The Church is similar to PBS in that it is state funded, so your taxes pay for it whether you are a member or not. I wonder why so many would choose to drop out if nothing mandatory is being escaped.
Yes, but I bet PBS would like this bit of Norwegian law...:^)
By law[26] all children who have at least one parent member who is a member, automatically become members. This has been controversial, as many become members without knowing, and as this favours the Church of Norway over other churches. This law remained unchanged even after the separation of church and state in 2012.
From wiki.