Religion in The Western World Today
The "Western world" taken as consisting of Europe, North America and Australia-New Zealand remains predominantly Christian: 78.5% in the USA (2002), 77% in Canada (2001), close to 80% in Europe (includes Eastern Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe, not properly part of "Western religion", 32.4% of Europeans are Roman Catholic, 16.2% are Protestant) and 64% in Australia (2006).
The second largest religions in all these regions are smaller by at least an order of magnitude, Islam in Europe with about 4%, Islam in Canada with about 2%, Judaism in the United States with about 1.7%, and Islam in Australia with about 1.7%.
Most non-Christians in the Western world are irreligious, 30% in Australia, 18% in Europe, 16.1% in the USA and 16% in Canada. This is a reflection of the tradition of secular humanism which culminated in the 18th century "Age of Enlightenment" and which allowed the great progress in science and technology which accompanied the "European miracle".
Throughout the Western world paganism is becoming increasingly popular. This may come in the form of attempting to revive the indigenous religions of Europe, such as Germanic, Roman, Hellenic, Celtic and Slavic, polytheistic reconstructionism, likewise, Wicca, new age spirituality and other neo-pagan belief systems enjoy notable minority support in Western nations.
There remains a minority of the order of 5% of the population in the Western world which adheres to non-Western religions, mostly due to recent immigration, but to some extent also due to proselytization, notably conversion to various sects of Buddhism and Hinduism in the context of the New Age movement in the later part of the 20th century.
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Famous quotes containing the words religion, western, world and/or today:
“Religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he “lives” his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy.”
—George Gurdjieff (c. 1877–1949)
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