A global report deciphers trends

How to explain the movement of religious disaffiliation which seems to operate today in dozens of countries – however culturally very different? What new forms of emerging spirituality, to fill the decline of traditional confessions with new generations? So many questions that reflect on reading the report of the American Research Institute Pew Research Center, decrypting religion changes across the planet.

With 80,000 responses (1) from 36 countries – in North America, Asia, Europe … -, this unprecedented survey designates by “Religious change” Any passage from one religious identity of childhood to another in adulthood, including the complete abandonment of any religious affiliation. Notable, she reveals that “Christianity and Buddhism undergo the most important losses while the number of adults without religious affiliation increases significantly”insist Kirsten Lesage, Kelsey Jo Starr and William Miner, the three researchers who worked on the report.

A general movement of “disaffiliation”

The results thus show that, in many countries – in a rather high level of living – from East Asia, Western Europe and the Americas, more than 20 % of adults have changed religious affiliation since childhood. At the top of the list, South Korea holds the record with almost 50 % of the population sample concerned. Another notable data, according to the report, nearly 51 % of South Korean respondents raised in the Christian faith (without specifying the confessions) are still saying Christians-against 49 % having moved away from it. Conversely, 9 % of the South Koreans originally atheists claim today from a particular religion.

Next comes Spain, where 87 % of adults who participated in the survey say they were educated in Christianity, while they are only 54 % of the entire national sample to recognize themselves as Christians. “The phenomenon of disaffiliation, that is to say the people raised in a religious tradition but who no longer claim any today, represents the majority of the changes observed”, corroborates the study.

In countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands, around 30 % of the total population has left Christianity. Across the Rhine, a rocking appears striking: for each person who becomes Christian, nearly 20 others would abandon Christianity.

What about in France? The country is no exception to this global trend. The study reveals that 34 % of French people questioned have changed religious affiliation since childhood, a large majority in the sense of disaffiliation. “In France, we observe that 35 % of adults who have been raised in the Christian tradition now identify as atheists, agnostics or without any particular religion”, Analysis the document.

If 67 % of respondents say they grew up in Christianity, there are only 41 % to declare themselves as Christians today. The increase in the number of catechumens, observed for a few years in Catholicism, as well as the rise of evangelical communities, would therefore not compensate, to believe the data of the study, the phenomenon of secularization.

The report finally highlights several preponderant factors in change of religion, such as the age or level of education of respondents. “In several Western countries, including France, young adults are more likely to have left their childhood religion than older generations”, notes the investigation. In addition, in twelve of the 36 countries studied, people with a higher education level have higher rates of religious change.

Exceptions

If the phenomenon of disaffiliation dominates globally, some countries resist this trend. For Christians, figures vary considerably. In the Philippines, Hungary and Nigeria, 95 % or more of adults raised in Christianity always present themselves as Christians.

In addition, the report reveals that certain religions maintain particularly high affiliation rates. “Islam (In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Tunisia and Turkey, editor’s note) and Hinduism (India, Bangladesh …) generally retain more than 90 % of their faithful in most countries studied ”support the report. In the United States, Islam records the highest conversion rate: 20 % of American Muslims say they have been raised in another religion.