Norwegian Minister of Culture praises faith-based potential for change

”This meeting is a symbol of what we need more of: more dialogue and fellowship across borders,”  says Norway’s Minister of Culture, Linda Hofstad Helleland. ”Then we will be able to create change and movement.”

Helleland was speaking in Trondheim, where she addressed  delegates of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting.

She continued: ”It feels special to be here together with religious leaders from all over the world, who are united through their belief and their ongoing battle for values like peace and justice. This gives us opportunities and hopes for the future. That is why I find this meeting so important to attend.”

In her address to the delegates, Helleland stressed that the work of religious leaders cannot be valued high enough.

“You call for a pilgrimage of justice and peace, and I hope your call is being heard loud and clear throughout the world, so that we can start moving together.”

She welcomed all to the city of Trondheim, which is also her own home town.

“This is the home of the cathedral Nidarosdomen, an important pilgrimage site, also to me personally. For hundreds of years this has been a place for prayer, refuge and belonging. Therefore it feels natural here to speak about pilgrimage, justice and peace. A pilgrimage is not only about a spiritual journey and a search for peace but also about an openness to change. On this journey, we don`t ignore our past and differences. Instead, we use them in our search for a common multi-religious future,” she said.

She was very clear that the council's efforts toward a pilgrimage for justice and peace and its work for interfaith dialogue are important contributions to such a future.

“It reminds us that we cannot separate the problems of the world from our faith. Religion is misused to justify discrimination and violence. Together, we have to resist this. Not only must we stay together. We also need to move together. This is why the Norwegian Government takes pride in supporting your meeting here in Trondheim.” Citing the WCC’s work on youth unemployment in Egypt among Christians and Muslims, and its efforts toward a just peace in Syria and Iraq, Israel and Palestine, and dialogue in Nigeria, Helleland said, “You help build a better world.”

Ms Helleland was appointed Minister of Culture in December 2015, when she joined the cabinet from the Storting (the Norwegian parliament). As Minister of Culture, she has a broad portfolio of responsibility, stretching from cultural policy, church, religious and belief-related matters and media policy to sports policy, gaming and lottery regulation.

Helleland has several times spoken in public about her own strong Christian belief.

“My Christian belief is a clear guideline in my life. It is like a compass of values that helps me navigate,” she has said to a Norwegian newspaper. She has also said that she strongly believes in prayer. When her newborn sister almost died after birth, she remembers her parents saying that they only thing they could do was to pray. Her sister survived.

“As a child I experienced that there is hope, and that this hope is God,” she has said.
After her address, Hellelund participated in a mini-pilgrimage from the meeting venue to the cathedral of Nidarosdomen.

“Even though this was a short walk, it was still an important symbol. When we walk together we can talk, get to know each other better and start the dialogue that can continue and create changes. That is what we need in today’s challenging environment,” she said.

More information:

WCC Central Committee meeting