Mosques are dependent on state aid

mosquesIllustration: Mosques. Photo pixabay.com

While Christians receive free congregations from subsidies from the state and municipality, Muslim congregations in Norway are totally dependent on public funding.

Earlier this week it was announced that the Progress Party’s program committee will remove the subsidy scheme for all faiths.
Such a decision would have resulted in major problems for the many Islamic sects in the country, according to the newspaper Vårt Land.
Figures from Statistics Norway show that the Islamic faith communities together have 148,000 members, giving about 150 million in public funding.
The grant provided the bulk of the budget of many of these sects.
– Between 10 and 15 percent comes from the members. The rest are public, says Senaid Kobilica, chief imam of the Islamic Community Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the largest mosque with over 9,000 members, to Vårt Land.
For Christians, the ratio of funds and public support are the opposite. A survey done by The Christian Council shows that the government grant is between 5 and 20 percent of their member organizations.
Religious and belief communities outside the Norwegian Church will average about 1.000 kroner in funding per member. There are Christian communities that triggers most support with its 350,000 members.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today