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– Foreign funding of religious communities can lead to segregation and threaten the values on which Norwegian society is based, says Minister for Children and Families Kjell Ingolf Ropstad (KrF) to Dagbladet.
He struggles with Dagbladet’s revelations about foreign funding of Norwegian Muslim denominations. The new religion law, which was passed in April, states that religious communities that receive support from countries without religious freedom, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran or the United Arab Emirates, may lose state support.
Millions of support
Dagbladet has reviewed all the accounts of all Muslim denominations in the last ten years and found 16 Norwegian denominations that have received financial support from actors in the countries in question. Some of the amounts are in the millions.
But support rarely comes directly from the regimes and often indirectly: the Imam receives his salary from abroad or the money comes from organizations or individuals.
The legal text is as follows:
“Religious or philosophical communities that accept contributions from states that do not respect the right to freedom of religion or belief may receive grants.”
Create work group
Basim Ghozlan, director of the Rabita mosque, criticized the text of the law in Dagbladet on Saturday. He feared that it could be “abused by hitting actors you don’t like.”
Ropstad cautions that the government will now take steps to clarify how the law will be enforced.
– Unwanted foreign financing is very difficult to define and enforce, says Ropstad.
Unknown link to controversial Muslim school
– For example, one must consider which actors are covered by “State” and what is understood by State “does not respect the right to freedom of religion and belief”, to enforce the prohibition of the new law on religious and philosophical communities. We have created a working group together with other ministries to investigate it.
– Who is on the working group and when is their work completed?
– The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are investigating the provision. At present, we cannot say anything about when the studio work will be completed.
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To Storhaug
In an exclusive interview with Dagbladet on Saturday, Basim Ghozlan, director of the Rabita mosque and a key figure in the Amana Foundation, which owns several mosque buildings, expressed skepticism about why the law of religion is formulated as is. He launched the idea that the Human Rights Service, the controversial immigration skeptical organization that has received millions of dollars annually in support from the Erna Solberg government, has influenced the law. Hege Storhaug at HRS acknowledged: – In that case, it’s a boutonniere for us.
The Minister for Children and the Family is now responsible for:
– The Human Rights Service has had no impact on our work with this, says Ropstad.
– The provision on possible cuts in aid to foreign funding was included in the Storting Religious Communities Act. Funding of religious communities from abroad has been a concern of Storting politicians, myself included, for several years. Therefore, the government presented a proposal for an obligation to report, in order to create transparency and provide information on such donations. The Dagbladet cases show that it was correct to require religious and philosophical communities to report contributions from abroad. The provision that religious or philosophical societies that accept contributions from States that do not respect the right to freedom of religion or belief may be denied grants is currently under consideration.
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Strong reactions
What appears to be a clarification from the minister comes after several strong reactions to Dagbladet’s revelations.
SV and Frp agreed with their criticism after the revelation of contact between the Alnor religious community in Tromsø and Saudi-supported actors in Sweden and England, but also said the legal text was unclear.
– SV believes that it is a pity that Norwegian religious communities receive support from authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia, because we fear that it could lead to radicalization and that connections with authoritarian forces abroad are created, said Freddy André Øvstegård (SV).
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Difficult
The member of the SV Family and Culture Commission at the Storting noted that it was difficult to regulate cash flows.
– We have proposed that it should not be allowed to accept money from authoritarian regimes, we have obtained a partial victory for that. There will be more transparency around you and you will be informed. But this shows exactly the problems, Øvstegård thought.
His colleague on the same committee, Himanshu Gulati (Frp), stated:
– It is absolutely crucial to have control over the fact that there are no activities in mosques, congregations or Koranic schools in Norway that can contribute to segregation, radicalization or be an obstacle to integration. The Dagbladet reveal underscores this.
