Smith’s Friends – NRK Double Standards

A few days ago I stayed contacted by NRK «Brennpunkt» for an interview in connection with the «Guds utvalde» program. I asked directly if it appears in the documentary what the majority of the members think about the allegations that are made. Apparently there was no place for that.

This fall I learned that “Brennpunkt” was working on a documentary about Brunstad Christian Church (BCC), also known as Smith’s Friends, of which I am a member. Along with 5,000 other adult members, they sent me an anonymous BCC survey via the Questback tool, which relayed the NRK allegations. It was a question of whether I feel that I have freedom of expression and whether I feel exposed to negative social control.

Sport should not exclude

NRK had said first that they would ask members of us, and the BCC invited them to do so during this year’s Easter convention. But then we informed members via the BCC website that NRK did not do this. They wouldn’t listen to our opinion anyway. They were to use a membership survey conducted by BCC in 2019.

NRK “Brennpunkt” hardly refers to the survey in the documentary. Note that the results can be interpreted as frustration with “Brennpunkt’s” approach to our religious community, when NRK did not conduct the survey itself.

At the same time, NRK chooses to undermine the credibility of my little voice when they let an anonymous source mix with a ten-year experience and break our responses on the show. The next time NRK has decided how members of a congregation feel or do not feel, I would recommend removing the blinders.

Never in my whole life I have been restricted from speaking what I think, neither at home nor in my congregation. But now it feels like NRK “Brennpunkt”, a powerful social actor, has tried to stop my voice.

Kadra Yusuf writes about a similar experience at his post at Aftenposten on October 26. Her invitation to participate in a dialogue forum for a women’s seminar in Østfold was withdrawn. This is called no platforms.

When those of us who have unpopular opinions, or have views that don’t fit well, are resolute, then we have an unhealthy climate of debate. This is the feeling that I have after seeing what NRK “Brennpunkt” has published now.

This fails

Unfortunately, there are people who has worked for years to set the agenda for my faith community. An influence operation carried out by the PSY group, of which BCC believes there is evidence. Adam Entous and Ronan Farrow also mention this in 2019, in their article “Private Mossad for Hire” in The New Yorker. NRK chooses to downplay this in the documentary. If they hadn’t chosen to buy their angle first, then they might have met some of us who represent the majority, before it was too late.

I was so upset To have my freedom of speech restricted, I emailed the editors of NRK “Brennpunkt” and said what I wanted to say.

Then they invited me again. At the bottom, at the bottom of an article related to the documentary, I might have a chance to give my opinion on BCC.

This became a great paradox. I wonder if it is a common thing to ask people if they are exposed to negative social control in a workplace or in a sports club. The Directorate of Children, Youth and Family (Bufdir) presents in its annual report for 2019, that it received 669 complaints of negative social control, forced marriage, etc. 12 of these cases referred to negative social control in Christian communities.

This is not a general problem, but you can always find someone who can confirm the story you are looking for. But when NRK comes to seek social control in my religious community, I think it is strange and disrespectful behavior, for the thousands of children, youth and adults who do not recognize themselves in this.

So NRK had no place for me in documentary. I think it would be double-edged and narrow-minded to try to document the lack of freedom of expression in Christian communities with such an attitude. I don’t expect the absence of platforms to be a growing trend in this country.

This is how NRK «Brennpunkt» responds:

Emilie S. Damnjanovic was able to read the quotes and the wording of the quotes and approved everything for the article on social control and freedom of expression in BCC in advance. Since she is also the person who speaks the most in the article, I am surprised that she is not satisfied with the interview we did with her.

“Focus” had long waited for the BCC leadership to be interviewed in the documentary series “God’s Chosen.” In the end they withdrew. Then came several inquiries from members of the editorial staff. One of them was Damnjanovic. Then the documentary was finished. Therefore, we asked her if she would like to be interviewed for the mentioned article, to which she agreed.

Regarding the understanding of our contact with BCC regarding a survey, she must have misunderstood. We have never asked BCC to survey us. We have been presented with a survey from 2019, which we have cited in the documentary. From then on, the BCC management conducted a new survey on its own, in which it asked some of the questions to its members that the management itself did not want to answer. We have also quoted him extensively in the article in which Damnjanovic was interviewed.

Cecilie Ellingsen, Project Director for “Focus: God’s Chosen”