Saga - 1981, Page 276

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PÉTUR PÉTURSSON
movement and many of them were members of the IOGT.
Other societies were affiliated to the Y.M.C.A., such as the Y.W.C.A. and the
Women’s mission. A Christian periodical, “Bjarmi”, was founded in 1907, which
may be regarded as the organ of all these societies which formed a united front. In
the religious field there were struggles between this front and those theologians
who adhered to the new theology (liberal theology). Theosophy and spiritism were
often affiliated with the new theology and these two movements became firmly
established during the 1910s and have ever since been the main polarizing factors
in Icelandic religious and church politics. One of the main leaders of this
movement was the theologian Sigurbjörn Á. Gíslason. He did a great deal of
Christian work supported by the Danish Domestic Mission. He did not form a
special congregation but his diverse connections and activities within Christian
societies and organizations made him an influential figure within the movement as
a whole. He was much more prominent in the struggle between the old and new
theologies than Friðrik, who did not want the Y.M.C.A. to become party to any
religious or political disputes. Sigurbjörn seems to have wished for more influence
on the administration of the Y.M.C.A. than he was able to gain and he was never
elected to the governing board although he was a member. Considering the organi-
zational ties between the Domestic Mission and the Y.M.C.A. in Denmark >t
would seem natural that Sigurbjörn Á. Gíslason, as the representative of the
Domestic Mission, should have been active in the administration of the assoct-
ation. Presumably the differing religious views of these two individuals made their
close collaboration difficult. Friðrik Friðriksson was inclined towards Cathohc
views in certain matters and because of this he almost lost the confidence of the
Danish Domestic Mission and Y.M.C.A. Sigurbjörn tended to go in the opposite
direction in his religious views, which in many ways tended towards Calvinistic
traditions.
Because of Friðrik Friðriksson’s connections with the Danish association the
history of the Y.M.C.A. in Reykjavík has close ties with Denmark from the
beginning. For the first 20 years housing and running costs were mainly taken care
of by the Danes, but after that the members themselves were able to shoulder the
financial burdens and the Danes no longer felt it was necessary to send annua
financial contributions. In the beginning trade sections were active within the
association; artisans, clerks and seamen had separate meetings and sections. These
activities came to and end for the most part at the end of the second decade, when
there was a major change in the social organization of the working classes >n
Reykjavík and labour unions were formed under socialist leadership. Their
ideology was opposed to that of the Y.M.C.A., which was based on the mora
responsibility of the individual and his obedience to and cooperation w>
employers and authorities. These ideological conflicts appeared in the municip
minent
were
elections of 1920. Apart from this the ideological opposites are not proi
during the first two decades of the century. The association’s youth activities
appreciated by the majority of people, and in fact they were a unique initiat>vc
for children and teenagers in the capital during a period when public authorit* ^
were sadly lacking in understanding and knowledge to meet the social needs o
those citizens.