 A proposal to perform same-sex weddings was approved on October 22, 2009 by 176 of 249 voting members of the Church of Sweden Synod.In 2000 the Church of Sweden ceased to be a state church, but there remains a strong tradition of community connection with churches, particularly in relation to rites of passage, with many infants baptized and teenagers confirmed (currently 40% of all 14 year olds) for families without formal church membership.While some Swedish areas had Christian minorities in the 9th century, Sweden was, because of its geographical location in northernmost Europe, not Christianized until around AD 1000, around the same time as the other Nordic countries, when the Swedish King Olof was baptized.