Do Eastern European countries do a better job of staying faithful?

[Renarax]

I ask in this section because most eastern European countries are orthodox.
A trip to Romania is all you need, to get what I’m talking about. The people are generally good natured, don’t hesitate to talk about god like anywhere, and most important- the churches are packed.
Why has the western world evolved so differently than the east apart from religion? Is it the culture, the media, ease of life?
Why has Christianity diminished in the west but stayed strong in the east. Does the orthodox church have a hand in immersing Christianity in their cultures?

 

[Randy_Carson]

I ask in this section because most eastern European countries are orthodox.
A trip to Romania is all you need, to get what I’m talking about. The people are generally good natured, don’t hesitate to talk about god like anywhere, and most important- the churches are packed.
Why has the western world evolved so differently than the east apart from religion? Is it the culture, the media, ease of life?
Why has Christianity diminished in the west but stayed strong in the east. Does the orthodox church have a hand in immersing Christianity in their cultures?

Yes, and the reason is persecution. To be a Christian in some places is costly possibly to the point of death. That tends to weed out the lukewarm, agreed?

In the west, where people are largely comfortable in this life, thinking about a better life to come doesn’t seem to make much inroads into our consciousness. Attending church a couple of times a year (Christmas and Easter) becomes a family tradition - like attending a football game or a concert or going on the annual hunting trip with Grandpa. Church is something you do, not who you are.

In countries where life is hard, the longing for a better life to come is more natural, and people who are willing to take the risk to attend their churches understand how desperately they need to be there.

IMO, anyway.

 

[boar2roar]

Its more to do with them being less influenced by western liberalism so they are overall more conservative but it doesn’t necessarily translate to begin more religious in all cases. Czechs, Belarusians for example are some of the least religious places in the world. Some like Russians are kind of in the middle with a large lapsed/cultural population. Romania is probably on the more religious side but in my personal experience the Romanians I met weren’t ready to die for their faith exactly. They all converted to Pentecostalism and all went to a church that they established for Romanians. Eastern Europeans aren’t necessarily orthodox with poles slovaks, Croatians being very catholic. Catholic poles could compete with any orthodox country in terms of devoutness while others like the Czechs abandoned it.