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Least Religious Countries
When you travel to Europe, don't be surprised to find that many Europeans don't believe in God. I have even witnessed some alcohol-infused conversations between Americans and Europeans that almost ended in fistfights over His/Her existence. When you travel to the following countries, you might want to pick a less controversial topic of conversation ... umm, maybe George W?Here are the Top 10 least religious countries in the world:
1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia (up to 49% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
The one that surprised me was Israel, ranking 19th, with up to 37% claiming to be non-believer, atheist, agnostic. Compare that with the United States, ranking 44th, with 3-9% non-believers, atheists, agnostics. (I think I have met them all on the streets of New York City, too.)
The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world -- particularly nations with high birth rates -- atheism is barely discernable."
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
Mike G Aug 23rd 2007 2:10PM
Does the survey also make the connection that high levels of organic atheism are also strongly correlated with high levels of suicide in those Nordic countries?
john May 25th 2008 2:32PM
correlated with suicide ? lets see your research and proof buddy. people who choose not to follow religion actually have common sense. if you want to believe in a fairy tale thats your choice.
a guy from Estonia Jun 7th 2008 3:54PM
actually, Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in the hole world. Lithuania is the most religious country of the baltic states, Estonia and Latvia have high suicide rates too, but that's because of our depressive history.
Especially estonians who are just cold people. (kinda like the finns but more depressed :P )
Jurek Dec 29th 2008 7:25AM
I'd say Poland is much more religious than Lithuania, about 94% of Poles said they believe in a God.
In Europe, id say Malta is the most religious country, 98% of the island is roman catholic
Brandon Mar 9th 2009 10:36AM
The High Rate of Suicide in the nordic countrys is because of the extremes with the amount of sun they get. In the summer the sun sets at 2am and rises at 6am in the winter the sun sets at noon and rises at 7am ish. its not becuase of Organic Atheism. Dont Make Assumptions that you have no proof for.
william Mar 10th 2009 6:04AM
please read,with great care.exodus ch 19:9-11,God spoke from the sky,to 2-3 million eyewitnesses,believe in moses forever.exodus ch 12:37-38,,,600,000,men,equal women,equal kids v 38,,,,,,1,800,000 people were eyewitnesses,GOD told moses what to teach from the sky,GOD tells you what to believe from the sky,to eyewitnesses.exodus ch 20:19-22.God spoke from the sky'JESUS is Gods son,listen to JESUS' to eyewitnesses.mathew ch 17,mark ch 9,luke ch 9:28-36,2peter ch1:16-18.it happens twice,its recorded 6 times in new testament.GOD never spoke from sky,listen to buddha,muhammed,or hare krishna,or wicca.this is not a theory,from experiments,that keep changing theorys.not a hypothesis,or opinion,nor educated guess,this is recorded by eyewitnesses as history,better than all other history recorded on earth.
Iva Skoch Aug 23rd 2007 2:45PM
Somewhat true, although according to the World Health Organization data, the suicide rates in the US are basically the same as those in Norway. Russia, Belarus and Sri Lanka have the highest suicide rates.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/index.html
xn Dec 12th 2008 7:59PM
I think his point is that one can correlate a lot of things, but not find causation. All of those nations (except France) admit of strong ethnic homogeneity. One could also correlate that statistic with Atheism. We tend to add causation to correlation when it suits our purposes.
Erik Aug 23rd 2007 4:41PM
I would also assume that high levels of organic atheism are also highly correlated with low levels of delusional belief in ancient myths.
DUnkyHazard Feb 27th 2009 10:36AM
Hhahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahhaha.
Rooz Mar 9th 2009 6:35PM
Huh???
Atheism means you're smarter. Smarter than YOU, definitely.
Rooz Mar 9th 2009 6:40PM
Oops, sorry Erik I sped through what you wrote. :D I agree!
emarinski Apr 22nd 2009 1:17PM
Erik - To say that high levels of organic atheism are also highly correlated with low levels of delusional belief in ancient myths, is somewhat disingenuous. To round out that statement, you should have also stated that high levels of atheism also yield far higher percentages of those that believe in other secular faith based phenomenon such as the current fear of "Global Warming" which is disproportionately believed by those that do not believe in God. When you use words such as "delusional" and "myths" to describe Judeo Christian beliefs it tells me, and others like me, that you're not prepared to have an intellectually honest discussion about the subject. As humans we all have been given the ability to believe in something that we can provide proof for or see with our own eyes. Religion is one of the most basic social structures that has been evidenced in every human society for thousands of years. When people suppress it in one form, as atheism does, it almost always re-emerges in other forms such as the desire for large paternalistic governments practicing socialism, or most currently the secular's embrace of environmentalism and the appearance of reverence to "mother earth" (eg. Global Warming). G.K. Chesterton, the famous 20th century writer, philosopher, and poet said "When people stop believing in God they don't belive in nothing, they believe in anything".
Eric Aug 23rd 2007 8:25PM
@Mike G
Ignorance is bliss.
Zeekstah Aug 23rd 2007 8:32PM
Also take note that almost all of Japanese people are still Shinto, they may not practice it often but a considerable amount of the population still visits Shinto shrines during new years
Martin Aug 23rd 2007 8:36PM
I'm Swedish and I can say that most swedes don't believe in an Christian god. However this doesn't mean that they totally reject spirituality of all kind. I my self believe that all higher organized religions have been corrupted by the years, but I do not reject things like for example "life" after death. True atheist are very depressive types and really don't care about much here in life (which this article fails to mention).
Ted Jan 6th 2008 12:06AM
I would highly recommend the book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. You have to really concentrate because it is deep but it is real good read especially for an agnostic or athiest.
concrete Mar 5th 2008 4:18AM
i am a true atheist, and i feel that life is awesome!
i don't need no god to tell me how to live, i am independent, and proud of it.
also, i am a swede, and i was very happy to see that we are one of the most religously independent countries in the world (almost makes me a tad nationalistic)
viktor Apr 6th 2008 6:48PM
i must agree with you. i'm of part-swedish descent and have had the pleasure of travelling to sweden. i did not find that swedes are atheists like a lot of americans think. i just think they are highly civilized people who don't feel the need to mention god's name every five seconds, wear harvest crusade t-shirts, or have bumper stickers like real men know god. a lot of americans have the misconception that should a country or nationality not be so religious, they should be called godless. but when in reality, less religion results in less unrest between people. christian fanatics always claim that the answer to all their problems is god and religious devotion to even the point of fanaticism. that is why we have incidents like waco, texas, jim jones, money hungry tv evangelists, countless catholic priests molesting boys, kkk neo-nazi christian right wingers and their violence against ethnic minorities, gays and jews. this sort of thing doesn't happen often in sweden, a "godless nation".
Keith Nov 19th 2008 5:08PM
"True atheist are very depressive types and really don't care about much here in life (which this article fails to mention)."
Actually, because of the lack of belief in an afterlife, we find the one life we are going to live to be much more valuable. Why would you value your life if you thought you were going to live forever in paradise once you die? If you believe that why won't you just go kill yourself or live really dangerously?
That'd do the world a favour, thanks.