Oslo, Norway - Neither of the Labour Party's two government partners support Labour's compromise on separating church from state in Norway.
The Labour Party's own governing board decided Monday night that the party would support proposals to maintain a state church, but would seek to remove Evangelical Lutheranism as the accepted state religion.
Church bishops would continue to be appointed by the Council of State, led by the reigning monarch, but appointments could be turned over to church councils if that was deemed to be more representative.
Neither the Socialist Left (SV) nor the Center Party (SP), both of which share government power through a left-centre coalition, support Labour's compromise. SV wants to get rid of the state church and religion altogether, while SP wants to maintain it all as it is.
"The untenable blend between religion and state that we have today would continue under Labour's proposal," said Rolf Reikvam of SV. "This smells like an attempt at a compromise to keep the peace among the parties."
SP spokesman Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa, meanwhile, called the Labour proposal "contradictory," and wants to maintain a state church and a state religion.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of the Labour Party defended the proposal as a unifying attempt to address all interests, adding that "religion isn't the most logical area in life." Stoltenberg dropped his own membership in the state church years ago.