Three out of ten Norwegians think it should be allowed to burn religious symbols, new study shows
Three out of ten Norwegians believe that it should be allowed to burn religious symbols, while 49% are against it, according to a survey of Norwegians' views on freedom of expression.
Divided by party affiliation, the majority of those completely or partially in favor vote for the Progress Party (FRP) (44.9%), the newspaper Aftenposten writes.
Institute for Social Research (Institutt for samfunnsforskning) has carried out the study on behalf of Fritt Ord. The book “Freedom of expression in a new public” describes the population’s attitudes to freedom of expression.
Most (60.8%) of the Labor Party’s (AP) voters do not think it should be allowed to burn religious symbols.
It also emerges that 43% of Norwegians fully or partially agree that supporting someone’s right to express themselves as racist is as bad as being a racist.
Different groups
People who emphasize the harmful potential of expression more often vote for parties on the left. They are more often women, the study shows.
A large group on the left believes that there should be plenty of room for expression and that this is the case in Norway today. Many of them voted for the Red Party and the Socialist Left Party (SV).
There is also a group that values freedom of expression but believes that the space for expression is too narrow. It is also more critical of traditional news media and votes more often for the FRP. Men between the ages of 30 and 59 are overrepresented in the group.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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