> > "Sepatation of Church and State", in my book, means "Politics has no place in religion". Here in Norway, the minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs is the one who appoints deans and bishops. And presently, this minister isn't even a Christian!
>
> Hm. That's a particularly odd arrangement. Do the various Norwegian church denominations give the Minister a short-list of "acceptable bishops" from which he can choose his appointments; or does the decision rest solely with him, a non-Christian? Strange.

I'm not entirely sure how this is done, but I think there's a list of bishop nominees from which the minister chooses the one (s)he sees best fit. This has caused great debate, since some of the persons appointed are very liberal.

For example, we have a continuous debate regarding homosexual partnerships, and the minister typically appoints bishops he knows is very liberal on this point. These bishops, in turn, appoint priests who are homosexuals living in partnerships. The other priests and bishops (who are against letting homosexual leaders live in partnerships) then refuse to work together with the others, and so on.

Trav"staying out of that mess"holt.