ABSTRACT
On the societal level, the Catholic church is very visible in Belgium. Although more than one religion is financially supported by the Belgian state, the overwhelming amount of tax money goes to the Catholic church. Catholic churches make up the skylines of the cities, and in the villages they line up alongside the town halls on the main squares. The differences in external behavior –church membership and church practice –had almost disappeared. All other traditional social variables –such as level of education, income, social class, home ownership and urbanization –had no impact or only an incidental impact. Some people might, of course, object that my analysis is based only on church attendance, and that beliefs and ethical practices are more important in evaluating the religiosity and church involvement of individuals. The church largely lost its social functions during the secularization process which also compartmentalized the individual's Lebenswelt and resulted in the marginalization of religion in private life.
