The Council wants this to be rooted in a Church Act, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports.
The new 'red-green' left-center government has been unable to agree on the future organization of the Norwegian state church and in their government platform, the Soria Moria Declaration, decided to leave this stance until the Council had reached its own conclusion.
A survey commissioned by Centennial Norway 2005 this spring found that nearly half of Norwegians believe the time has come to sever ties between state and church, with 41 percent in favor of a state church and 46 opposed.
Oslo, other major cities, the highly educated and wealthiest segments were the most interested in seeing a separation between state and church.
