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I have read articles that say Christianity is almost dead in Europe. They say that in some countries the majority of people are atheist and only a small minority of Europeans are Christian. If a European does believe in god they only believe in a "life force" and not the Judeo-Christian god.
I question the above statements because I used to live in New England and everyone said that people there weren't very religious. The only difference I noticed between New England and Virginia was that the Christians in Virginia had the bad habit of combining church and state. I am a Christian but I think this is wrong. I like that New Englanders Christians were more tolerant of non-Christians.
How true do you think these statements are? I would be very interested in hearing from Europeans or people that lived in Europe for a very long time. I'm sure that it verys from country to country but what is your experiance?
I'm an American who has lived in Europe for eleven years, and in two different countries. First of all, religion and the religiosity of the people A may not be very comparable to country B. And that is a fact not to lose sight of.
I live in what Americans would characterize as a "Catholic" country. The region I live in has seen a massive decline in the church attendance in RC churches in the past 30 years. However, in the other half of the country church attendance is much higher.
RC church attendance where I live is mostly women, and most of them are fifty or older. There are few younger people in the two RC churches. I know of only on single person who attends church, and he is an evangelical. They are a very small religious minority and though their congregations have many old people, they do attract noticably more younger people.
Aside from this man, I know of absolutely no one who attends church at all. However, perhaps half these people, as far as I can recall, make references from time to time about god or some higher power or force. I get no impression that this belief plays a big part in their lives.
Almost never discuss my own "religious" beliefs or practices with people, and it may be possible that others do likewise.
The RC religion achieved a very bad reputation in some parts of Europe by working closely with fascist regimes. And the history of Europe is saturated with eras in which the political activities of RC, Orthodox and Protestant churches were very repressive, and sometimes savage. Many people are very wary of the negative side of church activities and are quite happy to see religion reduced to a matter of personal practice and not political power.
There are, of course, many factors that influence the level of religious belief and practice in a country. The influence of American pop culture through films and television, in my opinion, has been an influence in reinforcing trends in the decline of religion, for example.
Yeah Europe's history on religion is different. The US has been more or less free of outright wars on religion. We've also been free of anti-clerical regimes that repress religion.
I think Europe also varies as mentioned. Going by the Eurobarometer the following have over 65% who state they "believe there is a God."
Malta
Cyprus
Romania
Greece
Portugal
Poland
Italy
Ireland
Croatia
Many of those might not be linked to any religion, but some might.
Pretty much all of those are Catholic or Orthodox. I've read things that make me believe the Outer Hebrides, Northern Ireland, and rural parts of the Netherlands are still quite strongly Protestant.
I'm an American who has lived in Europe for eleven years, and in two different countries. First of all, religion and the religiosity of the people A may not be very comparable to country B. And that is a fact not to lose sight of.
I live in what Americans would characterize as a "Catholic" country. The region I live in has seen a massive decline in the church attendance in RC churches in the past 30 years. However, in the other half of the country church attendance is much higher.
RC church attendance where I live is mostly women, and most of them are fifty or older. There are few younger people in the two RC churches. I know of only on single person who attends church, and he is an evangelical. They are a very small religious minority and though their congregations have many old people, they do attract noticably more younger people.
Aside from this man, I know of absolutely no one who attends church at all. However, perhaps half these people, as far as I can recall, make references from time to time about god or some higher power or force. I get no impression that this belief plays a big part in their lives.
Almost never discuss my own "religious" beliefs or practices with people, and it may be possible that others do likewise.
The RC religion achieved a very bad reputation in some parts of Europe by working closely with fascist regimes. And the history of Europe is saturated with eras in which the political activities of RC, Orthodox and Protestant churches were very repressive, and sometimes savage. Many people are very wary of the negative side of church activities and are quite happy to see religion reduced to a matter of personal practice and not political power.
There are, of course, many factors that influence the level of religious belief and practice in a country. The influence of American pop culture through films and television, in my opinion, has been an influence in reinforcing trends in the decline of religion, for example.
This is very interesting! I think you are on to something with your history theory. This may be why countries where for the most part the church's history is nonviolent seam to be the most religious. For example Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada are developed but are still very religious unlike most of Europe.
I heard people say that the Founding Fathers separated church and state mostly to protect the church. I know I don't like it when people try to use Christianity to take away the rights of gays. I think it gives Christians a bad name. It seams like historically when a church gains political power all the fringe groups just come out of the woodwork. I mean look at the Bush years.
I have read articles that say Christianity is almost dead in Europe. They say that in some countries the majority of people are atheist and only a small minority of Europeans are Christian. If a European does believe in god they only believe in a "life force" and not the Judeo-Christian god.
I question the above statements because I used to live in New England and everyone said that people there weren't very religious. The only difference I noticed between New England and Virginia was that the Christians in Virginia had the bad habit of combining church and state. I am a Christian but I think this is wrong. I like that New Englanders Christians were more tolerant of non-Christians.
How true do you think these statements are? I would be very interested in hearing from Europeans or people that lived in Europe for a very long time. I'm sure that it verys from country to country but what is your experiance?
It depends on the country. Plain and simple. Generally in my travels I have found Eastern Europe to be far and away more religious than Western Europe.
Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, etc...I would all consider far more religious compared to the countries people mainly focus on when thinking of Europe such as France, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, etc...
I'm afraid when a lot of people think of Europe they only factor in the Western part of the continent.
Many parts of Western Europe have gone so far left that religion is virtually dead in many parts. While religion certainly isn't outlawed I've found a lot of people in Western Europe tend to look down on those who still have religion as a cornerstone in their lives.
....Many parts of Western Europe have gone so far left that religion is virtually dead in many parts. While religion certainly isn't outlawed I've found a lot of people in Western Europe tend to look down on those who still have religion as a cornerstone in their lives.
"...gone so far left"
There is considerably more complexity to the social and cultural of European countries than that tiresome American line of cant. Lord love a duck! what would Americans do for brains if they had to give up their Left/Right invocations as the be all end of of every situation under the sun.
I live in Western Europe, and I have never found people getting their knickers in a twist because someone else does or does not have religious beliefs. If you mean that you have met individual Europeans who feel dismissive toward religious belief, no doubt you have. And I have known hundreds of Americans who feel the exact same way.
And in the U.S. I have met many people, and they are very well represented in C-D forums, who are aggressively smug and supercilious about their "Christianity." Fortunately, I have practically never encountered that among religious believers in Europe.
On the whole I have extremely rarely encountered anyone here brandishing either their religious faith or the lack of it in social situations.
It is a refreshing relief from the U.S.
Religion becomes publicly controversial when it comes to disestablishing the practice of the state paying clergy from public funds, for example, or the changing of religion classes in public schools to classes that are an overview of many forms of religious belief, or the introduction of divorce in countries where it has been previously prohibited, etc. etc.
I had a professor from Spain (Basque Country to be specific) and she would constantly bash religion & the Catholic Church specifically. But it was confusing because she often talked about aspects of Catholicism as if she still believed in it and she had a Virgin Mary on her key chain. She would often say "I love the Virgin Mary" I don't think she was atheist, or even agnostic, just against organized religion.
Religion is dying in Europe, there's no doubt about it, I think Europeans are evolving beyond the need to worship a non-existant god.
When I see some of the posts in the Religion & Philosphy thread from American fundamentalists, (some of whom still believe that the Sun orbits the Earth & Noahs Ark sits on Mt Ararat) it truely beggars belief.
And In Europe people tend to keep their beliefs to themselves & leave politics to the politicians, not their pastors.
I had a professor from Spain (Basque Country to be specific) and she would constantly bash religion & the Catholic Church specifically. But it was confusing because she often talked about aspects of Catholicism as if she still believed in it and she had a Virgin Mary on her key chain. She would often say "I love the Virgin Mary" I don't think she was atheist, or even agnostic, just against organized religion.
The RC church in Spain was joined at the hip to fascist regime in Spain. And the German and Italian supporters of the fascist regime carpet bombed the important Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, and during the Franco era the Basques were quite oppressed.
Given these facts, it is no wonder this Basque woman showed some very conflicting behaviour about the RC church. I have met a number of non-Basque Spaniards who while nominally Catholic have great contempt for the institutional church because of its associations with the Franco regime.
We had a Basque foreign exchange student when I was a teen and he mentioned that.
Interestingly the Basque forces who fought against Franco were fairly often, unlike much of the pro-Republic forces, strong Catholics. Many Basque nationalists of the 1920s and 1930s were quite conservative, bordering on reactionary maybe, Catholics even. This put them at odds to much or most of the Church in Spain as it linked the Republic to Communism, somewhat justly, and so supported Franco. So possibly it would even make sense for a Basque to value Catholicism in some cultural ways while disliking the hierarchy or the organization.
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