Leonard O Goenaga
Professor Thiel
CPO3103
November 24, 2008
The Decline of Institutionalized Religion, and the Future of Faith in Europe.
When asked to define Western European historical identity, several things come to mind: the birth of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific revolution, the birthplace of democracy, the enlightenment, modernism, secularization, and others. Given the Western European innovations mentioned, many individuals look to Western Europe as a model for future states. Individuals may make the genuine error of observing an overt secularizing trend within Europe, and mistakenly deposit such a prediction for the world as a whole. They, like the Hebrew Prophets and modern Evangelists, herald the message of secularization as if a predestined destination for man. Given the standards Europe has set for much of the world, this understanding may at first sound reasonable. However, given the diversity of the world, the rise of religious fundamentalisms, and other factors, such a prophecy may be premature. With Europe’s profound religious history, as both the vehicle of Roman Catholicism and the home of the Protestant reformation, it is fascinating to find it to be the home of secularization. To ignore Western Europe as a trendsetter is asinine, and as such, a survey of the nature of Religion in Europe is warranted and rewarding. What can such a survey accomplish? Is the claim of Western Europe as secular genuine? Are the predictions that a totally secularized Europe grounded? Are there any exceptions or revivals? This paper will survey the current state of European religious health, analyzing the trends of religious decline, the increase in secularization, and the exceptions of religious stability and growth in Europe. This paper will explore and conclude whether a possible cure for Europe’s religious sickness appears on the horizon, or whether it is plagued to continue in its trend of pluralism and secularization.
It is interesting that when we refer to Western Europe, we speak of a division from its eastern counterpart by means of some imaginary line produced between former communist countries and the parliamentary western states. However, a more historical, and some would argue more profound, division existed way before the development of Marx’ communist ideology. This first great division between Western and Eastern Europe is an important religious one: The split between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Before an exploration of the state of religion in Europe is made, the divided identity of Europe needs clarification. From this Eastern and Western divide, with the West inheriting a Roman Catholic tradition (which later led to the reformation, with strong protestant movements in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Scandinavian countries), and the East inheriting Orthodoxy, we receive an illuminating understanding to the continental divide, as well as certain nation-bound religious inclinations. Exactly which nations do we speak of when we refer to Eastern and Western Europe? For the West, we mean those traditionally Roman Catholic countries, including but not limited to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Scandinavian states, and others. For the East, we refer to nations that belong to the Orthodoxy tradition, including Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia.[1] This leaves out several countries, including those of Central Europe, which may be defined not only by its Ex-Communist identity, but also by its religious affiliations. The Central European countries of “Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and what was East Germany…[also] developed within Western Catholicism,” which may be revealing in understanding their European identities, and their similarities with the traditionally Western nations (Davie 4). Having established an understandable division of Europe on a historical level of religious traditions, we may now continue our evaluation of religion within Europe, with particular focus on the reformed countries (Protestant United Kingdom, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries), traditionally Catholic countries (Italy, France, and Poland), and interesting European religious innovations (as found by Islam, New Age, and Christian revivals in Europe).
The first assumption made in the discussion of religion in Europe, is that it is a spiritual desert. Missionaries will preach the message of the need for a spiritual awakening in the land of Luther and Calvin. Compared to the Americans, where churches are vibrant, active, and visible, Europe’s Christianity seems somewhat belittled in comparison. Many surveys have expressed the importance religion plays in individual’s lives, and in one such survey Europeans averaged 21%, compared to a hefty 90% average of individuals in Muslim nations, and around 60% for Americans in 2002 (Jenkins 27). Further still, individuals in Europe do not merely express dissatisfaction with religion through a lack of church attendance, but also out right claiming atheism, with “a survey of British respondents in 2004… [finding] only 44 percent admitting to belief in God, with 35 percent denying that belief, and 21 percent ‘don’t know,’” (Jenkins 27). In addition, France saw an increase from individuals claiming no religion grow from 11% to 34% between the years 1973 and 1944 (Jenkins 27).
This decline in the belief of God is not the only indicator of spiritual corrosion. In addition, core Christian doctrines have seen sizable declines. “In 1957, 71 percent of British respondents declared that Jesus was the Son of God, but by 2001, the figure had fallen to 38 percent,” (Jenkins 27). Another core Christian Orthodox belief has seen tremendous decline as well. Belief in the historical existence of Jesus shows a sharp decline between age groups, with 80% of those over 65 believing in the historicity of Christ, compared to only 54% of those between the ages of 18-24 (Jenkins 27). A third leg of study that individuals point to in their arguments for a secularized Europe is that of Church attendance. Compared to about 40% of Americans who report weekly attending some place of worship, only about 20% of Europeans do the same (Jenkins 28).[2] Lower still, Britain boasts of about 15%, Germany 12%, and the Scandinavian countries below 5% (Jenkins 28). The evidence is stacked higher still, when one looks at the numbers of individuals who never attend services. “As of 2000, though, such absentees made up 60 percent of French respondents, 55 percent in Britain, and between 40 percent and 50 percent in Scandinavia and the Low Countries,” (Jenkins 28). With these statistics, it would appear that organized Christianity has taken an insignificant backseat to Europeans. Post-1975, “Britain’s churches lost around 20 percent of their adult membership,” similarly, in Germany, the Evangelical Church (EKD), has lost about half it’s membership in the last half-century (Jenkins 28). One can only conclude that within the traditionally protestant countries (Britain, Germany, Denmark, etc.), institutionalized Christianity is in a crisis, but can the same be said of their Catholic neighbors? Also, is a declined in the practice of denominational Protestantism enough to conclude a death of it, or as Grace Davie coins, do we merely find a situation of ‘believing without belonging,” (Davie 8)? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leonard O 
Posted by Leonard O 
