Last year, 5,250 people joined into the Norwegian Humanists Association. While at the same time, many left the group.
The only year in the Humanist Society’s history that has had several enrollments within one year was in 1983, writes Fri Tanke.
But while the enrollment figure is rising, several are leaving. Last year about 2,400 people chose to sign off, which is more than usual. Net got connected 2,350 new members last year. The number of members at the year-end was 87,650.
Head of Communications in the NHA, Agnieszka Bryn thinks their anniversary and high activity explains much of the increase.
– 2016 has been a year of much activity. We’ve had our 60-year anniversary and marked that we have had 250,000 confirmations, she says.
Communications boss also believes the debate over Catholic registration of people without their consent, as well as the process of the state church system has allowed more to become aware of where they stand philosophically.
The Norwegian Church’s new withdrawal site on the web has had little to say, according to Bryn.
– Only a small minority of the more than 40,000 who resigned from the church in 2016, joined with us. We got maybe a few hundred additional members because of this, she says.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today