Tag separation of church and state

Church-State Separation in Norway

Whøå (Google translation).

The Norwegian government is expected to amend its constitution to become a more secular society: the Church of Norway will no longer be the official state religion. As I understand it, from now on the government will no longer have any say in how the church is run (and will abolish the post of Minister of Churches), and the church will appoint its own bishops and other officials.

This all sounds rather… civilized and sensible, I must say. As an American, I’m not used to such things happening without a whole lot of hand-wringing, hyperbolic rhetoric, and accusations of treason, communism, and collusion with Satan. I don’t suppose we could get some Norwegians to come over here and show us how it’s done, could we?

Cranston Votes Not to Appeal Ruling

Everybody and their assorted siblings are reporting that the Cranston, RI School Committee voted not to appeal the court decision that ruled a prayer mural unconstitutional.

Hemant links to the Cranston Patch’s liveblogging of the meeting. Best quote:

7:28 p.m.: City’s lawyer, Joesph Cavanaugh Jr., gives a history of the banner, and said there were two legal tests that the judge could have based his review on. Cranston argued it was historic display, but the judge viewed it through the lens that the mural is a prayer, mainly because of the presence of the term “school prayer.”

Similarly, further down:

9:11 p.m.: […] Father Andrew George asks why the judge viewed the mural as a prayer and not an historic document. Cavanaugh said is because it has the word “school prayer” in it and has “petition words’ and states “amen.”