Religion of Europe

[Emperor Ross]

I know Catholicism, Islam, and Protestantism still exist in Europe, but what are the majority of people in your countries? In the US, most people are Christian, or claim to be . Please don't attack me for it but I am Baptist Christian, but I except other religions. I want you to tell me what the majority of your country is. . .

[Kjertesvein]

This thread do not fit here.

[Randarkmaan]

Are we supposed to say what our religion is, and what the majority of the people adher to?
If so, isn't this thread supposed to be in the religion forum?

Anyway I'm not religious, I was not baptised and don't plan to be. You might call me an atheist, but personally I can't stand self-conscious (activist?) atheists.

Most people in Norway are members of the Church of Norway and are (Lutheran) Christian only in name (they consider themselves Christian mostly though, but only go something like one or two times a year to church). The majority of religious people are to be found among the immigrants (Muslim, Sikh, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, etc) and members of the free churches, as well as Mormons (yes, there are Mormons) and Pentecostrian communities.

[Emperor Ross]

You Are supposed to tell the majority of the country, and sorry if this is the wrong forum. . . "Light Infantry"

[Göteborgare]

Sweden: 90% Non-religious. The rest is Protestant Christian, then the last percent is catholic, all other christian, buddhist, muslim and so on.

[Kjertesvein]

I live in norway, and have no clue if I am labeled christian in the book or not.

EDIT: Deffinitly not in my mind.

[Arto]

Netherlands, half of the population is irreligious and the other half exists out of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists etc. The surprise is that the Catholics are the majority of the half and I expected that the Reformed would be the majority.

[antaeus]

amongst those who claim to be religious...

germany, sweden, norway, great britain, are mostly protestant, as is the untied states.

spain, france, italy, belgium, austria and poland, the netherlands are mostly catholic.

i hope this helps.

this thread needs to be politicised to stay in this forum!

[John I Tzimisces]

amongst those who claim to be religious...

germany, sweden, norway, great britain, are mostly protestant, as is the untied states.

spain, france, italy, belgium, austria and poland, the netherlands are mostly catholic.

i hope this helps.

this thread needs to be politicised to stay in this forum!

*tries to make this political*

Damn atheists, taking our jobs and dating our daughters?

[Tiberios]

Well denmark is mainly protestant (though many are very lightly religious and some is atheists) then there is a small number of Catholics and Reformed Church (leftover from the Hugenots) and then there is Judaism and Islam.

[JustShoveJayOhBe]

The U.S. varies widely from region to region -- New York State is highly Catholic along the Hudson River Valley and probably in New York City too, I would imagine, has it's big share of non-believers as well, though, and I believe the birth place of Mormonism was somewhere in the western part of the state. My region around Albany has all sorts of religions... Shakers, Dutch Reforms (descendants of the original colonists), Baptists, you name it. My town has a Buddhist retreat in it too, lol. There are also black Muslim "camps" out in Broome County that the FBI raided recently for building bombs or something.

[antaeus]

The U.S. varies widely from region to region -- New York State is highly Catholic along the Hudson River Valley and probably in New York City too, I would imagine, has it's big share of non-believers as well, though, and I believe the birth place of Mormonism was somewhere in the western part of the state. My region around Albany has all sorts of religions... Shakers, Dutch Reforms (descendants of the original colonists), Baptists, you name it. My town has a Buddhist retreat in it too, lol. There are also black Muslim "camps" out in Broome County that the FBI raided recently for building bombs or something.

catholicism is one of the big growing religions in the us, because of immigration from latin america in particular.. its rapidly changing the dynamic, latin americans in general much more serious about their religion than older catholic communities...

[Viking Prince]

A few tried to make this into a political thread. I think it needs to be moving on to EMM. Have a nice move!

VP

[Каие]

In Britain the majority are Christian, split between Anglicans (state religion and church + Queen) and Catholics along with other small groups like Quakers, Baptists, Black churches etc. Then it's Islam, and Hinduism and Judaism. With Sikhism and Paganism (Like Druids and Wiccans) in joint last.

[Fiyenyaa]

In Britain the majority are Christian, split between Anglicans (state religion and church + Queen) and Catholics along with other small groups like Quakers, Baptists, Black churches etc. Then it's Islam, and Hinduism and Judaism. With Sikhism and Paganism (Like Druids and Wiccans) in joint last.

Also around 20% of no religion at all. That's a pretty sizable demographic.
Also, I do remember reading somewhere that the amount of people who actively go to church every week (it may have Christians in general or just Catholics: I can't remember) is now less than the amount of people who go to a Mosque every week.

[Caledonian Rhyfelwyr]

In Britain England the majority are Christian, split between Anglicans (state religion and church + Queen) and Catholics along with other small groups like Quakers, Baptists, Black churches etc. Then it's Islam, and Hinduism and Judaism. With Sikhism and Paganism (Like Druids and Wiccans) in joint last.

Fixed it for you.

In Scotland, the majority are Protestant (of the Reformed variety), there is also a sizeable Catholic minority. In Northern Ireland its pretty much 50/50 with Protestants/Catholics, again the Protestants being of the Reformed variety and not Anglican. In Wales the situation is similar to that in England, but there is a very strong Methodist presence there.

[Каие]

Yeah that's definitely true, but every time I count Atheists and Agnostics as a faith, they get into a hissy fit.

[cfmonkey45]

Yeah that's definitely true, but every time I count Atheists and Agnostics as a faith, they get into a hissy fit.

Lol, that's why I clarify and add in the modifer "Faith, or lack thereof".



What bothers me in the states is the hypocrisy and what us in the religious community like to call "lukewarm Christianity", in reference to one of the letters to the Churchs in the Book of Revelations. It is commonly interpretted to indicate a particular group of Christians who profess their faith, how little it may be, but then turn around and do things contrary to what the Bible instructs. In my mind, this is different from stumbling in sin, which is much more forgiveable, or outright corruption, which is detestable. I've had friends who've struck up a conversation about religion with me (or rather me with them). They claim to be Christians, or something like that, but "they take the Bible as a guide" and "not literally". These same people go out and get hammered at parties and go on to trumpet their self-righteousness. It bothers me.

I've concluded that it's mostly arisen in Europe in much larger numbers for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I believe it is a matter of relevance to the individual. Traditionally, the religious institutions were upheld as beacons od chivalry, tradition, and honor. This changed fundamentally following both world wars, although the spiral downwards had probably arisen from many of the political, philosophical, and ideological movements that permeated Europe in the latter portion of the nineteenth century. Many questioned the existence of a god that allowed two world wars and a genocidal extermination of several ethnic groups. This, combined with the fact that since most nations in Europe had a heavy intertwining of Church and State--completely absent in the United States--that turned the church from a center of spiritual guidance to a corrupt cesspool of bureaucratic politics.

I think, also, additionally, the fact that descent of the Iron Curtain had an impact as well. The more conservative elements of government washed out by complete secularization, if not inherent state atheism, probably drained any connection to spirituality within those parts of Europe.


Overall, I think it's also because that in the United States, the local church plays a much greater function in society than in Europe. In the United States, churches have historically been the leaders in social justice--see the Civil Rights movement, spurred on by Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr, the Abolitionist Movement that created the basis for the Republican Party, the Progressivist Era, the Temperance Movement, and, partly, with my denomination (The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel), classical feminism. In Europe, however, at the contemporary moment in time, it was more Socialist institutions that were propagating reform, such as the Labour Party in England, et cetera.

That, and currently, religious organizations within the United States are largest group of private donors, many of them donating beyond their means. I remember hearing of a sociological experiment in which the directors placed two Salvation Army Kiosks, one in a very affluent region of San Francisco, and the other in a small town in the Midwest with have the per capita income. The Midwest town, despite having lower income, gave twice as much as that in San Francisco, despite the latter having a far greater population and higher per capita income.

[The Dude]

The majority of Dutch people I would say have no religion.

[Dr. Croccer]

It's hard to tell. Half of the Dutch population do not affliate themselves with any religion, but their religious views are varied. From people who simply don't care about religion and Ietsists to hardcore Atheists.