Doubting Danish Minister Faces Discipline

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The Danish government Monday upheld the clerical suspension of a Lutheran minister who proclaimed last year that there was no God or afterlife, and he now could be fired or fined for declaring his beliefs in the pulpit.

The government said it backed the June 10 decision by Helsingoer Bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel who suspended the Rev. Thorkild Grosboell, pastor of Taarbaek, preaching his unconventional beliefs at his church.

Grosboell, who could not immediately be reached for comment, face a disciplinary labor court hearing with two theologians and a presiding judge, who will decide his punishment - dismissal or a fine.

In a statement, Justice Minister Lene Espersen said Monday that Grosboell “had damaged the state (Evangelical Lutheran) Church … and had not shown loyalty to the state Church.”

She said the court hearing, which is rare in Denmark, would be held sometime after Sept. 1. No date was set.

If Grosboell is fined or fired, he would be allowed to appeal the decision to a judicial court.

In Denmark, Lutheran ministers are employed by the state. Only the government can fire them or send them before a court hearing and only with a recommendation from their presiding bishop. Rebel oversees the diocese that includes Taarbaek, a small town north of Copenhagen.

Grosboell has been under Rebel’s strict supervision since he first was suspended after a May 2003 interview in which he said “there is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection.”

About 85 percent of Danes belong to the state Evangelical Lutheran Church, though just 5 percent attend church services regularly.

Grosboell eventually retracted his statement and apologized for what Rebel had termed “provocative” remarks. His suspension was lifted.

But in a May 16 sermon, Grosboell said that “God had abdicated in favor of his son, hence in our favor. Therefore there is no longer a heavenly guarantee or an interfering might, there is only the godly kingdom (on earth) that is achieved by us and between us. So if it fails, there is nothing.”

In June, Rebel said that sermon was “clearly incompatible with the state church’s faith,” and added that he had “spoken in a strongly provocative, hurting and confusing way.”

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