Religious variable in Europe
ome people consider that the
Christian values are the fundamental values of Europe.
In saying that, one forgets
that
We can observe contrasts in
the european religious geography.
In deed, the Church itself is
pluralistic with the presence of the Orthodox Christians, the Catholics, and
the Protestants. Moreover, Islam is present in
It is obvious that religion
plays a role in
Is it relevant to speak about
a religious
We can wonder this question
because, even the religious phenomenon seems to take a larger and larger place
in society, process of secularization is undeniable.
There are several ways to
feel religious, we have got several options.
What is sure is that
religious institutions have lost their social seating. Their ability of
intervention has been reduced.
However, there is still a
religious membership. But it doesn’t give information about a kind of behaviour.
Is it a practising person or not? How?
We have to measure the degree
of involvement in the religion.
In northern
In other words, the official
membership is very high but it has not any effect on a day-to-day basis.
“On paper”, the Church
predominates, but not in the society. Let’s quote that Latin Europe resists to
secularization, and maintains a Catholicism which isn’t only an identifying
one.
In
In Europe, on average, there
are twenty per cent of churchgoers.
The religious belief doesn’t
disappear and borrow different forms. That is done not inevitably through the
Church but within small groups.
In 1997, Roland Campiche, a religions’ sociologist, made a poll to 60000 young Europeans
(Christians were in the majority) to study their religious profile. This survey
provides a typology of the religious behaviours:
The
“non-religious”
They represent 23% of the sample. There are above all
men. They don’t define themselves in relation to religion. The latter is
external to their lives. Among them, 35% say they belong to a church. This is a sociological membership, they aren’t
churchgoers.
They consider that “Good and
Evil” aren’t determined by immutable principles but by context.
“The
religious” (11%)
For them, religious
membership is the central vector of their identity.
4/5 of this sample attend services, they have a lot of links with
the institution, they take part in the latter (scouts, prayer’s groups …)
88% of them declare
they believe in a personified God.
And when we ask them the
question: “how do you define yourself?”
They answer: “We are
religious”
According to them, religion
is fundamental. For 85%, people
should hand this value down to their children.
In this category, women are
in the majority (57%)
This group is of rural origin
and comes from Catholic countries (Ireland for instance)
They have strict values and
they are politically more conservative.
We note that one third of young Europeans have
absolute positions: They are either religious or non-religious.
“Heterodox
believers” (10%)
This is a socially
heterogeneous group.
Ø
They can add beliefs to their original religion.
Ex: a Catholic who might
believe in reincarnation. The level of adherence of this kind of believers is
as strong as the religious ones.
It is a kind of
“do-it-yourself religion”. There is no strict denominational context. The
believers are seeking well-being, and don’t inevitably join an institution.
For the individual, this way
of believing is not inconsistent. There is no incompatibility.
This “do-it-yourself
religion” has always existed, but earlier in society, there was a religious
more coherent whole. This pattern is close to the “religious” one, but
“heterodox believers” don’t practice their religion on a day-to-day basis.
They accentuate the idea of
the hereafter (question which is
increasingly to be found in different religious groups. Why? Maybe
because of uncertainty. The idea that “the times have come” is growing
even in Islam and the Salafist movements)
“The
secular humanists” (10%)
They are close to the
non-religious. They consider that the Church has to take part in public issues.
They trust in the Church and its discourse (concerning the Third World,
racism…)
They are rather to be found
in a protestant environment (United Kingdom, Denmark…), but in Spain too
(though it is a catholic country)
According to them, the Church
is still legitimate.
“The
irregular churchgoers” (23%)
They represent one fourth of
young Europeans. They subscribe to some beliefs but they are selective.
Monthly practice rate: 36%
Ex: Jews called “The
Jews of Kippur”; Catholics who go to Church for Christmas.
They are “festive”
churchgoers. For the believer, the rites are more important than the religious
conviction in itself.
Kinds of population: Women
are in the majority (62%). They come
from the country and small cities.
“Ritualistic
people” (24%)
They resort to the original
church only at certain moments in their life (birth, marriage, death)
They only need a “technique”
(only 8% believe in a personified
God)
They think we need rites
“which span the ages of life”
The religion is seen as a
technical mechanism. They have a ritual approach to it.
These
different categories show how differently people comprehend religion. They can
have regular or irregular practice.
We may
observe thanks to these samples the plurality of positioning facing religion.
One
religion, but several types of believers.
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