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Predominant religious heritages in Europe Roman Catholicism Orthodox Christianity Protestantism Sunni Islam Shia Islam
Religion in Europe has a rich and diverse religious history, and its various faiths have been a major influence on European art, culture, philosophy and law. The majority religion in Europe is Christianity while other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism exist but in much smaller numbers. Europe being largely a secular region also has the largest number and proportion of irreligious, agnostic and atheistic people in the Western world, with a particularly high number of self-described non-religious people in the Czech Republic, Estonia and Sweden.
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Predominant religious affiliations in Central Europe, 1901
Little is known about the prehistoric religion of Neolithic Europe. Bronze and Iron Age religion in Europe as elsewhere was predominantly polytheistic (Ancient Greek religion, Ancient Roman religion, Celtic polytheism, Germanic paganism etc.). The Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity in AD 380. During the Early Middle Ages, most of Europe underwent Christianization, a process essentially complete with the Christianization of Scandinavia in the High Middle Ages. The emergence of the notion of "Europe" or "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 8th 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. At all times, traditions of folk religion existed largely independent from official denomination or dogmatic theology.
The Great Schism of the 11th and Reformation of the 16th century were to tear apart "Christendom" into hostile factions, and following the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, atheism and agnosticism became widespread in Western Europe. 19th century Orientalism contributed to a certain popularity of Buddhism, and the 20th century brought increasing syncretism, New Age and various new religious movements divorcing spirituality from inherited traditions for many Europeans. The latest history brought increased secularisation, and religious pluralism.Henkel, Reinhard and Hans Knippenberg "The Changing Religious Landscape of Europe" edited by Knippenberg published by Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam 2005 ISBN 9055892483, pages 7-9
Today, theism is losing prevalence in Europe in favour of atheism, and religion losing prevalence in favor of secularism. European countries have experienced a decline in church attendance, as well as a decline in the number of people professing a belief in a God. The Eurobarometer Poll 2005found that, on average, 52% of the citizens of EU member states state that they believe in a God, 27% believe there is some sort of spirit or life Force while 18% do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God or Life Force. 3% declined to answer. According to a recent study (Dogan, Mattei, Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline), 47% of Frenchmen declared themselves as agnostic in 2003.
This situation is often called "Post-Christian Europe". A decrease in religiousness and church attendance in western Europe (especially France, Germany and Sweden) has been noted, but in contrary to it, there is an increase in Eastern Europe, especially in Greece and Romania (2% in 1 year). The Eurobarometer poll must be taken with caution, however, as there are discrepancies between it and national census results. For example in the United Kingdom, the 2001 census revealed over 70% of the population regarded themselves as "Christian" with only 15% professing to have "no religion".
Belief that "there is a god" per country (Eurobarometer 2005)
Belief that "there is some sort of spirit or life force" per country (Eurobarometer 2005)
No belief in "any sort of spirit, god or life force" per country (Eurobarometer 2005)
The following is a list of European countries ranked by religiosity, based on belief in a god, according to the Eurobarometer Poll 2005. The 2005 Eurobarometer Poll asked whether the person believed "there is a god", believed "there is some sort of spirit of life force", "didn\'t believe there is any sort of spirit, god or life force".
| Country | Belief in a God | Belief in a Spirit or Life Force |
Belief in neither a Spirit, God or Life Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 95% | 2% | 1% |
| Malta | 95% | 3% | 1% |
| Cyprus | 90% | 7% | 2% |
| Romania | 90% | 8% | 1% |
| Greece | 81% | 16% | 3% |
| Portugal | 81% | 12% | 6% |
| Poland | 80% | 15% | 1% |
| Italy | 74% | 16% | 6% |
| Ireland | 73% | 22% | 4% |
| Croatia | 67% | 25% | 7% |
| Slovakia | 61% | 26% | 11% |
| Spain | 59% | 21% | 18% |
| Austria | 54% | 34% | 8% |
| Lithuania | 49% | 36% | 12% |
| Switzerland | 48% | 39% | 9% |
| Germany | 47% | 25% | 25% |
| Luxembourg | 44% | 28% | 22% |
| Hungary | 44% | 31% | 19% |
| Belgium | 43% | 29% | 27% |
| Finland | 41% | 41% | 16% |
| Bulgaria | 40% | 40% | 13% |
| Iceland | 38% | 48% | 11% |
| United Kingdom | 38% | 40% | 20% |
| Latvia | 37% | 49% | 10% |
| Slovenia | 37% | 46% | 16% |
| France | 34% | 27% | 33% |
| Netherlands | 34% | 37% | 27% |
| Norway | 32% | 47% | 17% |
| Denmark | 31% | 49% | 19% |
| Sweden | 23% | 53% | 23% |
| Czech Republic | 19% | 50% | 30% |
| Estonia | 16% | 54% | 26% |
The decrease in theism is illustrated in the 1981 and 1999 according to the World Values Survey.World Values Survey, Religion and morale: Believe in God. Accessed 2007-07-25, both for traditionally strongly theist countries (Spain: 86.8%:81.1%; Ireland 94.8%:93.7%) and for traditionally secular countries (Sweden: 51.9%:46.6%, France 61.8%:56.1%, Netherlands 65.3%:58.0%). Some countries nevertheless show slight increase of theism over the period, Italy 84.1%:87.8%, Denmark 57.8%:62.1%. For a comprehensive study on Europe, see Mattei Dogan\'s "Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline" in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion. Turkey and Malta are the most religious countries and Czech Republic and Estonia are the least religious countries in Europe.
The vast majority of religious Europeans are Christians, divided into a large number of denominations. Roman Catholicism is one of the largest denominations with adherents mostly existing in Latin Europe, Ireland and the Visegrád Group, but also the southern parts of Germanic Europe. Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy are divided into many churches, the largest of which are:
There are numerous minor Protestant movements, including various Evangelical congregations, Jehovah\'s Witnesses and others.
The Jews were dispersed within the Roman Empire from the 2nd century. Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews were frequently accused of ritual murder and faced pogroms and legal discrimination. The Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany decimated Jewish population, and today, France (1%[citation needed] of the French population, or 4.16%[citation needed] of the worldwide Jewish population) is the one and only European country with a Jewish population in excess of 0.5%[citation needed] of the total population.
Except for the Balkans region that was formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, and the Iberian Peninsula which was part of the Arab Empire before the Reconquista, Europe has no Islamic tradition. The Muslim population in Europe today is mostly a result of migration accounting for between 7%[citation needed] and 8%[citation needed] of the population in France, 5.8%[citation needed] in the Netherlands, 5%[citation needed]in Denmark, just over 4%[citation needed]in Switzerland and Austria, and almost 3 per cent in the United Kingdom.Muslims in Europe: Country guide, BBC News, 23 December 2005, accessed 3 May 2007 In the Balkans, Muslims make up 70%[citation needed] of the population of Albania, 40-50%[citation needed] in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 33,3%CIA - The World Factbook - Macedonia in Macedonia, 17.0%[citation needed] in Montenegro and 12%CIA - The World Factbook - Bulgaria in Bulgaria.
Small minorities in Europe follow Buddhism, Hinduism or various new religious movements such as polytheistic reconstructionism.
For example, in Germany, Buddhists account for 0.28%, Hindus for 0.10%, and various other non-Christian new religious movements for 0.15%.REMIS (2006)
Europe has a large and growing[citation needed] atheist and agnostic Irreligous population with 18% on average answering the question I do not believe in a spirit, God or life force in the The Eurobarometer Poll 2005
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