STATE-CHURCH RELATIONS IN ICELAND

The aim of this article is to present the changes in State-Church relations which took place in Iceland in recent years. Until recently, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, as the State church, held on the island a strong social and political position, and was closely connected with the state structures. Since the mid-1990s in Iceland there is, however, observed a process of gradual loosening of the State-Church relations, the most spectacular manifestation of which in recent times was prepared by the Constitutional Council, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, new draft constitution which did not provide for the protection and support of the National Church by the state (as it is stipulated in the effective constitution). The impact on the change in the status of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and its relations with the state structures was exerted primarily by two factors: an increase in religious pluralism of Icelandic society (caused mainly due to the influx of immigrants to the country) and greater attention, both of the authorities and Icelandic society, to issues of human rights and the principles of equality. The present article consists of three parts. In the first part there is outlined a brief history of religious Iceland, pointing to the role of religion and Church in the history of the Icelandic nation. The second part deals with the contemporary religious landscape of the island, while the third one is devoted to the issue of the evolution of State-Church relations.