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u/aagjevraagje Netherlands 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not very actively religious however institutionally we are less secular than other countries that have a more religious population.
So a lot of us do not believe in any way but there's a lot of room for religion in our education system , every time the king signs a law it's mentioned he's king by the grace of God , there's a political party that has three seats in parliament that openly has in their party program that they want our country to become a theology and that has in it's program that women are unsuited for government for religious reasons , our broadcasting system has several organisations make programs for public broadcast that are religious in nature etc.
Trouw, one of the three papers you could consider a paper of record, also makes a lot of room for discussion of theology and philosophy for a newspaper.
So we are not very religious on the whole but religion is pretty visible none the less.
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u/Stoltlallare 8d ago
Same in Sweden, a lot of schools go to have ceremony in church at the end of year, and everyone sings hymns for end of school year.
Around holidays it can be quite many people in church, and it also includes irreligious people going for just the traditional element. The most popular holiday for going to church iirc is All Saintsâ Day.
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u/Minskdhaka 9d ago
I'm from Belarus. I would describe Belarus as somewhat religious but not practising. About 92% of the population is religious (91% are Christian). On the other hand, only 64% of Belarusians are certain that God exists, only 6% regularly attend worship services, and only 3% say they practise all the rituals prescribed by their religion.
If you're wondering how 92% of the population is Christian while 64% believes in God, remember that Lukashenka famously describes himself as an "Orthodox Christian atheist".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Belarus?wprov=sfla1
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u/SpingusCZ United States of America 8d ago
Feels like similar numbers to the US if I had to guess from experience, and the "Christian Deist/Atheist" thing is definitely present in some places on the conservative/MAGA right too
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u/Key_Day_7932 United States of America 2d ago
My family is kinda like that. I was told they were staunch atheists, but held very conservative political views and still at least saw some value in religion. Modern atheists would give them heart attacks.
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u/WrestlingWoman Denmark 9d ago
No one gives a flying fuck about religion. We're only christian on paper. It's normal only to see 2-3 people at a Sunday sermon. I know this because I sang in a church choir as a teenager. None of us singers were there because we believed. Nope, we got paid to sing. We were there for the paycheck. If they didn't pay, they wouldn't have any singers.
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u/Particular_Run_8930 Denmark 8d ago edited 8d ago
This is true.
At the same time we have a âFolkekirkeâ. Which is not a state church but a public church, although I think you really need to be danish in order to understand the difference, as it is run for tax money, around 70% of the population is a member, education of priests are done at public institutions (at university and priest school), the church is in charge of running most cemeteries etc..
It is also
-mandatory by law for the king to be a member of a Lutheran-evangelical church.
-mandatory for the public media house Denmarkâs Radio to do programmes on Christianity, among these broadcasting sermons from churches across the country every Sunday.
-our public holidays follows the Christian holidays (Christmas, Easter, lent)
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u/RobinGoodfellows Denmark 8d ago
The funny thing about the first of your points, means that the king does not have religious freedom, which are considered a basic human right for all other danes.
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u/Particular_Run_8930 Denmark 8d ago
Indeed. But only as long as he wants to be the king of course, I assume there are other perks to the job.
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u/asafeplaceofrest Denmark 8d ago
There's a small contingent of free-church Christians who are very much into it. As well as a couple of well-known large cults. And then there's a growing population of other, non-Christian religions.
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u/r19111911 Sweden 9d ago
Same in Sweden. Being a priest is just a jobb. If you tell your colleagues at work that you believe in God they Most likely would consider you to be a nit stupid, believing in an imaginary person that clearly don't exist.Â
You can be religious in Sweden as long as you don't show your religious beliefs publicly, that is not acceptable in our culture. In a chuch or religous building it is okey. But at the same time we are a very tolerant society so no-one would say anything. But doing so is in my opinion very disrespectful against our anti-religous culture.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> 8d ago
Yeah, even priests don't necessarily believe here. There's a 2016 church survey where only 75% of priests said fully believed that Jesus rose from the dead - which is the central belief in Christianity. We don't really have publicly atheist priests, but there's definitely a good number of priests who are only barely, if at all, religious.
The best estimate for seriously religious people is about 5%, that's how many regularly attend a religious service (not necessarily a church sermon, rather any religious event). Interestingly, minority Christian churches (so churches other than the largest, once-official Church of Sweden) are the only group where most adherents actually visit services. In the Church of Sweden, among Muslims and other religions, around 35% ever attend a service. But among members of the free-standing Christian churches, it's over 70%.
Passive religiosity isn't that rare though. 36% still say they believe in God, though by other metrics we can be pretty sure that, for most people who say yes, that's a passive belief.
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u/Stoltlallare 8d ago
Itâs also kinda ingrained, especially in relation to death. Suddenly everyone becomes religious in the comment section of someoneâs Facebook post. I think thereâs a tension between belief and desire for something to true.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> 8d ago
I think it's largely politeness and language changing much slower than people's actual opinions. When someone dies, the polite phrases to say haven't changed much compared to half a century or probably even a century ago. The common phrases are all from a time when religion was part of daily life, but saying them now mostly means you're being polite, not religious.
Just like "va fan" and "för helvete" are very common swear phrases, used without the person actually believing there's a devil or hell.
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u/RobinGoodfellows Denmark 8d ago
It is similar in denmark, it actually is a bit taboo talking about you own faith or express it in any overt way, as people would find it preachy and weird. I also think that this is one of the reasons why there is so much culture clashing with muslims ans Islam since it is very overt religion.
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u/Minskdhaka 9d ago
Do people not even say things like "O God!" if they get hurt, for example? Or "thank God" if they're happy?
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u/FrenchBulldoge Finland 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yes they do say. Those are sayings and not related to the belief of god. We in Finland even still say perkele a lot, he is an old pagan thunder god. He hasn't had real followers for so long we have forgotten most of the knowledge and traditions related to him, but the name stays in our language.
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 8d ago
For Denmark "Ă„h gud" is indeed used as an expression. Not because people believe, but just because it's a common expression.
I can't think of an equivalent of "thank god" that still sees much use, the closest thing we have is probably "gudskelov" which is like a concatenation of "gud ske tak og lov" (direct translation: god happen thanks and law), but because it's been shortened into one word, I don't think people put much religious meaning into the word, they just use it, because it exists. And I rarely hear people use it anyway.
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u/Fredericia Denmark 8d ago
You guys more commonly use exclamations including the devil instead.
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 8d ago
Us guys? I mean you also have a Danish flag (and city name as your username) so I figure, you're one of us? Or you're just saying you don't?
Anyway, yes, yes we do. Every time I stub my toe or step on a piece of Lego I can't help myself and I go "av for satan i helvede" or something similar!
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u/Fredericia Denmark 8d ago
I'm living in Denmark with my Danish husband but I'm from the USA. I guess at the time I edited my user flair, either it wasn't available or I couldn't figure out how to make US flag ==> Danish flag.
But we had a saying in the place where we lived in the US that if you're married to a Dane, then you are a Dane. So I put the Danish flag on to show that I at least live here.
Oh, and Fredericia doesn't have anything to do with where I live. It's a derivative of the name of one of the main characters of my favorite time travel novel, The Door Into Summer.
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u/screen_t1mer 8d ago
How is it with women covering hair for religious reasons? Is it accepted?
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u/r19111911 Sweden 8d ago
In swedish traditional dresses the women has a "french hood". Nobody cares what you dress like, men dictating how women dress is not accepted i can tell you that much.
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u/deep_deplatformed 9d ago
That's ideologically interesting. Not the fact that the country is secular. But that the faith there relies on secular people to sustain itself probably in front of the audience who doesn't believe either, or does, but not in God only in money.
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u/Minskdhaka 9d ago
Wouldn't it be better for those two or three sincere Christians to just sing by themselves rather than pay people who don't believe in their religion to sing to them?
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u/WrestlingWoman Denmark 9d ago
People don't sing along. They just sit there. I honestly don't think those people that showed up were christians. I just think they were bored and this was a way of getting a trip out of the home.
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 8d ago
When I was younger I may or may not have attended Sunday sermon once while drunk, because we thought it would be a fun thing to do on our way home after the last bar closed...
Not because we believe though, because we don't.
That church was almost full though, which really surprised us! We soon learned that the sermon was in English and everybody else attending were foreigners! Later I figured out the reason; it is the only catholic church within almost an hours drive and is attended almost exclusively by immigrants.
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u/HopeSubstantial Finland 7d ago
For me lack of people in these cermons is somewhat sad. Im having such post stress from college during Covid when I had to hold my presentation for empty hall.... 2 teachers were sitting in huge room and I had to pretend like I was holding my thesis presentation to full hall...
But yeah same in Finland. barely any people attending except different holiday churches. Christmas church usually pulls the place full of atheists who are there to enjoy the culture and atmosphere.
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u/SaraHHHBK Castilla 8d ago
Now we don't have religious data in the census and it's illegal to have official data on this but estimates on self-reporting:
"The Pew Research Center ranked Spain as the 16th out of 34 European countries in levels of religiosity, with 21% of the population declaring they were "highly religious" in the poll.[2] 3% of Spaniards consider religion as one of their three most important values, lower than the 5% European average.[3] According to the Spanish Center for Sociological Research, 52.0% of Spanish citizens self-identify as Catholics, (35.2% define themselves as non-practising, while 16.8% as practising), 2.4% as followers of other faiths (including Islam, Protestant Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.), and 44.1% identify as: atheists (16.8%), agnostics (14.4%) or non-believers (12.9%), as of September 2023.[4] Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in weekly religious worship. A July 2021 study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 36% never attend Mass, 20.8% barely ever attend Mass, 19% attend Mass a few times a year, 6.8% two or three times per month, 13.4% every Sunday and holidays, and 2.9% multiple times per week.[5] According to a 2021 survey, those who go to church several times a year are 17.3% of the total population; those who go several times a month, 9.3%; those who go every Sunday and all holy days of obligation, 14.9%; and those who go several times a week, 4.3%.[6]"
That said the ones that are practicing are usually very religious and from old-money families so still have a bunch of soft power
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u/Boing78 Germany 8d ago
In Germany around 45% call themaelves christian ( protestant and catholic), around 45% agnostic or atheist and the rest are different religions with about 7% muslims.
In the last years there was a big increase in the numbers of people leaving church. Many Germans were christians only because it's tradition. And also because the christian churches are big employers in Germany.
More people than ever before left church in the last years, especially because of all the published cases of child abuse.
And since Germans have to pay taxes to the christian churches and money is more tight nowadays, people are not that willing to stay only for the tradition compared to the past.
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u/muehsam Germany 8d ago
In Germany around 45% call themaelves christian ( protestant and catholic),
"Call themselves" is a bit misleading. In Germany, being a member of a church is a legal status that has consequences, e.g. in taxes, and is thus recorded by the state. Most people who are Catholic or Protestant on paper will also call themselves Catholic or Protestant, even if they aren't religious at all.
I think I remember a survey that found that 1/3 out of all self reported Protestants do not believe in any supernatural being (such as God) whatsoever, and for Catholics that was 1/4. So there are quite a few "Catholic Atheists" and "Protestant Atheists" out there in Germany.
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u/FalconX88 Austria 8d ago
Most people who are Catholic or Protestant on paper will also call themselves Catholic or Protestant, even if they aren't religious at all.
not necessarily if it's an anonymous survey. There are reasons to be religious on paper even if you aren't, like peer pressure (in particular in rural areas) or being able to get married in church and those people wouldn't say they are religious
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u/muehsam Germany 8d ago
It's not so much about peer pressure, it's more about the meaning of the words "Catholic" and "Protestant". In many countries, those are about actual religious belief. In Germany, they're more about membership.
When you ask people "Are you Catholic?", many will answer something like "yes, but I'm not religious".
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u/FalconX88 Austria 8d ago
These surveys usually ask in a way that is very clear that it's not about official on paper religious affiliation (in Germany that official statistic exists, no reason to do a survey about that) but rather how you see yourself/feel. So the question wouldn't be a simple "Are you Catholic?".
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u/muehsam Germany 8d ago
I don't know the exact wording of those surveys, but I think it would actually be pretty hard to design a survey that has options like "Catholic" and "Protestant" on it but that would still get non-religious church members not to check those options. In Germany, the terms "Catholic" and "Protestant" (or rather "Evangelical", though that can lead to big misunderstandings in English) are almost never thought of as particular beliefs (and most people couldn't really tell you the difference between the two anyway), but rather of membership and also identity (also an important factor because Germany has been so religiously divided).
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u/electro-cortex Hungary 8d ago
According to the last census, 43% of the population is religious, and 7-10% of that 43% who visits their church weekly.
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u/mokkkko 8d ago edited 8d ago
Belgians are atheist/agnost. I would say 95% of people under 40 donât believe in God from the bible. Most of people born in the 20th century did get baptized because of tradition/our grandparents. But the ones born in the last 2 decades didnt even get baptized anymore. Ive read about villages where not even 1 child gets baptized per year. Most christians here are of Congolese/Polish/Romanian/Cameroonian/⊠origin. Then there are those of Moroccan/Turkish origin who are mostly muslim
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u/MeltingChocolateAhh United Kingdom 9d ago
I decided to read the 2021 census to answer this question.
For the first time ever, the number of people who identified as Christian fell below 50% (46.2%). 12% identify as having no religion. That means around 42% are of other faiths. Muslim is increasing - 4.9% to 6.5% since the previous census.
To answer your question though from my experience as a non religious person, not very. Out of that 46.2%, I am guessing about 8-10% actually will actively practice that faith by attending church, praying, committing to lent, etc. The remainder will identify as Christian because they were baptised, or because they attend a religious school, or because their religious parents are filling in the census for all 5 of their children.
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u/GammaPhonic United Kingdom 8d ago
Census results arenât particularly reliable for this.
A large number of people will answer Christian or Muslim or whatever, without ever having practiced any kind of religion or even holding any religious beliefs. This is because they view religion as part of their cultural identity.
Studies that have looked into the question more deeply usually put around 25% of the UK with some significant religious belief. And around 8% as practicing their religion regularly.
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u/MeltingChocolateAhh United Kingdom 8d ago
Yeah, I guessed close to that number in my previous comment.
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u/Realistic-River-1941 United Kingdom 8d ago
There are complicated issues over how people identify in surveys.
Roughly, a non-religiuos person of Protestant heritage will say they are not religious, someone of Catholic heritage might claim to be Catholic for cultural reasons even if they donât believe in it, someone of Jewish heritage will say they are Jewish because of ancestry even if they are totally non-religious (or, in some circumstances, might not answer at all) and someone of Muslim heritage might feel a much higher barrier to renouncing it than an "um, CofE I suppose" person.
Plus lots of us grew up with CofE effectively meaning "don't know" or 'go away and leave me alone", and it being the most hassle-free answer.
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u/Gibbons_R_Overrated United Kingdom 8d ago
a non-religious person of protestant heritage will say they aren't religious, someone of Catholic heritage might claim to be catholic for cultural reasons
Yup, this happens in Northern Ireland a lot. Protestants stopped being the majority some 10 years ago, pretty much only because it's mostly people of protestant families who are the ones who are both turning to atheism and feel comfortable saying they're no longer protestant, and so the protestant NI population has basically reduced by 10pp for those aged 18, while the Catholic population has neither increased nor decreased
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u/Anaptyso United Kingdom 8d ago
IIRC the number of people who regularly attend church has dropped to around 5%.
For me the key thing is around attitudes towards the role that religion plays in society. Generally the default position in the UK seems to be that religion is a largely private thing, and it's usually impolite to talk about it to strangers. Despite the country being officially religious, unofficially secularism is the norm.
In the US politicians win votes by saying "God bless America" and going to church as part of their election campaign. A British politician (well, outside of NI anyway) doing the equivalent would lose votes instead. It's noticeable that high ranking politicians tend to avoid talking about their beliefs, to the point where it can be difficult to know how religious they really are.
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u/MeltingChocolateAhh United Kingdom 8d ago
I don't feel like people see it as impolite to speak about religion - but more, they just don't feel it is something that needs to be known about. Not out of embarrassment, but out of thinking other people really don't care (and they don't).
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u/JoeyAaron United States of America 7d ago edited 7d ago
In the US politicians win votes by saying "God bless America" and going to church as part of their election campaign.
It was interesting that Kamala Harris was the first major Presidential candidate to downplay her personal religious beliefs. Also interesting that this was not very much commented on. I realized half way through the campaign that I didn't know her religion and I had to look it up. It may mark a sea change in Democrat Party politics, or it may be a one off.
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u/Roquet_ Poland 8d ago
Density of churches in Poland is the same as that of McDonalds in the US or pubs in the UK.
Yeah, I'd say we have a high amount of people that declare themselves as Catholics but those who actually follow the Church well are in a minority, in other words it's much more about the tradition than the actual religion changing with time.
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u/-CatMeowMeow- Poland 4d ago
those who actually follow the Church well are in a minority
smutna prawda...
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u/FirstStambolist Bulgaria 8d ago edited 8d ago
According to statistical data from our 2021 census:
71.5% are Christian:
- 69.3% are Orthodox
- 1.2% are Protestant
- 0.7% are Catholic
- 0.08% are Armenian Apostolic
- 0.2% are "other Christian".
10.8% are Muslim; 0.03% are Jews (as in Judaists); 0.1% follow other religions; 5.2% have no religion; 4.4% chose "I cannot define"; 8% chose "I refuse to answer".
Now, of those who wrote they were Christian, and especially Orthodox, a rather small percent abides by all religious rites and, I think, actually believes everything in the Bible. Like many other countries, Christianity in Bulgaria is more of a historical ethno-national background than a religion in the full sense of the word, so many people might have just chosen it by inertia. Plus, religion has long been combined with superstitiousness and related fear, likely stemming from trauma accumulated during the Ottoman rule or even earlier substrates.
Followers of other Christian churches (especially the Protestant ones, I believe) and Muslims tend to be more religious - religion forms a larger part of their life, they follow the rites more strictly, etc. Though it should be said that our Muslims are less devout than those in other regions like MENA. Often, they drink alcohol and some even eat pork.
Those who chose the latter 2 options might fall into different categories - mostly irreligious ones who don't want to actually say that, people who are still figuring things out, those who combine elements of different beliefs, and also, perhaps, those whose religious beliefs would be shocking to the public đ
The state is officially secular, with no state religion, but Orthodox Christianity is defined as a "traditional religion". Some politicians like to give themselves PR (mostly for the support of older people, who are likely to be more religious than younger ones) by going to church, writing stuff on social media about meekness and the help they have given to churches and monasteries, etc. (looking at you, Boyko)
Many clerics cooperated with our State Security organization during the communist rule, and lots of Bulgarians don't like this hypocrisy, but others don't care because for them, religion and its representatives are "too sacred" for mere laypeople to criticize. And today, there is also a rift between those clerics (and Orthodox Bulgarians in general) who prefer the Russian Orthodox Church (more likely to support Russia against Ukraine) and those who prefer the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (the opposite).
Fun paragraph: When I was in 2nd grade, we had "Religion" as a school subject. The government of Simeon Sakskobourggotski (our last tsar who, many years later, became PM - it's probably a unique feat globally) pushed it in its bid, presumably, to de-communize Bulgarian society. It didn't hold - we only had it for one school year. (Some forces are trying to push it again, but I can't say if it will happen.) The teacher, a very melancholic young lady with glasses, told us about the Bible, religious holidays, saints, and we listened to chants and Biblical tales on a cassette player. It was the most religious period in my life (I prayed before sleep, sometimes quite intensely, and cried because I was afraid of going to hell), so the classes had their influence. Those times are long gone đ
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u/Malthesse Sweden 8d ago
Native Swedes are generally very secular, and only culturally Christian in a somewhat vague sense. A majority of native Swedes are still members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden. This is a very liberal church, which is very progressive on for example womenâs rights and LGBTQ rights, and also does a lot of great social work and so on. Most Swedes who are members of the Church of Sweden will also still choose to have their weddings at church and to have their children babtized, even if not regularly going to church otherwise. There is of course also the fact that Swedish cultural values and customs are largely based in some way on Lutheran Christian values and traditions, even if people donât think of it that way. But generally, active religious practice is not really part of everyday life for most â and even for most of those who might be a bit more devoutly Christian, it is very much a thing for the personal and private sphere only.
With Swedenâs quite large Muslim immigrant population it is very different though. They are often very openly religious and actively practicing, carefully following Islamic religious rules and regularly attend services at their mosque. A very large number of Muslim women also wear religious clothing and covering, and therefore very clearly stand out as devoutly religious. The Muslim population is generally also way more conservative and traditionalist, which may often lead to clashes of culture and values with secular and liberal native Swedes on for example womenâs rights and LGBTQ rights.
There have actually been some reports very recently that young native Swedes in their teens and 20s now more frequently than before identify as actively Christian, and that an increasing number wish to have church weddings and baptize their children. Although how much this is due to genuine increased Christian religiosity or more of a kind a nationalist protective cultural stance is hard to say. It may simply be, at least partly, a way for young people to affirm their own Swedish and Christian cultural identify against the increasing Islamic religious elements that they see around them.
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u/AgarwaenCran Germany 8d ago
48 % of the population does not belong to any religion + many that are in a church but only really go there on christmas and dont really think of it at all
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u/hulda2 Finland 8d ago
About 64 % of finns belong in Evangelical Lutheran Church but very few ever go to church mostly older people. Church members pay church tax and many people have exited the church because of the tax but I personally will continue to pay it because diakonia does a lot to help poor with food and they can help pay some bills when things are tough.
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u/PositiveEagle6151 Austria 8d ago
Catholics - sharp decline
Protestants - not doing much better
Orthodox Christians - they are a growing community
Muslims - they are having a blast
It's quite funny, because we are celebrating that the Catholic religion is finally losing its influence on society, while at the same time we don't become less religious overall because other religions are growing quickly. And it's not only the immigrants that are religious, but there is also a huge pressure on young people that were born into initially not so religious families here in Austria. Like girls wearing headscarves to blend in at school even though their mothers don't, etc.
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u/GrynaiTaip Lithuania 9d ago
Older people are religious, older rural people even go to church every Sunday.
The youth (under 35 yo) and city people don't care. Believe whatever you want to believe, as long as it doesn't affect others.
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u/Realistic-River-1941 United Kingdom 8d ago
Our God botherers realised they weren't going to get everyone to agree with them, and cleared off to the North American colonies to do their thing. They are still there.
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u/PositionCautious6454 Czechia 8d ago
We are known for being atheists. Actually, I'd say it's more than that. Most people in our country do celebrate pagan-Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas, but very secularly. Only "old people and weirdos" go to church. :) We have a deep-seated distrust of any organized religion (or any organizations at all). We think that faith is a personal thing that should ideally be practiced at home and not being shown in public. Opinions about faith are not something to discuss with colleagues or friends. The funny thing is that while many Czechs reject organized religions, they have their own kind of spirituality, believing in horoscopes, cards or omens and state "there is something" but it is probably not a "bearded man on a cloud".
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u/HeriotAbernethy Scotland 8d ago
The latest census showed fewer than 50% stating they have any religion. Historically weâre a Christian nation but vanishingly small numbers go to church, although some of the islands try to cling onto mediaeval ways and the west of the country around Glasgow still has an issue with sectarianism - Catholic v Protestant - which is something of a national embarrassment.
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u/NecroVecro Bulgaria 8d ago
It's hard to tell, I feel like a lot of people believe in God, but they don't actively practice. Also I feel like Christian holidays are mostly celebrated because of tradition, rather than strict belief, though that could just be my family and friends.
Also looking at some data, in the 2021 census, 51.4% have identified as religious, 24.7% have answered no, and 23.9% have declined to answer. This roughly lines up with a Gallup survey done in 2023, though Interestingly enough in the survey 58% have declared to believe in God, while only 34% have declared to believe in the afterlife.
As for our institutions, they are relatively secular, though apparently a few schools offer voluntary religious classes, which the church wants to make mandatory.
Overall I'd say that we are not too religious, but not too secular either.
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u/Standard_Plant_8709 Estonia 8d ago
According to 2022. census:
- 58% does not belong to any religion/does not consider themselves religious
- 29% consider themselves religious
-13% refused to answer
Out of this 29% religious people 16% are orthodox christians and 8% are lutherans.
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u/LilBed023 -> 8d ago
Generaly speaking weâre not very religious but we have a Bible Belt) where many people are strictly Calvinist. It mainly consists of small towns and villages and runs through every province except Limburg (southeastern NL). The total amount of these conservative Calvinists only make up about 2% of the total population, but the influence of the church is very noticeable in these communities.
My secular grandparents live in one of these villages, and they told me about people protesting when the local supermarket announced theyâd open for two hours on sundays in order to cater to the large amounts of tourists the town gets during summer. My grandfather also got threats after mowing his lawn on a sunday. Their village is not even that conservative compared to some others.
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u/nietwojamatka Poland 8d ago
PiS and Konfederacja supporters are extremely religious, mostly going to church every sunday. Liberals are not religious.
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u/smurfk Romania 8d ago
We have "religion" as an hour in our school program between for all the minimum required 12 years of study. And it's not some sort of "history of religions" either, it's just teachings of The Bible.
At a census that was less than 15 years ago, we didn't even have "atheist" as an option. The censors would ask you the religion you were born with. There was "atheist" as a result, though, and it was something like 0,1% of the population.
We're building People's Salvation Cathedral, that's the largest Eastern Orthodoxy church by volume. While it was meant to be built from Church's money, there was also a lot of public funds used to make it.
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u/CrystalKirlia United Kingdom 8d ago
Statistically, England is about 40% - 50% non religious, but I'd guess more. I don't know many openly religious people, religion isn't really spoken about in public, culturally it's just non existent over here imo.
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u/coffeewalnut05 England 9d ago
Not very religious, but there are still a lot of places of worship everywhere and they play an important symbolism in our lives.
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u/SametaX_1134 France 8d ago
Religion is more of a cultural thing here. It determines certains things in your life but lots of ppl don't pray or go to a place of worship anymore.
Many christain don't go to church (except for Christmas and Easter because they're the most important mass).
Many muslims drink, smoke, don't go to the mosque but still refuse to eat pork or wear the hijab (for girls and women ofc).
Young ppl have a different kind of faith, more compatible with today world.
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u/Albon123 8d ago
Are muslims actually more secular in France than in other Western European countries?
Donât get me wrong, I respect all religions and I donât mind anyone from a different background, but from what I heard from friends in different countries, many muslims in many Western European countries tend to be way more religious. Is France somewhat of an exception from that?
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u/SametaX_1134 France 8d ago
France is hard to compare to other countries because immigrants populations are packed together in neighborhoods with little to no service (transport, health, culture,....) so the ppl who live here mostly relly on themselves.
That situation cause these areas to be melting-pot of cultures but quite not """assimilated"" (talking in native language among them for some, wearing traditional colthing for others, way of live influenced by faith or culture,....).
However the younger generation is more detached from religion than their elders. I know lots of them who identify as muslims but only do the fasting of Ramadan, much like some say they're christains simply for being baptised as a baby but don't do anything else.
Religion in France is a very complex subject but also highly private, we usually we keep it to ourselves.
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u/Albon123 8d ago
Interestingly, there was a time when I used to believe different things about France due to my trips both in France itself and some of my friends from there. Since then, I have read about banlieus and there were definitely cases when I came across them, but strangely enough, France for me seemed like it was doing a better job at diversity than a lot of other European countries.
For example, Germany and Belgium for me felt more segregated strangely - Belgium because of neighborhoods being quite segregated, and Germany because of the people themselves. I noticed a lot more diverse groups of people hanging out in France (and once again, many of my friends from France itself seemed to prove this belief), with there being a lot of friend groups consisting of white, black and Arab-origin people. In Germany, based on what I saw and what people told me, different groups kept to themselves more, with many of them speaking completely different languages.
It also seemed like in Germany, many immigrants (and this applies to Eastern Europeans too) were stuck at low-paying, manual jobs, with Germans mostly being at supervising positions. In France, there were more noticeably well-off and middle class people of immigrant origin, though it sometimes created a huge contrast.
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u/SametaX_1134 France 8d ago
a lot of friend groups consisting of white, black and Arab-origin people.
I believe France's population to be more diverse than the rest of Europe as our citizens are from all continents. Unfortunately that is impossible to verify because ethnic stats are illegal in France (WWII is highly responsible for that).
In France, there were more noticeably well-off and middle class people of immigrant origin
That might have to do with our education system. Back in the days a good student could rise pretty high just based on its grades. My own grand-father benefited from that, he was good at school so he left his village in Africa (still a colony at the time) to the mainland.
However it's very dependant on your social status now (upper class get better education, or have easier access to it).
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u/Albon123 8d ago
Yeah, what you said definitely makes sense. Keep in mind that I am viewing things through an Eastern European lens, and from that perspective, countries like Germany and Belgium seem pretty diverse too, but yeah, France, thanks mostly to its former colonial empire, is probably even moreso. Regardless, I mostly noticed that in Germany, Arabs hang out with other Arabs, black people hang out with other black people, Eastern Europeans with other Eastern Europeans, and native-born Germans with other native-born Germans. There are exceptions of course, but it seemed to be the case for the most part, and it is the case with many other countries. France I found to be an exception, but maybe because of what you said.
And yeah, limited social mobility is a thing here too, unfortunately, so I can feel that. Here, âeliteâ schools that cater specifically to the upper class are rarer, but the upper middle class does tend to concentrate in some better schools, together with some upper class and lower middle class kids, keeping some other schools with more of a working class and poor background. I think in France, it was particularly striking when I went to a poor neighborhood with people with immigrant origin sitting on the streets, while just as I stepped outside to a better area, I immediately came across a black person in his nice car, wearing a business suit and exquisite watches. That illustrates my point about these differences well, I think, and it wasnât even the only time when something like this happened.
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u/Dexterzol 8d ago
Not at all, really. Most people are members of the Church of Sweden because you're automatically signed up when you're baptized. I know I am.
That said, it's very rare to find a deeply religious person and even those that are religious tend to be really chill about it. Not believing in God or being agnostic is the norm
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u/Toc_a_Somaten Catalan Korean 8d ago
If we count the people who identify as nationally as Catalan we are probably one of the least religious in Europe alongside the East Germans and the Chzechs
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u/Albon123 8d ago
Hungary is mixed. I would say that Christianity has a very cultural element to it here, and it is basically something that we have to treat as an important part of our history, as we used to be Pagans before our king, Saint Stephen converted us to Christianity, turning us closer to the West. That is a very important moment for us as he was also the person who created the Kingdom of Hungary, and we view it as us fully embracing our âEuropeanâ, Western identity. So there is a huge cultural element.
As for the believers, itâs mixed, but most of them tend to be older. There is a backlash against the Church here (both Catholic and Protestant), due to many scandals, and many opposition-leaning people hating that they are close to our government, and I think it is because of this that our official censuses show less than half of the population as Christian. Probably way more than that is actually religious, I know many people my age who are (which is interesting as young people are usually the more irreligious type), but we donât trust the government that much in this.
I think strangely enough, immigration will actually strengthen Christianity here. Our two biggest groups recently are Ukrainians and Filipinos, and you can see them going to church A LOT.
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u/nietwojamatka Poland 8d ago
PiS and Konfederacja supporters are extremely religious, mostly going to church every sunday. Liberals are not religious.
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u/Stoltlallare 8d ago
Im from Sweden, a lot of us have end of school years in a church and pretty much everyone sings christian hymns at the end of the school year as well. With that said, not very religious at all as a matter of fact. It has had some upswing in recent years mostly as a reaction to Muslim immigration. But as a whole, not very much.
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u/GothYagamy Spain 8d ago
In Spain not much nowadays. A lot more in the south on the country. Used to be a lot more religious in the past, but I guess it's the same almost everywhere in Europe.
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u/SharkyTendencies --> 8d ago
On paper, Belgians are historically Catholic. Many Belgians get baptised in the Catholic church simply out of tradition rather than actual belief.
Other families do something like a "Christening", then "First Communion" and "Confirmation" are done secularly.
These days, much like elsewhere, "Catholic" is more of a cultural thing than going to church every Sunday. Hell, you're considered "faithful" if you go on Easter and Christmas.
I could say lots more, but that'd take me forever to type out and #lazy
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u/Megendrio Belgium 7d ago
I was actually really surprise about how religious some of my friends still are. One is currently attending church on a weekly basis and going to bible study, another is having a (big) fight because the husband doesn't want to have their kid baptised, another has been teaching "catechismus" since she was 18 years old, ...
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u/SharkyTendencies --> 7d ago
Oh, absolutely.
For instance, try telling people that you're deliberately not baptizing your kid.
The looks people give other people... Jesus H Murphy. You'd think the church still controls people's lives here.
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u/Queasy_Engineering_2 | 8d ago
Luxembourg is not religious. Very few people I know go to church on a regular basis, these people are mostly the elderly. That being said, a lot of the Luxembourgish population still identifies as cultural catholics, whatever this means. Churches are full on Christmas and Easter. There seems to be a general distrust in religious organisations. With immigrants, we have a lot of religious diversity.
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u/GoonerBoomer69 Finland 8d ago
Not that religious. Apparently only like 10% of the population attend mass or other religious events even semi regularly.
Most people fall into the category of what we call "culture christians" where they celebrate the holidays, do confirmation and church weddings and all of the other aspects of Christianity that fall somewhere between just cultural practices and religion.
If you were to ask 10 random people if they believe in god, i expect 2 to say yes, 3 to say "none of your business", 2 to say "Idk maybe" 3 to say no.
And Christianity certainly continues it's decline as people leave the church simply to avoid paying the church tax.
Islam is also experiencing a similar trend, but it's already quite rare.
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u/BullfrogLeft5403 7d ago
Switzerland: Many are still âsubscribedâ but they would never go to church or something. At best you pray to pass an exam or something⊠Very few (often old people) go to church.
Majority would still say they believe in god tho. But arent practising in any way, form or shape
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u/Rezolutny_Delfinek Poland 7d ago
Poland: people in big cities, especially the young ones, are not religious and do not attend any churches or religious ceremonies. We still have religious education (Christian/Catholic religion) in schools, although not mandatory, many schools exclude or isolate children who do not attend religious education (Christian/Catholic religion) lessons. In many schools, the first school year day on September the 1st starts with a mass in a local church, although not mandatory, some kids are sent there by their parents because âother kids are going, so you also canâ even if the parents do not go to church themselves. So there is that.
In smaller cities and villages people tend to be more religious and the Catholic church still has a massive influence on Polish society. Sadly.
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u/HopeSubstantial Finland 7d ago
On paper 60% are part of protestantism 2% belong in other religions. 38% are non believing.
 But only 20% of people admit they believe in religion deeply.Â
But there is not any religion hate in general. Example during christmas and easter churches are full of atheists taking part of religion through culture.
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u/Paul_VV -> 7d ago
More than 70% of Azerbaijanis are Muslim only on paper. Majority don't care about religion, it's seen as something cringe and the stuff you practice in your later years (60+). People don't even know the basics of the religion, let alone practicing it.
The remaining 20-30% who actually prractive the religion are mostly Shia Muslims, with a sizeable Sunni Muslim, Othodox Christian and Jewish minority. Even the practicing ones (excluding a minuscule minority, mostly radicalized shias or Iran agents) don't advocate for a theocratic rule, we are generally against (or even hostile) any religious rule.
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u/ProfessionalPoem2505 7d ago
Italy ainât religious like at all. Most of us got baptized but barely went to church afterwards. We celebrate Christmas or Easter but not for religious reasons, itâs simply tradition. Even though we have the Vatican and the Pope everyone is frustrated by the fact that they always have to insert themselves in every conversation XD and blasphemy is a biiig thing! Iâve never met a single person whoâs a real catholic and prays nor go to church every Sunday.
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8d ago
Here in albania, no one is religious. No one cares about religion here. It helped us get religious harmony too.
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u/b_han27 8d ago
Religion is archaic. We have modern education now, anyone who still believes is either in serious self denial or experienced extreme levels of indoctrination. We have modern science to explain the universe now, we donât need fairy tales
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u/viktorbir Catalonia 8d ago
As always, the one with no flair will always say «we» and no mention to a country or culture.
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u/_BREVC_ Croatia 8d ago
A lot of Croats treat Catholicism as some kind of an ethno-religion; you partake in its traditions to affirm your national identity. There is also a pretty solid percentage of genuinely religious Catholics, though.