| Summary: | The Icelandic constitution from 1874 guaranteed the people of Iceland the right to establish and operate religious communities outside of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (ELCI). The changes made to the constitution in 1915 extended the religious freedom for individuals. This marked the end of the first stage of the development of religious freedom in Iceland.During this period, various religious communities and denominations came into existence, amongst them nine Lutheran free churches around the country. Two are still fully operation-al, one in Reykjavík and the other one in Hafnarfjörður. The congregations did not create any formal organization/-s between themselves because they were not all operating at the same time. Younger congregations, nevertheless, looked for models from older ones, in terms of regulations and management. In some instances, pastors served two congregations at the same time. This is why the alliance between different congregations seems close enough to substantiate an informal ecclesiastical movement at this moment in Icelandic history. These were all Evangelical Lutheran congregations, and their praxis was largely in line with the praxis within the ELCI. The people belonging to the Lutheran free churches were not particularly interested in any major changes, or a full separation between church and state. This is why it is assumed that the tendency within those congregations was to make it easier for people to take the initiative in organizing and adjusting their activities to their context, as is the case with individual congregations in the National Church. Hence, it could be argued that those free churches were first and foremost representing an ecclesiasti-cal democratic movement. Með stjórnarskránni frá 1874 var landsmönnum tryggður réttur til að stofna og starfrækja trúfélög utan þjóðkirkjunnar. Með stjórnarskrárbreytingum árið 1915 var einstaklingum svo veitt víðtækt trúarlegt frelsi. Þar með lauk fyrsta þróunarskeiði trúfrelsis í landinu.Á tímabilinu notaði fólk sér ...
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