Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir said at a press conference yesterday that it is sad to watch the state church’s trouble in relation to the alleged sexual violations of former Bishop Ólafur Skúlason. The PM added the church has gone into a crisis because of the controversy.
Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
Sigurdardóttir stated the church must find an acceptable solution to this case in order to maintain the public’s trust. It has occasionally occurred to her to deregister from the state church, the PM revealed, ruv.is reports.
Fréttabladid reports that six of the cabinet’s 12 ministers are in favor of a separation of the state and church, Sigurdardóttir and Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon included.
According to visir.is, hundreds of people made their way to the National Registry yesterday, many with the intention of deregistering from the state church, although exact numbers to that regard are currently unavailable.
“We’ve noticed an increase in requests from people as to how to deregister from the state church,” said director of the National Registry Haukur Ingibergsson on Monday. Statistics will be available at the end of this month.
Click here to read more about the church’s troubles.
