Religion
Religion in Estonia (2001)
No religion (70.8%) Lutheranism (13.6%) Eastern Orthodoxy (12.8%) Other religions (2.8%)According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005, 16% of Estonian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 54% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 26% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". This, according to the survey, would have made Estonians the most non-religious people in the then 25-member European Union. A survey conducted in 2006–2008 by Gallup showed that 14% of Estonians answered positively to the question: "Is religion an important part of your daily life?", which was the lowest among 143 countries polled.
Less than a third of the population define themselves as believers; of those, the majority are Lutheran, whereas the Russian minority is Eastern Orthodox. Ancient equinoctial traditions (like St John's Day) are held in high regard. In 2000, according to the census, 29.2% of the population considered themselves to be related to any religion, thereof:
- 13.6% Lutheran Christians
- 12.8% Orthodox Christians
- 6,009 Baptists
- 5,745 Roman Catholics
- 4,254 Jehovah's Witnesses
- 2,648 Pentecostals
- 2,515 Old Believers (Schismatic Orthodox Christians)
- 1,561 Adventists
- 1,455 Methodists
- 1,387 Muslims
- 5,008 followers of other religions
There are also a number of smaller Protestant, Jewish, and Buddhist groups. The organisation Maavalla Koda unites adherents of animist traditional religions.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Estonia
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“Is there any religion but this, to know, that, wherever in the wide desert of being, the holy sentiment we cherish has opened into a flower, it blooms for me? If none sees it, I see it; I am aware, if I alone, of the greatness of the fact. Whilst it blooms, I will keep sabbath or holy time, and suspend my gloom, and my folly and jokes.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“As for Hitler, his professed religion unhesitatingly juxtaposed the God-Providence and Valhalla. Actually his god was an argument at a political meeting and a manner of reaching an impressive climax at the end of speeches.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Magic is the envelopment and coercion of the objective world by the ego; it is a dynamic subjectivism. Religion is the coercion of the ego by gods and spirits who are objectively conceived beings in control of nature and man.”
—Richard Chase (b. 1914)