Secularism in Eastern Europe

A Gallup poll conducted in 2007–2008 showed a significant divide between Western and Eastern Europe in terms of their levels of secularism and religiosity. Respondents in most Western European, but in few Eastern European, countries declared that religion occupied no important place in their lives. A majority of respondents in Slovakia, Romania and Poland said that religion played a role in their lives. Between 37 and 48 percent of respondents in Hungary, Slovenia and Albania made similar statements. The only post-Communist countries where religiosity remained very low were Estonia and the Czech Republic (with 84 percent and 74 percent of respondents declaring that religion played no role in their lives). The three most religious European countries were all post-Communist states—Romania, Macedonia and Poland—where religion played a role in the lives of the vast majority of respondents (from 77 percent to 82 percent). ¹ The annual Eurobarometer has confirmed that, with the exception of the Czechs and the Estonians, Eastern Europeans believe in God in greater numbers than Western Europeans, and atheism is more pronounced in Western Europe, where secularism affects some religious groups (Protestants and Roman Catholics) more than others (Muslims), as well as long-established denominations far more than newer immigrant communities. ² According to Mattei Dogan, while Western Europe, especially the Scandinavian states, has recently faced a pronounced secularist trend, Eastern Europe has registered increased levels of religiosity (see Table 5.1). ³