At least 24 people were incorrectly registered as members of the Humanist Association (Hef) when the organisation applied for state funding from 2023. In nine of these cases, the individuals had been registered as members for several years. As a result of this membership mix-up, the organisation has been overpaid by more than 61,000 kr in state funding. This is a small amount compared to the 217 million kr that non-believers receive annually from the state as a religious community.
Overpaid subsidies
At least 24 people who had resigned from the Humanist Association were still listed as members. The Humanist Association has therefore received 61,398 kroner in state subsidies to which it is not actually entitled. This has come to light in a letter from the life-stance organisation to the State Administrator for Østfold, Buskerud, Oslo and Akershus, reports Vårt Land.
The error was discovered by one of the 24 individuals, who alerted Hef to the incorrect registration of their own membership after checking their membership status with the religious and life stance communities themselves. This can be done on My Page at Brønnøysundregistrene, which cross-checks the list against the National Population Register, the Church of Norway’s membership register and the membership lists of other religious and philosophical communities.
The person who alerted the Humanist Association had therefore resigned from the association, but was still listed as a member.
Wishes to repay
The Humanist Association wishes to repay the funding it has received and has asked the State Administrator for advice on how the 61,398 kroner should be repaid.
“We deeply regret this error and wish to ensure that both the membership figures and the grant are corrected as quickly as possible,” they write in their letter to the State Administrator.
Hef has also identified a further 28 people who have been incorrectly registered, but who, according to the organisation, have not triggered any state subsidies, reports Vårt Land.
228 million annually from the state
The Humanist Association organises atheists and agnostics, and receives state subsidies as a religious community, even though, in principle, its members do not believe in any god or religion, or at best harbour doubts. Membership has doubled in ten years, not least after they made membership free in 2021, meaning that the state and taxpayers foot the entire bill. More specifically, they received 228 million from the public purse in 2025. Of this, some 217 million was in the form of grants as a religious organisation, plus some 11 million in VAT compensation.
This is exactly 100 million kroner more than the association received in grants in 2021, according to the grant portal. That is a massive increase. Almost a doubling in just four years.
HEF was founded in 1956. When Levi Fragell took over as chair in 1976, succeeding Kristian Horn, the association still had only around 1,500 members. Under Fragell’s leadership (chairman from 1976 to 1981 and general secretary from 1982 to 1990), HEF developed a more proactive profile and experienced strong membership growth, alongside campaigns for withdrawal from the State Church, writes the Store norske leksikon.
Only 87,658 members in 2016
By the end of 2016, the Humanists had only 87,658 members. This figure had risen to just 90,656 by the end of 2018. By comparison, the Church of Norway had, and still has, many millions. By 2026, the association now has over 193,000 members – more than double the figure from ten years ago – which brings in a lot of money. Even after they have repaid the money from the membership mix-up. The organisation can therefore afford to employ a great many staff.
It is not just the fact that membership of the Humanist Association is free that is driving membership growth. They also offer a 1,000 kroner discount to each parent of a confirmand who chooses a humanist rather than a Christian confirmation, which also brings in more members and more state funding.
HEF is a member of the Study Association for Culture and Tradition, and receives grants for adult education in line with the Adult Education Act’s scheme for basic and training grants. This is used in particular for the education of ‘confirmands’ in non-religious ethics, philosophy and the like.
Humanist Prize awarded to Jonas Bals and Carline Tromp
On Tuesday 3 November, it was announced that the association is awarding the 2026 Humanist Prize to Jonas Bals and Carline Tromp for their efforts to combat fascism and totalitarian tendencies. Bals is not thinking about the 1930s and 1940s, but about the present. Nor is he critical of those who want to tear down the West or throw the Jews into the sea; on the contrary, it would seem.
– Democracy and human rights are in dramatic decline in many parts of the world, but we also see that it is worth fighting back and fighting for a better world. From South Korea to Serbia and from Hungary to Brazil, he says.
Bals sees signs of optimism.
– The fact that crowds are taking to the streets, and that it seems to have become ‘cool’ to be a dissident and a rebel again, gives cause for hope. Just as the barricades were once erected to bring about democracy, today they must be erected to defend it, says Jonas Bals to the Humanist Association.
