Vatican Basilica, Rome. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)
Vatican Basilica, Rome. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)

Most Christians in Western Europe today are non-practicing, but Christian identity nevertheless remains a meaningful religious, social and cultural marker, according to a new Pew Research Eye survey of xv countries in Western Europe. In addition to religious beliefs and practices, the survey explores respondents' views on clearing, national identity and pluralism, and how religion is intertwined with attitudes on these issues.

Here are ten key findings from the new survey:

1 Secularization is widespread in Western Europe, simply well-nigh people in the region still place as Christian. Rise shares of adults in Western Europe depict themselves every bit religiously unaffiliated, and about half or more in several countries say they are neither religious nor spiritual. Still, when asked, "What is your nowadays religion, if whatever?" and given a list of options, most people identify as Christian, including 71% in Germany and 64% in France.

2 Even though most people place every bit Christian in the region, few regularly attend church. In every country except Italy, non-practicing Christians (that is, those who attend church building no more than a few times a year) outnumber church-attending Christians (those who attend church building weekly or monthly). In the UK, for example, there are three times as many non-practicing Christians (55%) as practicing Christians (18%). Not-practicing Christians besides outnumber religiously unaffiliated adults in near countries surveyed.

three Christians in Western Europe, including not-practicing Christians, believe in a higher ability. Although many not-practicing Christians say they practise not believe in God "equally described in the Bible," they do tend to believe in another higher power or spiritual force in the universe. By contrast, most church-attention Christians say they believe in God equally depicted in the Bible. And religiously unaffiliated adults generally say they do not believe in God or whatsoever higher power or spiritual strength in the universe. Not-practicing Christians are as well more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to embrace spiritual concepts such as having a soul and feeling a connection to something that cannot be measured.

4Majorities in most countries across the region say they would be willing to have Muslims in their families and in their neighborhoods. Still, undercurrents of discomfort with multiculturalism are evident in Western European societies. People hold mixed views on whether Islam is compatible with their national values and civilization, and most favor at to the lowest degree some restrictions on the religious vesture worn by Muslim women. In improver, roughly half or more than in most countries in the region say it is important to have been born and have ancestry in a country to truly share its national identity. For instance, roughly one-half of Finnish adults say it is important to be built-in in Finland (51%) and to take Finnish family background (51%) to be truly Finnish.

5Christian identity in Western Europe is associated with higher levels of nationalism and negative sentiment toward immigrants and religious minorities. Beyond the region, Christians, church-attending or not, are more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to say "Islam is fundamentally incompatible with our country's values and culture." In Deutschland, as in several other countries, overall public opinion is separate on whether Islam is compatible with German values and civilization, with 55% of churchgoing Christians saying Islam is incompatible with German language values and culture, compared with 45% among non-practicing Christians and 32% amid religiously unaffiliated adults. Similarly, both practicing and non-practicing Christians are more probable than religiously unaffiliated adults to say their civilisation is superior to others, and to favor reducing immigration from its current levels.

sixBated from religious identity, other factors – such as teaching, political ideology and personal familiarity with Muslims – are associated with levels of nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-religious minority sentiment. Western Europeans who have a higher pedagogy are less likely than others to say they would not accept Jews or Muslims in their family unit, or to say their culture is superior to others. And people who say they personally know someone who is Muslim too are less probable to express these kinds of sentiments. Conversely, Western Europeans on the right of the ideological spectrum are more probable than those on the left to say they would be unwilling to accept Jews or Muslims in their family unit, or that it is of import to accept been built-in in their land to truly belong.

7In Europe today, attitudes toward Jews and attitudes toward Muslims are highly correlated with one another. Although current debates on multiculturalism in Europe largely focus on Islam and Muslims, people who say they would be unwilling to accept Muslims in their family are also more likely than others to say they would be unwilling to accept Jewish people in their family. And those who agree with the statement, "In their hearts, Muslims desire to impose religious law on everyone else in our country," are also more likely to hold with the statement, "Jews always pursue their own interests and not the interests of the state they live in." The survey too finds familiar patterns past religious identity when it comes to views about Jewish people: Although most Christians overall say they would be willing to accept Jews in their families, Christians are somewhat more than likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to express negative sentiments toward Jews.

viiiMajorities beyond the region, including most Christians, favor legal aforementioned-sex wedlock and ballgame. Similar to religiously unaffiliated adults, the vast bulk of non-practicing Christians say gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to legally marry, and that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Churchgoing Christians are less likely to take these positions, but even among religious Christians, majorities favor gay marriage and legal ballgame in Belgium, Kingdom of denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.k..

9The prevailing view in Western Europe is that religion should exist kept separate from regime policies. In Sweden, for example, 80% of respondents favor separation of organized religion and government, as practice 72% in Belgium. Still, substantial minorities in several countries, including 38% in the Britain and 45% in Switzerland, say government policies should support religious values and beliefs in the land, a position much more pop among churchgoing Christians than amongst non-practicing Christians. Religiously unaffiliated adults are less probable than Christians at all levels of practice to support church-land ties.

tenThe share of religiously unaffiliated adults in several Western European countries is comparable to the share of religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S., but American "nones" are more than religious than their European counterparts. About a quarter of Americans (23% as of 2014) say they are atheist, agnostic or "aught in particular," like to the shares of religiously unaffiliated adults in the Britain (23%) and Germany (24%). But while secularization is evident on both sides of the Atlantic, unaffiliated Americans are much more than likely than their counterparts in Europe to pray and to believe in God, only equally U.S. Christians are considerably more religious than Christians beyond Western Europe. In fact, past some of these standard measures of religious commitment, American "nones" are as religious as – or even more than religious than – Christians in several European countries, including France, Germany and the United kingdom.

Neha Sahgal is an acquaintance managing director of religion research at Pew Research Middle.