But the United States also have comparatively high levels of committed Christians.

The study analysed 84 countries with sizeable Christian populations.

In 35 of those countries, at least two-thirds of all Christians say religion is very important in their lives.

All but three of these 35 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. (The three exceptions are the US, Malaysia and the Philippines.)

New Zealand was not included in the study but, in Australia, 27% of Christians said that religion was very important in their lives.

The United States remains an outlier among wealthy countries in terms of its relatively high levels of religious commitment.

In the US, more than two-thirds of Christians say religion is very important in their lives, compared with significantly lower levels in other rich democracies. For instance, only 12% of Christian adults in Germany and 11% in the United Kingdom say religion is very important in their lives.

Levels of religious salience are particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa: over 75% in every country surveyed in the region say religion is very important to them.

At the other end of the spectrum, levels of religious importance are lowest among Christians in Europe, where deaths outnumber births among Christians.

Prayer frequency is lowest among Christians in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Malaysia, where fewer than 10% of Christians pray daily.

Likewise, fewer than 10% of Christians report attending church weekly in nine European countries including Denmark, Estonia and Russia.

Source

• pewresearch.org
• Image: newsweek.com

This was confirmed by a survey study promoted by the US Pew Research Center on religious faith and practice in Western European countries.

The percentage of lapsed Christians is increasing and a look at the answers of the sample interviewed on abortion and same-sex marriage shows how much the culture in Europe has changed — and how unsurprising is the result of the recent Irish referendum on abortion.

The survey, conducted between April and August 2017 in 15 Western European countries, shows that 91% of the population is composed of baptized people, 81% of people who grew up as Christians, 71% of people who say they are currently Christians, with a 22% who attend religious services at least once a month.

In most cases, the adults interviewed consider themselves Christians, even if they rarely attend church.

The survey shows that non-practicing Christians (people who identify themselves as Christians, but participate in religious services only a few times a year) represent the largest share of the population in the region concerned.

In all countries except Italy, non-practicing Christians are more numerous than practicing Christians (i.e. those who participate in religious services at least once a month).

In the UK, for example, there are about three times as many lapsed, or non-practicing Christians (55%) as practicing Christians (18%), according to the definitions used in the survey.

Italy

40% of the population declares themselves to be practicing, another 40% declares themselves to be non-practicing Christians, 15% have no creed, while 5% follow other religions.

France

18% are practicing Christians, 46% are non-practicing, 28% have no creed, and 8% are of other religions.

Spain

21% are practicing Christians, 44% are non-practicing, 30% have no creed, 4% are of other religions.

While claiming not to believe in God "as described in the Bible," many non-practicing Christians tend to believe in some other higher power or spiritual strength.

In contrast, most practicing Christians claim to believe in the Biblical description of God.

And a clear majority of adults who do not recognize themselves in any religion do not believe in any kind of higher power or spiritual strength in the universe.

According to the study, Christian identity in Western Europe is associated with more negative opinions towards immigrants and religious minorities.

Overall, those who profess to be Christians, whether they attend the Church or not, are more likely than those who do not recognize themselves in any religion to express negative opinions towards immigrants, as well as towards Muslims and Jews.

The clear majority of non-practicing Christians, such as those who do not recognize themselves in any religion in Western Europe, are in favor of legal abortion and same-sex marriage.

Practicing Christians are more conservative on these issues, although within this segment there is substantial support (majoritarian in some countries) for legal abortion and same-sex marriage. Continue reading

• Image: The Art Story

I went to Barcelona by chance.

My brother's wife and daughters had been delighted by this elegant city in northern Spain and especially by the basilica of the Holy Family.

They convinced my brother that he too needed to see the city and he asked me to join him on a visit.

Naturally I knew of the church and of Pope Benedict's enthusiasm for it. One of the architects of the new Benedict XVI Retreat Centre of Sydney archdiocese had also written an article of commendation.

While I shared many of their artistic judgments, I was put off by photos of the basilica's exterior. It all seemed a bit loopy: Picasso in Hollywood.

But I knew nothing of the basilica's interior (and not much more, in fact, about the exterior). I was quite prepared to be unimpressed.

My visit completely changed my opinion as the basilica is a work of genius. This place of worship speaks of God to the people of today (and tomorrow) more eloquently then any church I know.

Catholic symbols are everywhere, teaching about Christ, the Church, light and life. Already 3,200,000 paying tourists visit each year, so enabling the construction to be continued.

The church is the product of Spain's turbulent religious history, and during its comparatively brief lifespan it has already been damaged and closed for a time by anti-Catholic violence.

In the 19th century, Barcelona was a centre for industrial development when Spain changed from being a colonial and largely rural society.

As the democratic, anti-religious and violent forces unleashed by the French Revolution of 1789 spread across Europe, the Spanish state, in 1836, expropriated all the Church's lands and assets.

In the consequent spiritual crisis the rise of militant unbelief was strongly contested by many Catholic priests and people.

The Association of the Devotees of St Joseph was founded in 1866 by the bookseller and philanthropist Josep Maria Bocabella, and grew strongly to a membership of half a million. In 1878 they decided to build an expiatory temple of prayer and worship dedicated to the Holy Family.

Work began in 1882, inspired in part by devotion to the Holy House of Nazareth, which was brought to Loreto, in Italy, in the 13th century, probably by Crusaders. Continue reading

• Cardinal George Pell in Catholic Herald

Recently, however, this long-standing distance between religion and politics has been threatened. Migration is one factor that has helped religion to return to centre stage in public life. While Muslim minorities have protested over questions of blasphemy and free speech, Catholic leaders have intervened in political debates about gay marriage and abortion, and conservatives have lamented that European societies are losing touch with their Christian past. The political scientist Eric Kaufmann has argued that religious believers have a demographic advantage in birth rates that will see Europe's secularisation reversed by the end of this century.

Religious justifications for terrorism might be the most visible and dramatic threat to liberal states from increased religiosity, but the separation of religion and politics has recently been challenged in multiple ways and in many countries, not just in Europe. Both the US and Canada have experienced controversies over the attempted use of religious law in family arbitration, while Islamic leaders in Australia have provoked intense debate after giving sermons denouncing gender equality. However, the renewed visibility of religion in public affairs provokes particularly intense challenges in Europe since it undermines well-established, but often tacit, conventions on the limits to religious influence on public life. Continue reading

Sources

• Aeon Magazine
• Image: Mystagogy