Irreligion in Iceland

Realist writers like Gestur Pálsson, Einar Hjörleifsson Kvaran and Þorsteinn Erlingsson criticized church authorities, blind religious fervour and Christian hypocrisy.

[5] In the 1920s and 1930s, labour leader Pjetur G. Guðmundsson published translations of faith-critical works by Robert G. Ingersoll as well as some of his own thoughts.

[6] The most ambitious atheistic work composed in 20th century Iceland was Blekking og þekking ("Deception and Knowledge"), a book by Níels P. Dungal published in 1948.

[8] To some extent the book lived up to this claim, provoking lengthy critical reviews by theologians, including one by Sigurbjörn Einarsson, later bishop.

At first he sought recourse from Bishop Sigurbjörn Einarsson who told him that the baptismal covenant was permanent and could not be annulled.

Helgi went to the altar as if to receive communion but instead of consuming the wine and the bread he threw both items into a trash bag and then addressed the congregation, declaring his baptismal covenant annulled and "protesting the hatred of humanity which is the basis of the accursed Christian religion".

[20] After the event at the cathedral, Helgi's quest turned towards getting Statistics Iceland to register the annulment of his baptismal covenant.

On October 10, the Althing came into session with a traditional procession of members of parliament, the president of the republic, and the bishop of Iceland to the Reykjavík cathedral.

[28] This would indicate that numbers of agnostics and atheists in Iceland are significantly higher than official registration of religious affiliation would indicate.