Rutland Herald: 'Post-Christian Europe' landscape is changing - by Brian Murphy
'Post-Christian Europe' landscape is changing - by Brian Murphy
"Religion — for good and bad — is reasserting itself as a force in Europe," said Gerhard Robbers, a professor of political and religious studies at Germany's University of Trier. "The period of secularism is coming to an end. A new landscape is emerging."
But in the 25-nation European Union, it's a very uneven terrain, with church attendance ranging from above 50 percent of followers in Ireland and Poland to below 10 percent in Scandinavia. Several European countries fund churches through a church tax. In Germany, the state-mandated levy runs as high as 9 percent of a person's income tax, and is cited as one reason why more than 100,000 Roman Catholic and Protestants officially break ties with their churches every year.
