50% in U.S. 'religious'; 30% in Canada: poll
Religion is much more important to those in the United States than people in Canada and other wealthy countries, according to an international poll released Thursday.
Fifty-nine per cent of Americans who responded to the poll said religion is "very important" in their lives. This is almost double the 30 per cent of Canadians who agreed with the statement.
The findings indicate the United States is more spiritually akin to the developing world and not other industrialized countries.
In Britain, 33 per cent responded yes, as did 27 per cent in Italy, 25 per cent in South Korea, 21 per cent in Germany, 12 per cent in Japan and 11 per cent in France.
The poll was sponsored by the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which previously issued data comparing 44 countries' political attitudes.
The project polled 38,000 people in 46 languages between July and October. The margin of error varied by country from 2.1 percentage points to 4.4 percentage points. In some developing countries, only urban areas were covered.
Andrew Kohut, the centre director, said previous international polling by the Gallup organization found similar religious patterns. Kohut said he would leave it to historians and sociologists to explain why America is distinct, but stressed the political impact of the findings.
"It's who we are, who we've always been," said Kohut, an American. This "represents an important divide between the United States and our traditional allies" on matters like abortion and use of new biological technologies, he added.
Religiosity in the United States was exceeded by that in all 10 African countries which were polled, six in Latin America and six in Asia (including Turkey, which lies partly in Europe).
Senegal (97 per cent) was the most religious country while France and the Czech Republic were the least (11 per cent each).
Muslim countries ranked high in religiosity. Among traditionally Christian countries, the United States was the only Western country with numbers similar to those in the Philippines and most of Latin America.
The survey also showed the apparent continuing impact of formerly atheist regimes.
Only 36 per cent of respondents in Poland, the Pope's home country, said religion was very important to them. The numbers were even lower in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Vietnam, the only currently communist country surveyed, posted 24 per cent. China did not allow pollsters to ask a religion question.
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