The adoption of Christianity—which then was still identical to the Catholic Church—as the state religion ("kristnitaka", literally the "taking of Christianity"), and therefore the formal conversion of the entire population, was decided by the Althing in 999/1000, pushed by the king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason. In that year, Christianity was still a minority in Iceland, while the belief in the Germanic religion was strong. However, some Christians had acquired high positions in the "goðorð" system and therefore considerable power in the Althing.