1612 A Lutheran parish, then a wooden churchEvanjelická fara a drevený kostol

In 1612 a Lutheran parish was set up at Námestovo, because the Thurzos who owned Orava were Lutherans and their tenants followed them. A first wooden church went up in 1663. Both were undone within a lifetime: the Counter-Reformation and the defeat of the Protestant uprisings pushed Orava back to Catholicism, and the Upper Orava has been strongly Catholic ever since. Whole valleys changed religion twice in a century, and the reason was usually who happened to hold the castle.V roku 1612 vznikla v Námestove evanjelická fara, pretože Thurzovci, ktorí Oravu vlastnili, boli luteráni a poddaní ich nasledovali. V roku 1663 postavili prvý drevený kostol. Oboje vydržalo sotva jeden ľudský vek: protireformácia a porážka stavovských povstaní vrátili Oravu ku katolicizmu a horná Orava zostala silne katolícka dodnes. Celé doliny zmenili vieru za jedno storočie dvakrát a dôvodom bolo zvyčajne to, kto práve držal hrad.