What is it like to be religious in Europe?

[KathleenGee]

Very interesting reading…I was in Europe in the mid 70’s, Amsterdam, Hannover/Braunschweig, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal. I spent the most time in Portugal and Italy, and found the people from the southern regions oftentimes more religious.

Ireland is in such a great need of healing and spiritual regeneration.

I have had crises in my life…some of them just being lukewarm and really praying to get a stronger faith…

Just this morning I was thinking of how to best ID American Christianity, and think the most public form is mostly evangelical/fundamentalist Christian. It seems whenever there is some calamity of nature, etc., the funerals we see on TV are most often at Catholic churches. Or if somebody needs to be rid of the devil you go to a priest.

I truly believe that people, no matter their faith, hold on to the value of human life and gratitude for all that God gives us, these people will continue on through future generations.

 

[Aboveallbereal]

around 10% of swedes see themself as chistian,around 50% are agnostic and rest are atheist.Church attendance is very low,

churches are closing down …one church in my town is becoming a shopping center…

Even among that 10% attendance will be ow won’t it? My Norwegian friends ( I lived in Norway not Sweden ) regard my catholicism in particular and Christianity in general as a curious and slightly arty thing foreigners engage in. One family I know decided to come to Christmas mass ( nice cultural thing to do ) and I squirmed slightly as my friends who are in all likelihood profoundly agnostic de facto atheist nominal Lutherans went to communion without the slightest knowledge of what it means but they would not have seen any issue…it simply didn’t matter to them and they wanted to have the whole experience. They meant no offence at all.

 

[Aboveallbereal]

Very interesting reading…I was in Europe in the mid 70’s, Amsterdam, Hannover/Braunschweig, Switzerland, Italy and Portugal. I spent the most time in Portugal and Italy, and found the people from the southern regions oftentimes more religious.

Ireland is in such a great need of healing and spiritual regeneration.

I have had crises in my life…some of them just being lukewarm and really praying to get a stronger faith…

Just this morning I was thinking of how to best ID American Christianity, and think the most public form is mostly evangelical/fundamentalist Christian. It seems whenever there is some calamity of nature, etc., the funerals we see on TV are most often at Catholic churches. Or if somebody needs to be rid of the devil you go to a priest.

I truly believe that people, no matter their faith, hold on to the value of human life and gratitude for all that God gives us, these people will continue on through future generations.

I live in Ireland. Where I work you simply would not believe how utterly reviled the church is. Many of my colleagues detest the Church. I do not exaggerate one bit. The Church is loathed and it is not just the sex scandals…children have been abused in Protestant institutions as well but this received little coverage since there was no market for it and we know from Romania that atheists don’t guarantee no abuse.

In most formerly catholic nations like Spain and France ( neither now Catholic in any but the most superficial sense even if that )the Church has been relegated to a privatised niche and is regarded with a kind of bemused tolerance but in places like Ireland where the kulturkamph is more recent and the Church’s defeat still warm in the memory She is hated much more than Islam. It will take the passing muy my generation before the dust settles and majority atheist/agnostic secularism learns to accept the presence of a smaller humbler Church.

 

[KathleenGee]

I had Irish nuns and lived in an Italian immigrant neighborhood. Vatican II cleaned up unhealthy spirituality big time in the USA where it began to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and we are now regaining balance. Their school was in a big building, but it shut down and nobody has wanted to use it since. Elsewhere the parochial schools are doing well.

There are a number of people I have met over the years that consider the Irish among the blessed on earth…a sorrowing people at that, but pure and good…

Remember that…keep you all in prayers…

 

[Aboveallbereal]

I had Irish nuns and lived in an Italian immigrant neighborhood. Vatican II cleaned up unhealthy spirituality big time in the USA where it began to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and we are now regaining balance. Their school was in a big building, but it shut down and nobody has wanted to use it since. Elsewhere the parochial schools are doing well.

There are a number of people I have met over the years that consider the Irish among the blessed on earth…a sorrowing people at that, but pure and good…

Remember that…keep you all in prayers…

Thank you Kathleen. For centuries the Irish Church carried so much on its back evangelising the world but now she needs the support and good will of people in places touched by Irish Christianity…which is to say everywhere. The teacher is in need of help and the prayers of her pupils.

 

[KathleenGee]

I went out to work on my roses before the weather really begins to change, and was thinking of your comments…

The Irish have a great faith in Christ, and it was personified in the Church, its priests and nuns. The Irish have very devout and believing, sensitive souls…

The Irish WANT to believe in God, someone higher than this earth…they are spiritual people…blessed people.

They believed in priests and nuns too much…we entrust ourselves to the guidance and nurturance of the Church, but only that.

Entrustment issues…a term coined by American Filipinos immigrating here who are dynamic and doing great things here…their response to the laity and clergy abuse.

CC150. Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to His truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.

And for the Irish, return to Christ, come back to your faith but do not put your trust in men…including the priesthood…A priest told me here priests do not want to be put on pedestals…

An Irish American priest who was born in the same town as I, after ordination became the chaplain for the city orphans. Then he was made a pastor across town. He started a grade school and wanted it for everyone; we had the cheapest tuition. He had Mass every day and school would start after Mass; no one was ever forced. He would take each class to confession every two months. Our school ended up being number one academically in the archdiocese. He was very much loved by the students. He used to say alot of jokes and do silly things in the classroom with the kids. He told the adults to do as he said, but not do what he did. You Irish would have been very proud of him. A real person.

My advice to the Irish is this piece from our universal catechism:
Catholic Catechism 169: ‘Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life – through – the Church, she is our mother: “We believe the Church is the mother of our new birth, and NOT IN THE CHURCH as if she were the author of our salvation.”…’ Faustus of Riez, De Spiritu Sancto 1, 2: PL 62, 11. My caps…

CC161…Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. “Since ‘without faith it is impossible to please God’ and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore wtihout faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life, ‘but he who endures to the end.’”

 

[Vixit]

What is it like to be religious in Europe? I’m sure VERY LONELY. It’s a very secularized, socialist continent for the most part. They’ve had a relaxed morality for hundreds of years in many parts, haven’t had a sense of religion in years, and they put their faith, as another poster stated, more in government as a solution to solve most of their problems. They’re very much into humanism, if it feels good do it, and they tend to be libertine in many issues. Drinking for the underage, free sex, nudity, mistresses, and even pedophilia in some parts are all not a big deal to Euros. I thank God my ancestors, though they were Calvinist hard-cores, came to Massachusetts on the Mayflower and left Europe. When I hear left wing liberal Democrats talk up how we need to be like Europe, my big obvious question is…why? Didn’t we leave it for a reason?

I know Pope Benedict stated right off the bat in his pontificate that he wanted to re-Christianize Europe. So far I’ve seen little of that. And this Irish pedophile cover-up isn’t going to help any. I wish him luck, though!! Anything is possible with the Lord.

That’s odd, when I was in Europe, I was amazed at how many people woke early every Sunday, put on their Sunday best (and I mean absolute best), and went to Mass. More than where I live. Although, something tells me many of the people who have so many negative things to say about Europe, have never actually been there.

 

[Vixit]

True, American Catholics are MUCH more holy than European Catholics. Which would explain why we keep all ten holy days of obligation, unlike them. No special rules for us! Also, our divorce rate is certainly much lower than theirs. Church attendance must be higher here than there. I mean, yes they have a lot of atheists, but the actual Catholics are probably pretty lax, too. I’m sure a higher percentage of American Catholics attend Mass regularly than their European counterparts.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I have opinions about Iraq, North Korea, and all sorts of places I haven’t visited. I have opinions about abortion and I’ve never given birth. I have opinions about asbestos but I’ve never worked around it. What’s your point?

There’s lots of things I haven’t seen or done. In the year 2010 I still haven’t seen “Titanic.” I’m dang proud of that! Never seen “Twighlight” and have never been drunk before, never have worn a kilt. There’s a lot I could list…

That’s odd, when I was in Europe, I was amazed at how many people woke early every Sunday, put on their Sunday best (and I mean absolute best), and went to Mass. More than where I live. Although, something tells me many of the people who have so many negative things to say about Europe, have never actually been there.

 

[Vixit]

I have opinions about Iraq, North Korea, and all sorts of places I haven’t visited. I have opinions about abortion and I’ve never given birth. I have opinions about asbestos but I’ve never worked around it. What’s your point?

There’s lots of things I haven’t seen or done. In the year 2010 I still haven’t seen “Titanic.” I’m dang proud of that! Never seen “Twighlight” and have never been drunk before, never have worn a kilt. There’s a lot I could list…

If you haven’t seen Titanic, you probably wouldn’t say “Leonardo DiCaprio gave a somewhat unconvincing performance in Titanic.” Yet,

It’s a very secularized, socialist continent for the most part. They’ve had a relaxed morality for hundreds of years in many parts, haven’t had a sense of religion in years, and they put their faith, as another poster stated, more in government as a solution to solve most of their problems. They’re very much into humanism, if it feels good do it, and they tend to be libertine in many issues. Drinking for the underage, free sex, nudity, mistresses, and even pedophilia in some parts are all not a big deal to Euros.

sounds a lot like a statement of fact from someone who has, say, lived in amsterdam for the last decade. That’s all I’m saying, and with no intent to offend.

 

[Scaun]

I live in Spain. It’s going well for me at the moment.

 

[Happy_B]

True, American Catholics are MUCH more holy than European Catholics. Which would explain why we keep all ten holy days of obligation, unlike them. No special rules for us! Also, our divorce rate is certainly much lower than theirs. Church attendance must be higher here than there. I mean, yes they have a lot of atheists, but the actual Catholics are probably pretty lax, too. I’m sure a higher percentage of American Catholics attend Mass regularly than their European counterparts.

If you’re talking about the western Europe, than perhaps you’re right. But I wouldn’t say so about the eastern Europe where people are still deeply religious, not only keeping the holy days of obligation, but also fasting on Fridays and Wednesdays, keeping Sunday for rest, making a sign of cross when passing the church and having 2 childrens and 2 young adults masses each week and generally keeping the tradition of confessing before the first Friday of the month…I could go on…

 

[Being_Brave]

Atheism isn’t the only thing going on there. Islam is getting bigger as we speak. It is spreading like wildfire. Muammar gaddafi said " We(Islam) will take over the world but not with weapons but thru the womb".

“…thru the womb.” just sounds creepy…

The only thing coming out of MY womb will be little Catholic babies!!

 

[Frost]

Europe seems to have a pretty high Atheist/Agnostic population.

According to adherents.com, 88% of people from East Germany, 65% Sweden, 61% Denmark, 51% Norway, 57% Czech Republic, 44% Finland, 48% France, 49% Estonia, 36% Russia, 36% Hungary, 42% Belgium, 37% Bulgaria, and 36% Slovenia are Atheist, Agnostic, or do have a belief in God. There were some other European countries but they had more like 20% Atheists/Agnostic population. I’m focusing on Europe because they have freedom of religion perhaps certain Asian or Communist countries (i.e Cuba, North Korea) do not have, religious people there have to be underground and wouldn’t admit their belief in God so I suspect the European stats are accurate.

Anyway, I was wondering for any Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, Deists, Jews, etc. out there living in Europe or have lived there, what’s it like? I can’t imagine living in East Germany where only 12% of the population share belief in God.

Living in Norway is quite good, actually. Ca 85% of the population are members of the Norwegian church and baptise their children. But people are religiously shy, they need an excuse to go to church (for instance baptism). They also lack knowledge, and therefore Christians need to have extensive training in order to explain the faith.

In addition, most people are fed up with loud Christians “showing off”. Therefore, many who actually believe will not label themselves “Christians” but say that they still have their “childrens faith”.

Genererally, people are very open when it comes to the main rituals in life. At the same time they are prejudice, for instance they “all” say: “All clergy are bad, but our local minister is a good exception!”

It is mostly a cultural issue, but it is becoming more serious nowadays. Earlier people had the knowledge, but lacked confidence. Now the young are lacking both, and with that they are really loosing the faith. What we need is to educate people and give them religious confidence.

Also I understand for instance in Sweden, abortion is legal and there is no debate on it’s legality or morality, is it like that in other places in Europe as well?

There are no debate on the legality, but there are debate on the morality, at least in Norway.

 

[bosnian_muslim]

Also I understand for instance in Sweden, abortion is legal and there is no debate on it’s legality or morality, is it like that in other places in Europe as well?

Yes its true,most people believe it is the womans body and her descision…to say anything else is not very popular

most religions are for abortion ,the only one that is against is the catholic church…but all the scandals(around children,young boys) has given them no right to speak in the eyes of people

 

[Justin1982]

I volunteer with the Legion of Mary at my parish and we seek to welcome those in the neighborhood back to the Church. Many fallen away Catholics in the area that see us on their doorstep at least give it a thought a good percentage actually start attending again and it shows at all the Masses. Anyway my point is that if nobody actually takes to the time to seek those who are away from the Church they normally aren’t just going to break down the door one day. The Apostles went into gentile lands to spread the Word of God, it’s up to us to do the same if we are who we say we are.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

One thing I notice is that many folks in here call themselves “European” or say simply nothing in their location/origin. I wonder why one doesn’t simply say German, Irish, British, etc.? Canadians, Americans, etc. always identify but the folks from Europe tend to just say “European?” Curious?

Well as the thread seems to be about bashing Europeans we’re going to identify ourselves as European. If you were bashing a particular country then you might find people responding and naming their particular country.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

In general there seems to be a warped view on here of Europe. Socialism seems to be linked to marxism and communism. Most democratic countries in Europe have democratic socialism. This is linked in with having a welfare state. I don’t think you can link that directly to higher taxation. Australians are one of the highest taxed people but they don’t have any welfare state like many European countries. If you lived in Europe you wouldn’t see a mass take over of the continent by Muslims unless you are a racist bigot. It seems to me that a similar view was taken of the Jews in the 1930’s and we all know what that led too. I don’t quite see how the US takes the moral high ground. Organised crime in the US is at the same or a higher level than in Europe, the US has a higher murder rate. Abortions are legal in the US. Most European countries have abolished the death penalty while many Americans seem to support it (thou shalt not kill?). What about what goes on at Guantanamo Bay? Gangs don’t seem to as big a problem in Europe as the US. Certain sections of American society were well known to support Irish terrorists and financed them, very Christian! I don’t see how having welfare state leads to atheism in fact its consonant with Christian social responsibility. I think a big difference in Europe is that politicians don’t go on about the faith in the same when American politicians do. There seems to be a big anti-European feeling in the US which is based on misconception rather than any real knowledge of what it’s like in Europe.

 

[Windfish]

Interesting. Here are some questions:

1. Let’s say I wanted to evangelize in England, door-to-door type stuff. Is this even allowed? Or thought of? I wonder what the reaction would be. Some of you have said that religion is tolerated so long as it is kept to yourself. What do you mean by that? Do people get confrontational?
2. What’s with France? I’ve seen statistics which show the overwhelming majority to be Catholic - are the only Catholic in name only? Why retain the label “Catholic,” then?
3. What are you guys doing about this situation? Pope Benedict is calling for a new evangelization? Are you guys doing your part?

 

[Happy_B]

Interesting. Here are some questions:

1. Let’s say I wanted to evangelize in England, door-to-door type stuff. Is this even allowed? Or thought of? I wonder what the reaction would be. Some of you have said that religion is tolerated so long as it is kept to yourself. What do you mean by that? Do people get confrontational?

Jehowa’s witnesses are doing it but no one is taking them seriously. People would feel you’re crazy and would shut the door on you. There are the odd people shouting on the streets preaching the gospel (they sort of look angry), warning people about the end times approaching and warning about hell…some do it on the bus…NO ONE cares about them, everyone ignores them with headphones on their ears. In London you can do whatever you want, people just don’t care!

1. What’s with France? I’ve seen statistics which show the overwhelming majority to be Catholic - are the only Catholic in name only? Why retain the label “Catholic,” then?

France is turning heavily secular, they now have problems with muslims.

1. What are you guys doing about this situation? Pope Benedict is calling for a new evangelization? Are you guys doing your part?

Last week’s pope’s visit was a great success, any protests were totally unnoticed compared to the masses of people who attended the gatherings for pope. I was amongst 300.000 people in Hyde park, it was just amazing! Catholics in England are ‘hidden’, many don’t speak about their faith at all, are shy and hyde it. The most catholics are old people or young families with little children. Young catholic generation is mostly made up from foreign students and workers from Europe (mainly Poland). I personally think the catholicism in England is in danger where churches don’t do much abot retaining and attracting the youth compared to Europe. Everyone thinks here that the catholic faith is outdated, old fashioned, the priests and vatican heavily rich and that the priests abuse children. This youth will have children in 10 years and who is going to teach them the faith? If not the family, then hardly anyone else! It’s sad!