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Just 51 percent of citizens in the EU's 27 nations said they believed in God, when questioned for a 2010 survey.
In the 20 years up to 2010, the Evangelical Church of Germany, closed 340 churches and is considering giving up another 1,000, the news weekly Der Spiegel reported in February. Dutch churches are reportedly closing at a rate of two a week — around 4,000 remain from the estimated 19,000 built since the 13th century. From 1999 to 2010, the Church of Sweden says it lost 800,000 members.
70 percent of Spaniards describe themselves as Catholic, a fall of almost 10 percent in a decade. Among Spanish Catholics just 12.5 percent attend mass at least once a week.
In comparison, 40 percent of Americans describe themselves as "very religious" and normally attend service at least once a week, according to a recent Gallup poll.
It seems Europeans are out of touch of Americans. I of course aware that atheism is on the increase in America. Yet there are more people that are atheist in Germany than America.
Of course I have known practising Christians from Europe that are aged in their 20s. Yet the culture today in Europe is certainly away from Christianity.
In comparison, 40 percent of Americans describe themselves as "very religious" and normally attend service at least once a week, according to a recent Gallup poll.
I tend to discount such things. People want to be thought of as religious because that's what's expected in America. Even in an anonymous poll, I think people lie and say they attend church every week because of shame if they said the truth.
I think there are far more closet atheists, agnostics, or just people who consider themselves religious but don't actually practice than polls show.
I tend to discount such things. People want to be thought of as religious because that's what's expected in America. Even in an anonymous poll, I think people lie and say they attend church every week because of shame if they said the truth.
I think there are far more closet atheists, agnostics, or just people who consider themselves religious but don't actually practice than polls show.
This is a very good point. I've witnessed that a good bit living in the Bible belt. Many people in the high school i attended weren't really religious, however if asked if they believed in God they would say yes. The default thinking in the majority of the U.S. is just that there is a God (specifically the one in Christianity). I do have a feeling there will be a growing number of atheists/agnostics in the states, as well as an increase in the amount of people who identify themselves as atheist/agnostic publicly. It's similar to homosexuality in the early-mid 20th century. Save for a few hippie enclaves, homosexuals would often get married to the opposite sex and have families without coming out of the closet.
The dropoffs in Germany and Sweden have more to do with the
ability of taxpayers to not have to be a member of the state church anymore,
not have to pay taxes by being members, the state taxed them.
By the way, the Eurobarometer Poll and Gallup Poll both
only use a sample size of +/- 1,000 people over age 15 per country.
This information is searchable on the internet. About +/- 20,000 people out of +/- 720,000,000,
or 1 in 36,000. Virtually any result can be achieved on that
basis, statistically speaking, it is impossible to achive valid
poll results when only 1 in 36,000 are polled, really don't care
how any statistician would defend it, or grant it a nominal range of error,
it's just not worth the ink it's printed on. Moreover, these polls are usually
targeted by their undertakers in a secretive manner that may actually be
biased. Anyway, I am not a believer of polling, I am very skeptical of all polls,
not just this one.
The dropoffs in Germany and Sweden have more to do with the
ability of taxpayers to not have to be a member of the state church anymore,
not have to pay taxes by being members, the state taxed them.
By the way, the Eurobarometer Poll and Gallup Poll both
only use a sample size of +/- 1,000 people over age 15 per country.
This information is searchable on the internet. About +/- 20,000 people out of +/- 720,000,000,
or 1 in 36,000. Virtually any result can be achieved on that
basis, statistically speaking, it is impossible to achive valid
poll results when only 1 in 36,000 are polled, really don't care
how any statistician would defend it, or grant it a nominal range of error,
it's just not worth the ink it's printed on. Moreover, these polls are usually
targeted by their undertakers in a secretive manner that may actually be
biased. Anyway, I am not a believer of polling, I am very skeptical of all polls,
not just this one.
Polls taken out of a sample size are usually correct yet not 100% and only a 2% difference. I remember at university and was in Psychology class and the teacher stated that polls are usually accurate.
Anyway polls taken prior to an federal election are usually accurate especially in my country and they randomly sample not a great deal of people.
Plus I remember prior to the election in 2008, when the polls stated that Obama was ahead of Mccain, I heard several republicans that stated that the polls are incorrect due to the same claim you stated.
Polls taken out of a sample size are usually correct yet not 100% and only a 2% difference. I remember at university and was in Psychology class and the teacher stated that polls are usually accurate.
Anyway polls taken prior to an federal election are usually accurate especially in my country and they randomly sample not a great deal of people.
Plus I remember prior to the election in 2008, when the polls stated that Obama was ahead of Mccain, I heard several republicans that stated that the polls are incorrect due to the same claim you stated.
If these polls aren't accurate then the church closings would seem peculiar right?
The dropoffs in Germany and Sweden have more to do with the
ability of taxpayers to not have to be a member of the state church anymore,
not have to pay taxes by being members, the state taxed them.
By the way, the Eurobarometer Poll and Gallup Poll both
only use a sample size of +/- 1,000 people over age 15 per country.
This information is searchable on the internet. About +/- 20,000 people out of +/- 720,000,000,
or 1 in 36,000. Virtually any result can be achieved on that
basis, statistically speaking, it is impossible to achive valid
poll results when only 1 in 36,000 are polled, really don't care
how any statistician would defend it, or grant it a nominal range of error,
it's just not worth the ink it's printed on. Moreover, these polls are usually
targeted by their undertakers in a secretive manner that may actually be
biased. Anyway, I am not a believer of polling, I am very skeptical of all polls,
not just this one.
That is an excellent sample size as this can be used in Hypothesis Testing in statitistics using standard normal distribution using 95 %.plus or minus 1 standard deviation under the population mean Mu.
If these polls aren't accurate then the church closings would seem peculiar right?
Yes for sure. Even in my country Australia it common seeing churches converted into shops, homes or other services such as community centres. Yet even without the polls it would tell something about the trend of religion in my country.
Perhaps a better guide is to do a google search for "Church buildings for sale by State" quite surprising. I did such recently when looking for a large building at a low price. Was really flabbergast at the number of Churches available.
Or even look for realty firms that specialize in such. It seems there are quite a few churches available for purchase in every large city.
Perhaps a better guide is to do a google search for "Church buildings for sale by State" quite surprising. I did such recently when looking for a large building at a low price. Was really flabbergast at the number of Churches available.
Or even look for realty firms that specialize in such. It seems there are quite a few churches available for purchase in every large city.
That is very interesting. Do you have any idea what religion/denominations most of them seem to be?
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