| Summary: | In this article, and the two that will follow it, I discuss the structure of the Icelandic National Church in the 21st century, the comprehensive regulatory framework that provides the structure and management of the Church. In this first article I focus on the general organization of the National Church. At first I talk about the Church Order (how to create stability of the work in the church and generate rules of how to change the work) and its key dimensions, including its internal and external dimension. Then I discuss the autonomy of the Church and other religious communities which is essential for the Church Order in the 21st century.The focus will be on the assumption that the internal Church Order, the rules about management and practices, could be shaped by the fundamental fact that by the Constitution of Iceland the Church should be an Evangelical Lutheran Church but in other matters, that do not relate to its legal status, the Church has had considerable freedom to govern itself. Such independence is also considered an important factor in corporative religious freedom which has to be granted to churches and other religious organizations in modern secular democratic societies. It is regarded that the law of ECHR (9. article 2. paragraph) provides an objective way in how a sovereign state and an independent religious organizations can be reconciled. Í þessari grein og tveimur sem fylgja munu í kjölfarið verður fjallað um kirkjuskipan fyrir íslensku þjóðkirkjuna á 21. öld en með því er átt við heildstætt regluverk sem kveður á um stöðu, stjórn og starfshætti kirkjunnar. Í þessari fyrstu grein eru almennar forsendur slíkrar kirkjuskipanar ræddar. Annars vegar er fengist við hlutverk kirkjuskipanarinnar (að skapa festu í kirkjustarfinu og að mynda leikreglur um breytingar í því efni) og hverjar helstu víddir hennar eru, m.a. innri og ytri vídd. Hins vegar er fengist við sjálfstæði (autonomy) kirkna og trúfélaga en það er grundvallaratriði sem kirkjuskipan á 21. öld hlýtur að taka til.Lögð er áhersla á að ...
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