Faith and religion

Master prize awarded to thesis on gender and cohabitation within the Pentecostal church

30 January 2023

Sandra Hansen has won the prize for the best MA thesis with a gender perspective submitted at the University of Oslo in 2022.

Arabic women’s football: supported by the regime, but still breaking social norms

30 January 2020
Norms and legislation strictly limit women's lives in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Nevertheless, women find ways to realise themselves – like by playing football.

“Of course Muslim feminists exist”

11 December 2019
With her book about feminism in Islam, Marianne Hafnor Bøe not only aims to create awareness of Muslim feminists, she also wants to expand the term ‘feminism’.

Religious minority youth between patriarchy and gender equality

2 October 2019
Gender roles is a delicate topic for religious minority groups. Many of them accept traditional gender segregation in the religious community, but struggle with prejudices from the greater society, according to researcher.

Our image of ISIS women is incomplete

24 September 2019
The ideological conviction was often deeper among the women who joined the ISIS than among the men who did the same, according to researchers.

Justifying gender equality through Islam

7 August 2017
Young Norwegian Muslims are more liberal than their parents’ generation when it comes to equality and homosexuality, but both groups find support for their view in Islam, according to Levi Geir Eidhamar’s study.

Gender-equality ideals make Muslim women more religious

4 April 2017
When gender equality is portrayed as a uniquely Western value, immigrant Muslim women choose to embrace religion as a result, according to new research.

New gender ideals in Egypt

11 January 2017
“The gender positions in Egyptian society are changing,” says Monika Lindbekk. According to her, clear-cut antagonism between Islamism and feminism is now being challenged by legal changes.

“Norwegian authorities fail Muslim women”

30 March 2016
When Norwegian law meets Muslim family law, the human rights of Muslim immigrant women are violated. This is one of the findings in a new doctoral dissertation.

Religious freedom more important than women’s rights

17 March 2016
The anti-discrimination legislation is more powerful than ever. Yet freedom of faith and religion is still more important than women’s rights in Norway, according to a new PhD thesis.

Young men pressured from all sides

5 October 2015
A recent Norwegian report looks at young men from highly patriarchal immigrant families who are struggling with their lives and who have a rather complicated relationship to women.

Onward Christian soldiers

5 October 2015
In the 1800s, Norwegian missionaries had to strike a balance between Christian virtues and the new, modern man’s role. The solution was to be meek before God and mighty before men.

Norse gods in a crusade for Europe

5 October 2015
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist, called the gun he used to carry out the killings "Mjolner", named after the norse god Thor's hammer. He also claims to be an "Odinist". According to theology professor Jone Salomonsen, neopaganism is usually associated with New Age spirituality and the left wing, but right-wing extremists also draw on pre-Christian religion to build alternative power.

Home baptism and Christmas trees in Manndalen

16 December 2005
In Manndalen, a village in the county of Troms in the north of Norway, Laestadianism is a strong influence in the community. How does this affect those in the community who do not belong to this religious movement? Why is home baptism still practised , while Christmas trees – which were previously rejected – are now on their way in to every living room? Lisa Vangen has conducted fieldwork and interviews in the village.

News Magazine

Our news magazine is an independent online newspaper and a member of the Norwegian Specialised Press Association Fagpressen.