After former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Iceland came forward on the news discussion show Kompás, wherein they recounted psychological abuse and being shunned by their families after being forced out of or leaving the faith, Vísir now reports that the chair of the parliamentary general and educational committee is considering whether or not to cut off the church from national funding.
Allegations of widespread abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been reported on internationally, detailing psychological and sexual abuse, as well as the practice of shunning members who do not abide church edicts, often cutting them off from their families.
In light of this, Norway, which has a national religious system similar to Iceland’s, made the decision earlier this year to cut the Jehovah’s Witnesses off from government funding. In the wake of the Kompás reporting, Bryndís Haraldsdóttir, who chairs the parliamentary committee relevant to religious funding, believes it may be time to reconsider the church’s status in Iceland.
This story is being covered by Andie Sophia Fontaine of The Reykjavík Grapevine: https://grapevine.is/news/2022/03/16/iceland-may-remove-religious-org-funding-for-jehovahs-witnesses/