Helgi Hóseasson (November 21, 1919 – September 6, 2009) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Biography

In 1962, he started a campaign to have his baptismal covenant annulled. At first he sought recourse from bishop

Sigurbjörn Einarsson Sigurbjörn Einarsson (30 June 1911 – 28 August 2008) was an Icelandic clergyman and doctor of theology who served as the Bishop of Iceland (head of the Lutheran Church of Iceland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland ( is, Hin ...

who told him that the baptismal covenant was permanent and could not be annulled. Helgi then contacted several other clergymen without getting results to his liking. He then sought legal recourse, pursuing the case through the Icelandic court system and finally appealing to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

, all without success. At this point Helgi believed that the only course remaining open to him was direct action. On October 16, 1966, he attended service at the

Reykjavík Cathedral Reykjavík Cathedral ( Icelandic: ''Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík'') is a cathedral church in Reykjavík, Iceland, the seat of the Bishop of Iceland and mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the ...

. Helgi went to the altar as if to receive communion but instead of consuming the wine and the bread he threw both items into a trash bag and then addressed the congregation, declaring his baptismal covenant annulled and "protesting the hatred of humanity which is the basis of the accursed Christian religion". After the event at the cathedral, Helgi's quest turned towards getting

Statistics Iceland Statistics Iceland ( is, Hagstofa Íslands) is the main official institute providing statistics on the nation of Iceland. It was created by the Althing in 1913, began operations in 1914 and became an independent government agency under the Prim ...

to register the annulment of his baptismal covenant. It quickly became apparent that this was a wish the relevant authorities were not inclined to grant. Helgi then started a campaign of protests and disruptions of church services. In 1972, he decided the time had come for more decisive action. On October 10, the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

came into session with a traditional procession of members of parliament, the president of the republic, and the bishop of Iceland to the Reykjavík cathedral. Helgi approached the procession and showered it with skyr. He succeeded in getting skyr on most members of parliament before being stopped by the police. The action succeeded in getting Helgi national attention and arousing some, but limited sympathy for his cause. After being arrested by the police, he was involuntarily committed to a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

, where a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

diagnosed him as probably having

querulous paranoia In the legal profession and courts, a querulant (from the Latin ''querulus'' - "complaining") is a person who obsessively feels wronged, particularly about minor causes of action. In particular the term is used for those who repeatedly petition a ...

. Later actions by Helgi included sprinkling tar on Stjórnarráðshúsið, the seat of government, in 1974, breaking windows in the same building in 1976, and sprinkling a chemical mixture on the same building in 1981. In 1982 he was implicated in burning down the church he had received confirmation in. Despite his decades-long campaign and frequent arrests, Helgi had never been charged with anything.Helgi p. 164
-
-

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoseasson, Helgi 1919 births 2009 deaths Helgi Hoseasson Helgi Hoseasson Atheism activists 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists Icelandic socialists