You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Pew Survey: How do European countries differ in religious commitment?

SophistiCat December 24, 2018 at 09:11 4300 views 7 comments
Pew Research Center survey (2015-2017): How do European countries differ in religious commitment?

The survey ranked 34 European countries by religiosity, based four criteria:

  • Importance of religion
  • Religious service attendance
  • Frequency of prayer
  • Belief in God


There is an interactive map, a combined ranking and rankings by each separate criterion.

Pew article:Using the combined measure shows that, overall, Central and Eastern Europeans are more likely than Western Europeans to be highly religious. For example, in Armenia and Greece, roughly half of adults are highly religious. Meanwhile, only about one-in-ten people in Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom qualify as highly religious by these criteria.

Comments (7)

prothero December 25, 2018 at 00:34 #240332
It seems that in the more technological, more scientific, more educated societies, belief in supernatural theism is on a rapid and steep decline particularly among the younger population. This bodes poorly for traditional religion in the future and as of yet I see no significant or sustained effort on the part of religious authorities to respond to make religion believable without the suspension of reason and experience. God as working primarily through the suspension of the laws and processes of nature as opposed to God working through the laws and processes of nature is an unresolved religious tension.
BC December 25, 2018 at 04:58 #240359
The NEW major centers of Christian belief and affiliation has moved south to Africa, Asia, and South America. ("NEW" here refers to the last 20 to 40 years up to the present.)

It is western Europe that is out of step with world practice, whether referencing Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jain, Hindu, Daoist, or animism and ancestor worship.
Benkei December 25, 2018 at 05:03 #240360
Reply to Bitter Crank Funny how safe and peaceful it's been around here too.
ssu December 28, 2018 at 00:26 #241143
One interesting thing to notice is how Russia isn't actually very religious. Of course the Soviet Union was atheist, yet Ukraine too belonged to the union also (and is more religious). Yet this goes a bit against the propaganda of Putin's Russia, which portrays itself (with many in the religious right of the West believing this) as a defender of Christianity and Christian values.

And then the liberal and very permissive Netherlands is as religious or actually more religious...
SophistiCat December 29, 2018 at 15:56 #241608
Reply to ssu Here is Levada-Center, a reputable Russian research center:Religion and superstition survey conducted in Russia over a number of years.

Self-identified as Orthodox Christian: 75% in 2017

"I know without a doubt that God exists": 25% (2015) - 31% (2017) (cf. 25% between 2015-2017 in the Pew survey - a good match)

So, three quarters self-identify as Orthodox, but only between one quarter and one third are sure that God exists. Indeed, among "Orthodox" the percentage is only slightly higher: in 2017 34% are sure that God exists, and "one out of every eight... doesn’t believe in God or isn’t sure whether God exists."

There is self-identification (which is what authorities care about) and there is belief - not the same thing. And only a small percentage of self-identified Orthodox are actually observant to any significant extent. But that's not unique to Russia. In the US, for example, people will say that they are "Catholic," but oftentimes they mean nothing more than that they come from a Catholic family (which may not have been particularly religious either). "Jewish" self-identification is even less correlated with religion.
RegularGuy December 29, 2018 at 16:16 #241613
Quoting SophistiCat
”Jewish" self-identification is even less correlated with religion.


I have known a few Jewish atheists, in fact.
Jake December 29, 2018 at 16:41 #241620
Quoting prothero
It seems that in the more technological, more scientific, more educated societies, belief in supernatural theism is on a rapid and steep decline particularly among the younger population.


And yet it is the more technological, more scientific, more educated societies which are leading the pell mell rush towards civilization collapse. It's we who created nuclear weapons, and it's we who have generated the most CO2 emissions. And particularly here in the U.S. it is we who are stubbornly ignoring the existential nuclear threat which we ourselves created, and we who are turning our back on the climate change threat as well.

Apparently, walking away from traditional religions is not the panacea some might claim.