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No, there isn't. God might exist, but he/she did definitely not create the universe.
Just depends what your belief is. I see in 2014, 23.5% of Finns had no religious affiliation, is this really the case or is the percentage much higher?
There's one in every paper, i haven't seen much in the way of mysticistic shops aside from Naples but that city really stands out regarding superstitions. It's so engrained there that Neapolitans are amongst other things also stereotyped and portrayed as superstitious
I have noticed women seem to care more than men when it comes to horoscope and zodiac signs. It's mostly read for fun and we joke about it, anyway they made a comedy about how life would be if we took horoscope seriously. It's worth a watch for a few laughs if you know Italian.
Just depends what your belief is. I see in 2014, 23.5% of Finns had no religious affiliation, is this really the case or is the percentage much higher?
Many who are agnostic still belong to the church, some only for the reason that the church does much valuable charity. The percentage seems to be correct, I doubt it would be much higher.
Just depends what your belief is. I see in 2014, 23.5% of Finns had no religious affiliation, is this really the case or is the percentage much higher?
Much of the people (although I won't say most of them) talk openly about astrology and read it in the newspaper, but it's generally perceived as a curiosity, a superstition or even a joke, not to be taken seriously.
Many who are agnostic still belong to the church, some only for the reason that the church does much valuable charity. The percentage seems to be correct, I doubt it would be much higher.
Ariete, just by curiosity...
Although some people state that there is an inverse correlation between development and religion, there is a lot of developed countries in which the religion plays an important role (despite too far from being like islamic countries). Italy, Poland, Austria, Ireland, USA, Canada, Switzerland, the southern part of Germany, Portugal and Greece (if it still considered a developed country) has a majority of christian believers, and Japan, which religion has nothing to do with gods, is still a very spiritual country. Higher levels of education are not reason for secularism, since the science doesn't exclude the spirituality.
But in the nordic countries and in most other traditionally protestant countries, the secularism is really prevalent. Why does it happen?
Ariete, just by curiosity...
Although some people state that there is an inverse correlation between development and religion, there is a lot of developed countries in which the religion plays an important role (despite too far from being like islamic countries). Italy, Poland, Austria, Ireland, USA, Canada, Switzerland, the southern part of Germany, Portugal and Greece (if it still considered a developed country) has a majority of christian believers, and Japan, which religion has nothing to do with gods, is still a very spiritual country. Higher levels of education are not reason for secularism, since the science doesn't exclude the spirituality.
But in the nordic countries and in most other traditionally protestant countries, the secularism is really prevalent. Why does it happen?
I wouldn't say religion is really that big in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The reasons are critisism of religion and the rise of the secular schools and hospitals, and ultimately the church was almost removed from politics. The Church lost its power. And then of course the rise of rational thought, modernism and autonomism. For example in Finland the church lost all influence in schools 150 years ago, while in many countries there's still religious schools. A long process which started a long time ago.
Ariete, just by curiosity...
Although some people state that there is an inverse correlation between development and religion, there is a lot of developed countries in which the religion plays an important role (despite too far from being like islamic countries). Italy, Poland, Austria, Ireland, USA, Canada, Switzerland, the southern part of Germany, Portugal and Greece (if it still considered a developed country) has a majority of christian believers, and Japan, which religion has nothing to do with gods, is still a very spiritual country. Higher levels of education are not reason for secularism, since the science doesn't exclude the spirituality.
But in the nordic countries and in most other traditionally protestant countries, the secularism is really prevalent. Why does it happen?
I wouldn't say religion plays that large of a role in Italy anymore, the young generations are pretty secular on the whole and if it weren't for the Vatican playing an influential role in politics i think the role of religion would be really minimal. I mean, go to a church in Turin, Milan but even in the Northern countrysides and you might find several empty ones even on Sunday's mass. The church doesn't find people willing to take vows anymore and they are now bringing clergy from Subsaharian Africa and this people are usually quite conservative which scares more people away. It's a neverending and slowly going spiral into irrelevance
If i might take a guess, i think mostly because they haven't understood that the concept of God used by Christianity and most mainstream religions is outdated, because they don't care much about and aren't interested in the matter, because the way the clergy acts might have scared them away or because they found deep contradictions in the various holy books and merely see them as a cultural construct of the age they were written in.
Source: I'm atheist although the reason i am one is because of the last option
I wouldn't say religion plays that large of a role in Italy anymore, the young generations are pretty secular on the whole and if it weren't for the Vatican playing an influential role in politics i think the role of religion would be really minimal. I mean, go to a church in Turin, Milan but even in the Northern countrysides and you might find several empty ones even on Sunday's mass. The church doesn't find people willing to take vows anymore and they are now bringing clergy from Subsaharian Africa and this people are usually quite conservative which scares more people away. It's a neverending and slowly going spiral into irrelevance
If i might take a guess, i think mostly because they haven't understood that the concept of God used by Christianity and most mainstream religions is outdated, because they don't care much about and aren't interested in the matter, because the way the clergy acts might have scared them away or because they found deep contradictions in the various holy books and merely see them as a cultural construct of the age they were written in.
Source: I'm atheist although the reason i am one is because of the last option
Well, it makes sense.
Personally I believe in God and Christ, but not in the way which is presented in the churches; Christianity may be understood as a philosophy rather than a religion. I don't like organised religions, though I have some sympathy to the Quaker movement and to Rosicrucianism. The problem in most of countries is using religion for politic purposes. In a time in which most of people were analphabet, it would be very easy to distort the original teachings for manipulating the masses. This is happening here in Brazil, a country with one of the lowest levels of education in the world. Evangelical priesters hold most of the radio and TV stations and are strongly represented in the National Congress.
Well, it makes sense.
Personally I believe in God and Christ, but not in the way which is presented in the churches; Christianity may be understood as a philosophy rather than a religion. I don't like organised religions, though I have some sympathy to the Quaker movement and to Rosicrucianism. The problem in most of countries is using religion for politic purposes. In a time in which most of people were analphabet, it would be very easy to distort the original teachings for manipulating the masses. This is happening here in Brazil, a country with one of the lowest levels of education in the world. Evangelical priesters hold most of the radio and TV stations and are strongly represented in the National Congress.
Honestly, i think religions have to have some organization behind them. The more organized a religion is, the least someone can take advantage of religious doctrine in any way. Take Evangelists for example, there doesn't seem to be any organization behind them and this enables preachers to take advantage and bend teachings in any way so that they can influence poorly educated people for their own profit.
Another aspect i can't stand of Evangelism is proselytizing, something which is very uncommon in eastablished churches which have a well structured organization.
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