Status of Recognized Denominations
Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5.4% in Flanders compared to 12.7% in 1998. For the total of Belgium, Sunday church attendance was 5% in 2009 and 11.2% for the total of Belgium in 1998. Despite a 6% drop in Sunday church attendance from 11 to 5% in 9 years, Catholicism nevertheless remains an important force in Belgian society.
Until 1998, the Roman Catholic Church annually published key figures such as Sunday mass attendance and the number of baptized children. (Refer to the table for an overview 1967 - 2009.) In 2006, the church published the mass attendance figure for the Christmas period being 11.5%, and 7% average weekly (note not only Sunday) mass attendance for the Flanders region. Since 2000, Sunday church attendance in Flanders drops by 0.5% on a yearly basis whereas this rate of decrease was previously 1%.
The second largest religion practiced in Belgium is Islam (6%). There are also small minorities of Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and Jews. Belgian law officially recognizes those denominations, as well as the secular organizations (Dutch: vrijzinnige levensbeschouwelijke organisaties, French: organisations laïques). Buddhism is in the process of being recognized under the secular organization standard. Official recognition means that priests (called "counsellors" within the secular organizations) receive a state stipend, and that parents can choose any recognized denomination to provide religious education to their children if they attend a state school.
After attaining autonomy from the federal state level in religious matters, the Flemish Parliament voted a new Flemish regional decree on recognized religious denominations, installing democratically elected church councils for all recognized religious denominations and made them subject to the same administrative rules as local government bodies - with important repercussions as far as financial accounting and open government are concerned. In 2006, however, the Catholic bishops still appointed candidates to the Catholic Church councils because they had not decided on the criteria for eligibility. That is, they were afraid that Catholic candidates who might get elected would be merely baptized Catholics. By 2008, however, the bishops decided that candidates for the election of the church councils had only to prove that they were over 18, a member of the parish church serving the town or village in which they were residents, and that they were baptized Catholic. Thus normal elections took place.
Jainism, Hinduism and Sikhism also have growing numbers of adherents in Belgium, but are not recognized by the government. This does not deny them the right to practice their religion, merely the right to have government-style elections and regulations on them.
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,
- 43% of Belgian citizens responded that they believe there is a God.
- 29% answered that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life-force.
- 27% answered that they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life-force.
The precise figures are in dispute; however, among some committed people, as it is unclear how many Belgians who say they believe in a God can still be called Christians and how many who call themselves "Christian," but refuse the label "Catholic," have severed all links to the Roman Catholic Church. Possibly Catholic pastors keep records of this, but they are unknown. Also in dispute are how many Catholic Belgians have become deists or have joined one of the several small Protestant churches. Again, it would be up to the respective churches to determine this data.
| Catholics in Belgium |
||||||||||
| year | Sunday Mass Attendance (%) | baptism (%) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 42.9% | 93.6% | ||||||||
| 1973 | 32.3% | 89.3% | ||||||||
| 1980 | 26.7% | 82.4% | ||||||||
| 1985 | 22.0% | - | ||||||||
| 1990 | 17.9% | 75.0% | ||||||||
| 1995 | 13.1% | - | ||||||||
| 1998 | 11.2% | 64.7% | ||||||||
| 2006 | 7% weekly Flanders only | 56.8% | ||||||||
| 2009 | 5% | |||||||||
Read more about this topic: Religion In Belgium
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