Norway is not the Soviet Union

In Norway, Barnevernet (Guardian of Childen – a municipal public service to protect children in all Norwegian municipalities) does not take children from parents to stop them from getting a Christian upbringing.

It may seem unneccessary to state something so obvious, but that picture of Norway is in fact being presented right now in international Christian media.

We are being portrayed as a country with such extreme Christian persecution that children are forcibly removed from their Christian parents. The goal is to prevent children from having a Christian upbringing.

As an example, this is what can be read in Christian Post, the largest Christian medium with hundreds of thousands of readers.

– Last month five children were taken by the authorities to «stop» them from being indoctrinated with Christianity.

The Christian Post states this with no reservations and without presenting an alternative view. They have notcontacted Christians in Norway to verify if the situation for believers in this country is similar to that in Soviet Russia.

Christian Post is not alone. Several major English Christian media have written about the same case. And with the same type of description of the situation in Norway.

All articles are rooted in the same case with Barnevernet . A Norwegien born mother and a father with Eastern European parents have temporarily lost custody of their children by Barnevernet.

Also, in the native country of the father, this case has gone to the media. As late as on Saturday, a demonstration was arranged with several hundred people outside the embassy of Norway in the capital of this particular country.

Here in Dagen (christian daily in Norway), we have received several comments about the matter. First from concerned people abroad. But lately also increasingly from our own readers.

Dagen has - obviously differently from the aforementioned foreign international media – been workingthoroughly on this case for weeks.

What we can categorically state is that vital information about the reasons for the resolution by Barnevernet has been omitted in the written articles. And in the campaigns against the Norwegian Barnevernet run in the social media.

Hence the picture presented of the alleged Christian persecution becomes unjust.

Norwegian media – included Dagen – are usually reluctant to write about matters relating to Barnevernet. The main reason being the right of children of not being identified. In cases where name and picture of a child is being distributed in social media, the situation becomes even more demanding for the traditional media.

We are subject to responsible editing and ethics as editors, which the social media do not have to adhere to. It is with regard for the children that today’s article is anonymized as it is:

Charging Norwegian Barnevernet for Christian Persecution

In the editorial room, we have evaluated back and forth how we should write about this case. But we have resolved that Dagen has a special responsibility as a Christian daily to counter such obviously erroneous claims that are now being spread internationally.

We know that the situation for Norwegian Christians is not on a catacomb level. Even if millions of Christians are now given that impression.

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