The Norwegian Bible Belt (Norwegian: ''bibelbeltet'') is a loosely defined southwestern coastal area of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, which is more religiously observant than most of the rest of the country. Typically, the definition covers Western Norway (Vestlandet) and Southern Norway (Sørlandet), which includes the counties of

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

(typically called the "buckle" of the Bible Belt),

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

, Sogn og Fjordane,

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

and

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

. However, the most urban areas, such as

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

(once known as the 'religious capital of Norway'), have become strongly

secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

since the 1960s and are no longer considered part of the Bible Belt.

Characteristics

Socioeconomic

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

in the Bible Belt is the lowest in all of Norway; the major cities of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, Stavanger and

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

, however, are amongst the most progressive municipalities in the country. In the 1926 referendum on the repeal of prohibition on alcohol, the Bible Belt cast a strong vote against repeal (73.1% in Rogaland, 77.2% in Møre og Romsdal), unlike the rest of Norway. The Bible Belt also has a strong pietist movement, that opposes the central authority of the State

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

. Rogaland is home to many missionary associations and the strongest base of the two main

Christian democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

parties, the

Moderate Liberal Party The Moderate Liberal Party ( no, Moderate Venstre, literally "Moderate Left") was a political party in Norway that emerged from the moderate and religious branches of the Liberal Party in 1888. The party's turn towards cooperation with the Conserv ...

and Christian People's Party (the latter originally being from Hordaland). In Sørlandet, Sunday church attendance is observed by 2 in 10 people, compared to slightly less than 1 in 10 in Norway on average. Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Rogaland have the highest percentage of married farmers, and the lowest percentage of cohabitants. Rogaland and Sogn og Fjordane have the lowest proportion of divorces and separations, and the latter county also has the highest rate of unmarried farmers. According to research institute Forskning.no this relationship pattern is typical of the Bible Belt.

Little Bible Belt

There is also a "Little Bible Belt" (''lille bibelbeltet'') in the southeast near the Swedish border, covering

Rømskog Rømskog was a municipality in former Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Rømskog. The former municipality of Rømskog was separated from Rødenes on 1 January 1902. Rømskog was well known ...

, Marker and Aremark.

References

{{Reflist Cultural regions Bible belts Christianity in Norway Geography of Norway Religion in Norway