A recent Gallup poll collected data on religious belief from over 50,000 individuals from 57 countries on five different continents. What were the results? Is Religion declining globally? What countries are the most religious?
From my experience in China, religion just isn't on the radar, at least in the larger cities. However, what is interesting to me is that most of the Chinese I know that have immigrated (to the US) started going to church not too long after coming. It invariably begins with an invite to a Chinese church dinner, and before long, they are practicing Christians. I can honestly say that most of the Chinese I know that have immigrated have gone from non-religious to religious within a matter of a few years. I've actually been to a Catholic mass in Beijing. That was interesting. I grew up Catholic, and although I couldn't understand the words, it was the exact same mass.
Wow. That is really interesting. I've never been to China, but from my understanding of Chinese culture and East Asian culture generally, spirituality and philosophy are more important than religion. That may even be true for whatever subcultures in the world do not adhere to one of the Abrahamic religions or any of their philosophical offshoots. Either way, I thought the poll was interesting, but I think the results would have been dramatically different they asked about God instead of religion. For example, there has been a steep decline of religiosity in Vietnam, but 0% of Vietnamese polled identified as atheist.
I'd say that the Chinese friends I have are more superstitious. There are so many sayings about what different things portend. I agree. I wonder if the ratio of religious practitioners to those that simply believe in God correlates to something, like how wealthy the country is, or maybe even something interesting like disparity. Actually, the US might be an outlier in this poll because of the high level of disparity in the US, not just education. Just a thought.I've never been to China, but from my understanding of Chinese culture and East Asian culture generally, spirituality and philosophy are more important than religion.
Either way, I thought the poll was interesting, but I think the results would have been dramatically different they asked about God instead of religion.