Humanities & Social ScienceA few years ago a poll came out, Religious Views and Beliefs Vary Greatly by Country, According to the Latest Financial Times/Harris Poll. My title is a bit misleading insofar as the survey compared several European countries as well as the United States. Below the fold I've placed a few of the tables which I think might surprise, or not, depending on where you stand. One thing I will observe is that despite the substantive differences which lay at the heart of the rivalry between France and the United States, there are also similarities between these two "universal nations" that lead to some of the enmity since they both perceive each other to be brands competing in the same market.
"Thinking now about religion, would you say that you are a…?"
| Great Britain | France | Italy | Spain | Germany | United States | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Believer in any form of God or any type of supreme being | 35 | 27 | 62 | 48 | 41 | 73 |
| Agnostic (one who is sceptical about the existence of God but not an atheist) | 35 | 32 | 20 | 30 | 25 | 14 |
| Atheist (one who denies the existence of God) | 17 | 32 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 4 |
| Would prefer not to say | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 6 |
| Not sure | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
"Do you feel that religion should be taught in state schools?"
| Great Britain | France | Italy | Spain | Germany | United States | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Yes | 56 | 20 | 68 | 40 | 56 | 28 |
| No | 29 | 72 | 25 | 49 | 35 | 59 |
| Not Sure | 15 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 13 |
"Do you feel that children should be allowed to wear a religious sign or article of clothing at school which is representative of their beliefs (such as crucifixes, headscarves)?"
| Great Britain | France | Italy | Spain | Germany | United States | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Yes | 48 | 10 | 61 | 44 | 40 | 77 |
| No | 36 | 83 | 29 | 43 | 51 | 14 |
| Not Sure | 15 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
"Do you feel that governments should legislate against religious blasphemy, such as depriving something of its sacred character (for example, burning a bible or the Koran)?"
| Great Britain | France | Italy | Spain | Germany | United States | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Yes | 37 | 42 | 58 | 46 | 41 | 31 |
| No | 41 | 41 | 28 | 42 | 40 | 52 |
| Not sure | 22 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 17 |
Comments
I assume you would get differnt answers depending on the examples. So that
(for example, burning a bible)
(for example, burning the Koran)
(for example, burning a boble or the Koran)
would generate different proportions.
PS: Is there a reason why bible is lowcased and preceeded by an indefinite article, while Koran is uppercase and preceeded by the definite article? I had not noticed this before.
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | May 22, 2008 10:50 AM
I think the "Do you feel that religion should be taught in state schools?" question is not clear enough. Taught as fact or taught as part of comparative religion?
Posted by: Silmarillion | May 22, 2008 11:05 AM
I like that America has the highest percentage of believers and the highest percentage of respondents who feel that government should not legislate against blasphemy.
Posted by: Marc | May 22, 2008 12:08 PM
Britain's answers are pretty weird. More people think religion should be taught in school than believe in God.
Posted by: Clark | May 22, 2008 1:18 PM
Some people have claimed that the school's bumbling instruction in religion is what pushed them into becoming non-believers in the first place.
If you grant that a person might believe that religious instruction ultimately harms faith, then people might easily be opposed to religion while desiring it to be taught in school.
If you then include those people who think comparative religion should be taught, as opposed to indoctrinated... you can easily have more people favoring religious instruction than believe in a deity.
Posted by: Caledonian | May 22, 2008 2:24 PM
More people think religion should be taught in school than believe in God.
yeah. i think that that reflects the reality; people are supporing the status quo. religion is taught in schools i think....
Posted by: razib | May 22, 2008 3:24 PM
Clark, that may be because of the vagueness of the question and differences in religious education between Britain and America. All British children are required to take religious education, but it is learning about various religious beliefs, rather than that they are true. Well taught, it can be as important as history or geography in giving an understanding of the world.
Posted by: jefrir | May 22, 2008 3:27 PM
Yeah, even in Ireland, where I attended a Christian Brothers High School in the 1970's, religion class discussed many world religions - different forms of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Animism, however not Judaism or Islam.
Posted by: pconroy | May 22, 2008 11:33 PM
As an update on the UK position on Relegious education my son has been going to his compulsory classes for nearly 5 years now, he has also learnt about Judaism and Islam as well as ethics and moral issues such as racism and the death penalty. To the UK population the term religious education means teaching about major world religions, their beliefs and history.
Posted by: DavidM | May 24, 2008 6:24 AM