Religion is becoming less important in people’s private lives in Switzerland, even among tax-paying members of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, two-thirds of whom are described by researchers as “distanced”.
Five years of research into religion in society, comprising 28 projects, has revealed that not only are the main established churches haemorrhaging members, most of those who stay within the fold have at most a superficial attachment to the church.
The phenomenon of keeping religion at arms’ length was studied by sociologist Jörg Stolz of Lausanne University.
“More than 60 per cent of the population can be counted in that distanced group. It’s a group who say ‘I am Catholic but …’ or ‘I am Protestant but …’. There is always a ‘but’, they will say ‘I’m not practising’ or ‘it’s not the most important thing in my life’,” he told swissinfo.ch.
“This group also distances itself from a complete atheism,” Stolz said. They believe in a higher power but have not made up their minds what form it takes.
“It’s a large group, not just in Switzerland but in most other Western countries,” he added. Full story...
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Five years of research into religion in society, comprising 28 projects, has revealed that not only are the main established churches haemorrhaging members, most of those who stay within the fold have at most a superficial attachment to the church.
The phenomenon of keeping religion at arms’ length was studied by sociologist Jörg Stolz of Lausanne University.
“More than 60 per cent of the population can be counted in that distanced group. It’s a group who say ‘I am Catholic but …’ or ‘I am Protestant but …’. There is always a ‘but’, they will say ‘I’m not practising’ or ‘it’s not the most important thing in my life’,” he told swissinfo.ch.
“This group also distances itself from a complete atheism,” Stolz said. They believe in a higher power but have not made up their minds what form it takes.
“It’s a large group, not just in Switzerland but in most other Western countries,” he added. Full story...
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