In recent years, the Church of Norway has undergone a marked shift in hot-button issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, in effect abandoning its century-long stance.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that a member survey conducted by the Norwegian Church for the sake of a better rapport with its associates has yielded surprising results.

While highlighting a high degree of agreement on matters of climate and poverty, it also revealed that the church and its members are far apart on issues such as euthanasia (or “active death help”, which it's called in Scandinavia) that is supported by 46 percent of church members. The same survey revealed that 14 percent of members of the Norwegian Church “completely disagree” with its public statements.

Over the last few decades, the Church of Norway has significantly revised its stance on a number of issues, including gay marriage and abortion. Having appointed its first openly gay priest in 2000, the Church of Norway allowed same-sex marriage in 2015.

Earlier this year, Norwegian bishops released a public statement actually apologizing for the church's historic pro-life stance and claimed that abortion “promoted women's health, safety, and security”.