Written by Cindy Dice
With the rise in scientific discoveries and in the amount of people pursuing an education, there’s no surprise in the decline of devout religious practice, particularly in Europe. What percentage of the current population has given up their faith or refused to believe in one, and which European country holds the most atheists?
According to The Guardian, the country with the most atheists is the Czech Republic with a staggering 91% of the population who identify as atheists. Those who report on not actively going to church is 70%, and those who don’t pray is 80%. The most religious country, however, is Poland with only 17% of the population who identify as atheists.
The Irish Times claims that by 2050, most of Europe will lose about 100 million Christians to a lack of faith or a different faith. Almost a quarter of the population will live their lives without practicing religion. Another reason the European Christian population will drop is because there are more Christian deaths than those who identify as atheists. Over a five-year period, there were 1.4 million Christian deaths in Germany alone. Ireland, however, had an increase of ten thousand births over their Christian deaths in each recorded case study.
While most of Europe is considered secular, some people would say otherwise. According to Sigal Samuel of The Atlantic, a study was conducted to compare atheists and religious people in America and Europe. The study claims that European Christians aren’t as religious as American atheists. One reason is that Samuel believes that American Atheists tend to treat atheism as a religion by comparing their rituals, such as meeting at a place in solitude with fellow atheists and singing songs regarding atheism, to that of Christians. To Samuel, atheism is just another religious practice minus the faith. Samuel also mentions that Europeans see Christianity as a cultural or ethnic identity rather than a religious one and that identifying as an atheist doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve sworn off religious-like practices.
Penn Jillette would argue that there’s not necessarily an increase in atheists but those who are giving up religion with the hope that it will end these practices. Jillette believes that it’s humanity that Europeans desire, not taking pride in a lack of faith.
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