For example, in Germany, a majority of non-practicing Christians (62%) agree that churches and other religious organizations play an important role in helping the poor and needy, compared with fewer than half (41%) of nones., Church-attending Christians hold especially positive opinions about the role of religious organizations in society. While most church-attending Christians say they believe in God as described in the Bible, non-practicing Christians are more apt to say that they do not believe in the biblical depiction of God, but that they believe in some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. Web40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Hover over a tile for details. The high number of Protestants is attributed to the fact that it was a British colony. Salwan Momika, said to be an Iraqi living in Sweden, set fire to a copy of Islam's holy book outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday. For instance, in Catholic-majority Spain, only about one-in-five non-practicing Christians (21%) believe in God as described in the Bible, while six-in-ten say they believe in some other higher power or spiritual force. (Arterra/Getty Images) Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the worlds most secular regions. It is the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The median is the middle number in a list of figures sorted in ascending or descending order. Non-practicing Christians tend to say religion should be kept out of government policy. Additionally, the survey asked respondents whether they consider themselves religious and, separately, whether they consider themselves spiritual. Non-practicing Christians tend to express more positive than negative views toward churches and religious organizations, saying they serve society by helping the poor and bringing communities together. Christianity by country Countries With The Most Protestant Christians [34], Although the Protestant reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of European life: marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. Vatican Basilica, Rome. But among religiously unaffiliated adults, fewer (30%) say Islam is fundamentally incompatible with their countrys values. The emergence of the notion of "Europe" or the "Western World" is intimately connected with the idea of "Christendom", especially since Christianity in the Middle East was marginalized by the rise of Islam from the 7th century, a constellation that led to the Crusades, which although unsuccessful militarily were an important step in the emergence of a religious identity of Europe. There are some countries and territories in Europe where Islam is the dominant religion such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (51%), Kosovo (96%), Northern Cyprus (99%), and a few other places. See. In the present context of high levels of fear of and hostility to Muslims, writes Tariq Modood, professor of sociology, politics and public policy at the University of Bristol in the UK, efforts to develop cultural Christianity as an ideology to oppose Islam are both a challenge to pluralism and equality, and a risk to democracy.. Read More $3.19 trillion But as religion and national identity have gradually begun to separate, religious identity becomes more a question of ideology and belief than membership of a national community. , as well as the policies supporting the eurozone. Europe - Religions By way of comparison, Brazil has more than twice as many Christians as But in some other places, such as Belgium, Denmark and France, atheists are at least as numerous as those in the nothing in particular category. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. Christianity in Europe Pew Research Centers survey of Western Europe was conducted in the spring and summer of 2017, following the two highest years of asylum applications on record. The high number of Protestants is attributed to the fact that it was a British colony. The largest religion in the EU is Christianity, which accounted for 72.8% of EU population as of 2018. 8. However, the U.S. will decrease in terms of percentage of the worlds Christians. Regional Distribution of Christians | Pew Research Center Most non-practicing Christians in Europe believe in God. [3] Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy. Spotlight on Brazil More than 175 million Brazilians are Christian, making the countrys Christian population the largest outside the United States. Demographically, nones in Western Europe are relatively young and highly educated, as well as disproportionately male. Read More $3.19 trillion Although Christians will continue to be the largest religious group in the region, Europes Christian population is expected to drop by about 100 million people, falling from 553 million in 2010 to 454 million in 2050. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christianity_in_Europe&oldid=1159474661, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing potentially dated statements from January 2020, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, Note that most Calvinist and Lutheran churches in mainland Europe have merged to, This page was last edited on 10 June 2023, at 15:14. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. European It also looks at their beliefs about religion and spirituality, including a closer look at the attitudes of religiously unaffiliated adults who say they do believe there is a God or some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. In every country surveyed, on the other hand, church-attending Christians are considerably more conservative than both non-practicing Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults on questions about abortion and same-sex marriage. Still, substantial shares of nones in all 15 countries surveyed, ranging from 15% in Switzerland to 47% in Portugal, express belief in God or some other spiritual force in the universe. Previously, many of those who are not particularly religious were content to describe themselves as Christian on cultural grounds, he writes. Some scholars and commentators have asserted that the influx of refugees, including many from Muslim-majority countries, is spurring a revival of Christian identity. The cross is the most famous universal symbol of Christianity. [14][15][16], The EastWest Schism of the 11th century and the Protestant Reformation of the 16th divided "Christendom" into hostile factions. Many Pagan temples were destroyed when King Tiridates III declared Christianity the official state religion, but Garni is one of the few that survived. Majorities of non-practicing Christians and church-attending Christians believe in these ideas. By AD 550 there are recorded 120 bishops spread throughout the British Isles. Christianity by country (See below for more details on belief in God among religiously unaffiliated adults.). 2 in 2022, while Iran is No. Most religiously unaffiliated adults, on the other hand, reject belief in an afterlife, and many do not believe they have a soul. As a result, researchers were able to combine 22 individual questions into a scale measuring the prevalence of nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-minority sentiments in each country and to conduct additional statistical analysis of the factors associated with these sentiments in Western Europe today. In other words, Christians as a whole in Western Europe tend to express higher levels of nationalist sentiment. (Arterra/Getty Images) Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the worlds most secular regions. Most When it comes to immigration, Christians both churchgoing and non-practicing are more likely than nones in Europe to say immigrants from the Middle East and Africa are not honest or hardworking, and to favor reducing immigration from current levels.2 For example, 35% of churchgoing Christians and 36% of non-practicing Christians in France say immigration to their country should be reduced, compared with 21% of nones who take this position. Web40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Hover over a tile for details. WebParaguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Religion portal Importance of Religion in Europe (results of a 2008/2009 Gallup poll) Religion in Europe has been a major influence on today's society, art, culture, philosophy and law. Are you Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, something else or nothing in particular?. Since then, Pew Research Center has improved the survey weights for greater accuracy leading to slight differences in some numbers between the two publications. Europe In every country surveyed, most nones who were raised in a religious group say they gradually drifted away from religion, suggesting that no one particular event or single specific reason prompted this change.7 Many also say that they disagreed with church positions on social issues like homosexuality and abortion, or that they stopped believing in religious teachings. Are you Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, something else or nothing in particular? The wording of this question may result in more respondents giving a religious affiliation (saying they are Christian or Muslim, for example) than previous surveys in some countries, particularly if those surveys used what researchers call a two-step approach to religious identification. Approximately 2.38 billion people practice some form of Christianity globally. About a quarter of Americans (23%, as of 2014) fit this description, comparable to the shares of nones in the UK (23%) and Germany (24%). On balance, self-identified Christians whether they attend church or not are more likely than religiously unaffiliated people to express negative views of immigrants, as well as of Muslims and Jews. (For example, people who express negative attitudes toward Muslims and Jews are also more likely to express negative attitudes toward immigrants, and vice versa.) Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy. Kenya (24 million) Approximately 84% of the population in Kenya practice Christianity. For example, in several countries, higher shares of nones who were raised Christian than those who were raised unaffiliated say they would be willing to accept Muslims as neighbors. While Christians (taken as a whole) are by far the largest religious group in Western Europe, a substantial minority of the population in every country is religiously unaffiliated also sometimes called nones, a category that includes people who identify as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. The unaffiliated portion of the adult population ranges from as high as 48% in the Netherlands to 15% in Ireland, Italy and Portugal. Christian Europe - WorldAtlas How Many Christians Are In the World? [4][5], Historically, Europe has been the center and "cradle of Christian civilization". Russia is the largest Christian country in Europe by population, followed by Germany and Italy. Religion in Europe The vast majority of non-practicing Christians, like the vast majority of the unaffiliated in Western Europe, favor legal abortion and same-sex marriage. As explained in greater detail throughout this report, the findings suggest that the answer is partly a matter of religious beliefs, partly a matter of attitudes toward the role of religion in society, and partly a matter of views on national identity, immigrants and religious minorities. (Arterra/Getty Images) Western Europe, where Protestant Christianity originated and Catholicism has been based for most of its history, has become one of the worlds most secular regions. Very few religiously unaffiliated adults 2% to 4% in almost every Western European country surveyed say they consider themselves to be religious people. WebPrice: 39.99. In 2010, the European countries with an overwhelming majority of self-professed Christians included Vatican City, Romania, the Faroe Islands, Moldova, Malta, Iceland, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, and Ireland. , as well as the policies supporting the eurozone. Christian Europe WebPrice: 39.99. The substantive findings of the previous publication are not affected by the revised weights. Still, substantial minorities (median of 35%) of non-practicing Christians think the government should support religious values and beliefs in their country and they are much more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to take this position. (For a detailed statistical analysis combining multiple questions into scales of religious commitment and spirituality, see Chapters 3 and 5.). About 19% of European Christians were part of the mainline Protestant tradition. Although the vast majority of adults say they were baptized, today many do not describe themselves as Christians. Europe is the only region projected to see a decline in its total population between 2010 and 2050. The largest religion in Europe is Christianity, [1] but irreligion and practical secularisation are strong. See. This study, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, is part of a larger effort by Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies around the world. This is not to say that most Christians hold these views: On the contrary, by most measures and in most countries surveyed, only minorities of Christians voice negative opinions about immigrants and religious minorities. - WorldAtlas How Many Christians Are In the World? Vatican Basilica, Rome. Salwan Momika, said to be an Iraqi living in Sweden, set fire to a copy of Islam's holy book outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday. The survey, which was conducted following a surge of immigration to Europe from Muslim-majority countries, asked many questions about national identity, religious pluralism and immigration. The survey also posed questions about the concepts of fate and reincarnation, and about astrology, fortune tellers, meditation, yoga (as a spiritual practice, not just as exercise), the evil eye and belief in spiritual energy located in physical things, such as mountains, trees or crystals. Most Western European nones do not hold or engage in these beliefs and practices, which are often associated with Eastern, New Age or folk religions.