When reading the history of Icelanders in North America, there is no hiding their religious differences during almost the entire period of the Western migration 1870-1914. Many people find this strange, because back home in Iceland, the Icelandic national church stood firm on its own, so new theories and trends in the West had little resonance. Icelandic Mormons came to the country to preach the gospel from Utah, but little progress was made. Emigrants went to America with their religion and for a while it was good enough for them. But the settlers had to take religious matters into their own hands because there was no state church in Canada or the United States. The process was almost always the same, a few families settled somewhere on the Canadian prairies and in the American midwest. Shelter had to be built, the land cleared so it could be broken and farmed. Schools were necessary and in fact a certain number of schools were expected in each county. Sometimes the settlement was unplanned, i.e. permission was obtained to begin settlement before the land was measured and plotted. Sometimes it happened that people had to move their cabins and clear land anew because they had chosen a place where either a railway was supposed to run or a school was supposed to stand. Some settlers felt the need for a house of worship, wanted to give shape to a small community in the countryside, and a church had to be part of it. Some settler gave the opportunity to build a church on his land, gave land for a church and a cemetery. Before this happened, people gathered on Sundays at a family’s house and had house readings. When the book possessions of individuals who went west are examined, it can be seen that a lot of religious books and publications that had been published in Iceland and were found in every home. The home reading was therefore no problem. But children had to be baptized and confirmed, couples married, and the dead buried. People could not be without a pastor for long, so it was a matter of great celebration when a young man read theology at a university and was ordained a pastor. The theology in North America was shaped by religious movements, each denomination established a school where theological students were instructed. Learned pastors from Iceland quite quickly found a different interpretation from North American pastors, and some found it extremely difficult to accept. Reverend Jón Bjarnason, more than any other Icelandic pastor who worked in the west, had religious disputes because of this. He could not possibly accept the interpretation of Reverend Páll Þorláksson, who received his education from the Norwegian Synod and The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and he could not agree with the teachings of Unitarians in the late 19th century. Those who settled in cities and towns had the advantage of other congregations founded by various ethnic groups. In the years 1875-1880, for example, there were 9 religious organizations in Winnipeg, some of which had more than one congregation, but most Icelanders in that city attended services in the Congregationalist church.
English version by Thor group.