On Monday 22. April, we received (by post) the decision made on 15. April 2024 regarding our protest to the denial of our application to become a registered religious community. The decision was not in our favor, and we have yet again been denied official recognition.
This process has been long and tiresome, and it is very clear to us that the government does not want to accept that our beliefs are as valid as any other religious beliefs. It would appear that to be accepted into the special club of registered communities you need to base your beliefs on an old and already accepted religion, make sure to preach your beliefs in a formal way to kids and adults, deny access to your community to non-believers, and not do rituals that promotes self-development.
We are sorry that this information has taken some time to be announced, we needed to spend some time letting our anger and disappointment settle enough to be able to put it into words. We are also very sorry that we could not give you good news this time.
Now What?
The board has been discussing which way to move forward but since this process takes a toll on us, we need some time to consider our options. Since this was the final decision in this round, we cannot complain about the result. We can, however, file a complaint with the Parliamentary Ombud since we believe we have suffered an injustice or an error on the part of the public administration. It's tempting to take them to court but with hardly any resources available, this is not a real option. We can call it, or we can apply again next year. It’s most likely going to be the latter.
This post is a summary of the Norwegian post, if you understand Norwegian, we suggest reading that post instead. You can also find the letter from the government (in Norwegian) enclosed here.
If you have any thoughts about the matter, please feel free to share them with us.
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