“Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Norwegian Embassy in Washington. Supporters who know the family told reporters that the claims that the children were abused is unproven and added that the Bodnariu family is one of thousands of “normal” families suffering because of the unjust actions of Barnevernet.”

Thousands of Romanian Pentecostal Evangelicals peacefully protested Norwegian embassies in five national capitals, including Washington D.C. on Friday, calling on the Norwegian government to free five children who were removed from their parents by child services last year after a teacher complained about the family’s Christian faith.

The three sons and two daughters of Ruth and Marius Bodnariu were taken into custody by the Barnevernet (Norway’s child services) on Nov. 16, 2015, after their daughter’s teacher cited concern about the family’s belief that “God punishes sin.”

Despite not having been tried in a court of law, the children have been placed in three separate foster homes and the parents have been granted limited visitation rights. The family also claims that the agency has initiated the adoption process for the children on the grounds that they were physically abused.

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Norwegian Embassy in Washington. Supporters who know the family told reporters that the claims that the children were abused is unproven and added that the Bodnariu family is one of thousands of “normal” families suffering because of the unjust actions of Barnevernet.

“We have a God and God is on our side because God created the family. The tradition of the family has been ordained by God. If you are going to fight us and fight the Bodnariu family, you also fight against God,” Washington protest organizer Cristian Ionescu, who pastors the Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Chicago and is also the vice president of the Romanian Pentecostal Union in the United States and Canada, said.

“Lately they are trying to characterize it as an abuse case. It never started as such. The teacher said that we need to bridge the gap between us and this family because they have radical Christian principles and we know that right now, everything that was considered decent two decades ago is considered ‘radical,'” Ionescu added.

“You cannot indoctrinate your children in one religion and you cannot tell them about God and the attributes of God because that is offensive to so many people. Then it developed as an abuse case once Barnevernet understood that you cannot go against the family based on religious accusations of indoctrination.”

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