Have
you given up on organized religion? If so, you are far from alone. In many
countries the number of people who describe themselves as ‘not religious’ is
growing—a trend that suggests an uncertain future for institutional religion.
Some of those lands are shown here.
AUSTRALIA
Polls
indicate that nearly 50 percent of the population say they are not
religious. Another 10 percent claim to be “convinced atheists.” In 2010, a
clergyman lamented that “the last 40 years or so” has seen a “wholesale
abandonment of the Christian faith.”
FRANCE
Only 37 percent of the people polled claimed to be
religious. The rest were either atheists or simply not religious. In some parts
of this once Catholic stronghold, Catholicism is in a state of “near-collapse,”
said the magazine The Economist.
IRELAND
The
Irish seem to be losing their faith en masse. Nearly 45 percent of
respondents said they are not religious, and another 10 percent claimed to
be atheists. Percentagewise, Ireland was among the top ten atheist populations.
News reports are talking about “the end of Catholic Ireland.”
JAPAN
Just
16 percent of Japanese polled claimed to be religious; 62 percent
were either not religious or atheists.
SOUTH AFRICA
Between
2005 and 2012, the number of South African respondents who said they were
religious fell by 19 percent.
TUNISIA
In
2013, about 60 percent of Tunisians polled said that they no longer attend
mosques but instead pray at home. The reason given was the violent ideology
promoted there.
UNITED STATES
Since
2005, the number of people claiming to be religious fell by 13 percent.
About 1 in 5 respondents had no religious affiliation. For adults under the age
of 30, the ratio was 1 in 3. Thousands of churches close their doors each
year.
VIETNAM
Between 2005 and
2012, the number of respondents professing to be religious fell from
53 percent to just 30 percent.
Statistics for all
countries except Tunisia are taken from the 2012 Global Index of Religion and
Atheism, published by Gallup International. Polls involved 57 countries,
representing over 73 percent of the world’s population.
Why the
Exodus?
People
are becoming disillusioned with organized religion for a variety of reasons.
These include religiously motivated or religiously sanctioned violence and
terror, sex scandals involving religious leaders, and more subtle factors,
which may be taking a bigger toll. The latter include the following:
·
Material prosperity: “The
richer you get, the less religious you define yourself,” says the Global Index of Religion and Atheism.That observation
is significant!
·
Religious traditions and morality: Many
people, especially the young, view organized religion as irrelevant and out of
touch. Others have lost confidence in religion
·
Religion and money: A lot of people feel that
religion puts too much emphasis on money. Adding to the problem, some religious
dignitaries—unlike their flocks—enjoy lavish lifestyles.
