What seems to be the dominant belief system of the people in your area?

• Cheryl in Western Alsace, France: Christianity as a tradition. Sort of a fading, historic protestant faith.
• B. in Southwestern Germany: Agnosticism for people of christian origin, Islam for the rest.
• Carolyn in Graz, Austria: None.
• Ciska in Belgium: Officialy, Catholicism is the dominant belief system (in Belgium, 70% is baptised in the Catholic Church, in the area where I live about 85 %). Most of the Catholics aren’t practising. Most people believe in something higher and that they’ll go to heaven or at least that there is something like heaven after life. They try to live a good life and largely endorse christian morals and values.
• Rosenkranz-Atelier in Luxembourg: Agnosticism and a critical distance to the catholic church.
• Rebekka in Copenhagen, Denmark: I live in an “immigrant quarter” – there are lots of Muslims, women in hijab, and so on. Other than that it’s probably atheism/could-care-less.
• Cathleen in the Netherlands: I would describe this area as culturally Catholic; with beautiful churches the center of every town. Crucifixes and statues and small shrines are everywhere, but are little more than parts of the decor. There is a beautiful crucifix not too far from where we live, but Jesus’ arm has been shattered for some time and there seems to be no one interested in repairing it. It saddens me every time I see it.
• Kmo in Western Norway: I’m not sure, but I think many people consider themselves Agnostic or Humanist. Norway is a very secular country, despite there being a state-run religion of which most are officially members. Wikipedia describes a poll that found that only 20% of Norwegians considered religion important to their lives and only 5% attended church on a weekly basis. That sounds about right based on my experience. Among teens and young adults, there is also a percentage that consider themselves Pagans or Satanists, which is closely tied to a particular musical scene (black metal). The black metal scene was linked to a number of church burnings in Norway in the 90′s, mostly of very old wooden churches that were historical landmarks (so sad!).
• Emily in East London, UK: Muslim. Although that may well be because their practice is more noticable as many women wear hijab or burkas. There are lots of Eastern European immigrants in this area, but I have seen little evidence of them in our church. As for the ‘indiginous’ population, I would say agnostic. Most British people that I know would call themselves Church of England in the same way that I tick the ‘white-British’ box on forms.
• Larissa in London, UK: Islam or atheism. As in, I live in an area with a high Muslim population but outside of that most people are atheists with some cultural Christianity whacked in for good measure.
• Catrin in South Wales, UK: Secularism mixed with general Christian secularism. Living in the Welsh Valleys people are more traditionally Christian than in other areas of the UK.
• Puffin Hen in Wales, UK: Life boils down to making and spending money, having stuff, and – at all costs – not letting anyone know you cannot afford something.
• Lauren in Manchester, England: Shopping. For devout people: Muslim, smattering of Catholics/Jehovah’s witnesses/independent Evangelicals.
• Sarah in Lancashire, UK: Apathy.
• Andrei in New Zealand: Indifference.
• Marija J. in Croatia: Cultural/lapsed Catholicism. Most people would say they believe in God, but anyone who takes the Church seriously is considered weird. The actual belief system would probably be materialism.
• Sue in Saitama, Japan (near Tokyo): Most Japanese say they don’t really have a religion, but they practice various Shinto/Buddhist customs to cover the bases. Mostly consumerism and education rule, but the high suicide rate betrays the desperation many people feel.
• RI in East Africa: A lot of people are catholic – though many are attracted by the pentecostal churches still christianity dominates.
• Erin in New South Wales, Australia: This is the country so demographically mostly Anglo-Saxon background. Many might say Christian or Catholic, but many would not practice. Also a growing number of atheists, some New Age. Shops still do close though for Good Friday and Christmas Day.
• Ana Paula in Minas Gerais, Brazil: We have faith in our blood. The atheism is rare or it is too hidden.
• An American living in China: A mixture of Buddhism/Taoism/Ancestorism. Particularly in my part of Beijing, ancestor homes and tombs (sometimes both barely amounting to a pile of dirt) are hallowed ground. Tombs are swept, cleaned off, and retamped every year on a special holiday for that occassion. Beijing Homes often bear lucky images, at a minumum the word for blessings (fu), as well as images of Buddha or Guanyin or heroic near deities from Chinese mythologized history, like Cao Cao.
• Bears2Cross in Beer Sheva, Israel: Most are Jewish in the cultural sense. They believe in God in pretty vague terms, but don’t do much to practice their faith. Sadly, they are also open to any kind of “spirituality” and don’t see any conflict between Judaism and the New Age. Interest in Eastern religions is rampant among the younger people especially.
• Maiki from Peru: Catholicism by in large. Evangelicalism is becoming more common among upper-class people, but for a long time it was seen as a populist phenomenon. Jews are also sort of common. Non-practicing Catholics are also very common.
• Sarah in Ottawa, Canada: I’d say agnostic, or culturally Christian. Secularism is all over the place.
• Anne in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: My area of Kanata, is very multicultural. There are a lot of immigrants here, and the dominant belief system seems to be shifting to probably a split between Christianity (professed and practiced) and Islam. There is a large Muslim community here in Kanata North.
• Barbara in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: West Coasters are still all about the new-age. Even Christian churches are infusing their messages and practices with “new earth consciousness” hippie BS that dilutes faith to nothing except you can pray, do yoga and have all the sex you want. However this is seen more in Vancouver and in some ways Victoria.
• Amy in New Brunswick, Canada: Oh, Christian for sure.
• Catherine in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Atheism. And Vancouverites are known to be very cynical in general, so it doesn’t help.
• Paula H. in British Columbia, Canada: Nothingism. With a little bit of new age and a lot of pot smoking thrown in. Oh, and lots of little Buddha statues in people’s gardens.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 639