination, and on the extent to which people with intellectual disabilities are represented in such policy as religious subjects, and not merely objects of welfare. In discussing Norwegian public policy, I review international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Norwegian laws and regulations such as the Human Rights Act (1999) and Norwegian Official Report NOU 2016: 17 “På lik linje”, relevant regulations and curricula for professional education and training. I also show how main policy documents of the Church of Norway address these issues. In this chapter I attempt to show that in contrast to the rather modest attention paid to the religiosity of people with intellectual disabilities by the official policy texts, the Church of Norway’s official policy appears to be one of significant engagement in advocacy for these people’s religious rights.