It’s not unusual to hear of mainline Protestant clergy who reject fundamental Christian doctrines such as the deity of Jesus Christ, but a Lutheran minister is going a step further, claiming God does not exit.
Danish pastor Thorkild Grosboel of Taarbaek, near Copenhagen, was suspended today by his bishop after stating in a recent interview “there is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection,” the Associated Press reported.
Bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel of the Helsingoer diocese, said Grosboel’s comments “caused confusion” within the church.
“There should be no doubt that priests have committed themselves to act within the church’s confession of faith,” she said, according to the AP.
Rebel said only the Danish government’s Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs has the authority to defrock Grosboel, because Lutheran pastors in the Scandinavian country are employed by the state.
About 85 percent of Denmark’s 5.3 million people belong to the state Evangelical Lutheran Church, but only about 5 percent attend church regularly.
 Tove Fergo, Danish church-affairs chief |
In addition to his suspension, Rebel has demanded Grosboel retract his comments and apologize.
Tove Fergo, Denmark’s ecclesiastical affairs minister, has said it’s impossible to be a pastor and not believe in the existence of God and the resurrection of Christ, the AP said.
But Mogens Lindhardt, the leader of Denmark’s Theological College of Education, called Grosboel’s claims “refreshing.”
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