Macedonians most religious in Europe?

[DedoAleko]

Gallup International: Macedonians most religious in Europe?

Macedonians are the most religious nation in Europe, shows global survey of the Gallup International Religiosity and Atheism Index, which was carried out in Nov. and Dec. 2011 among 52.000 respondents in 57 countries in the world.



Ninety percent of the polled Macedonians responded to be religious.

After nationals of Macedonia the most religious in Europe are Romanians (89%), Moldavians (83%), Poles (81%), Serbs (77%) and Italians (73%).



According to Global Religiosity Index, Macedonians are on fourth place. The most religious are nationals of Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia and Fiji, Gallup survey reads.

Non-believers are mostly concentrated in East Asia, where 47% of the Chinese and 31% of the Japanese say they are atheists and 30% of the Czechs. Survey finds that only 1% of the Macedonians consider themselves atheists.

izvor: http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/21558/1/

[George S.]

thr's a good find DA.Maybe because of our religiousness we think we are going to be saved or proteted by our religion.??

[Vangelovski]

Gallup International: Macedonians most religious in Europe?

Macedonians are the most religious nation in Europe, shows global survey of the Gallup International Religiosity and Atheism Index, which was carried out in Nov. and Dec. 2011 among 52.000 respondents in 57 countries in the world.



Ninety percent of the polled Macedonians responded to be religious.

After nationals of Macedonia the most religious in Europe are Romanians (89%), Moldavians (83%), Poles (81%), Serbs (77%) and Italians (73%).



According to Global Religiosity Index, Macedonians are on fourth place. The most religious are nationals of Ghana, Nigeria, Armenia and Fiji, Gallup survey reads.

Non-believers are mostly concentrated in East Asia, where 47% of the Chinese and 31% of the Japanese say they are atheists and 30% of the Czechs. Survey finds that only 1% of the Macedonians consider themselves atheists.

izvor: http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/21558/1/

These results don't equate with the discussions I've had with Macedonians over faith. This forum itself testifies to that. I think Gallup has asked the wrong questions, and its probably a result of not really understanding 'religion' or 'faith' and the difference between the two. One can be 'religious' without any belief in a deity. Many theologists consider 'religious' as a category of people who do not have any specific belief (or any belief at all for that matter) but who practice certain rituals without necessarily understanding them or thinking about why they do so.

'Religious' people can still be atheists. My local church (MOC) is full of them. They attend every Sunday, dance the dance but don't actually believe in a Supreme Being or that the Bible is His literal word. Yet they still consider themselves to be 'religious' and I can only deduce that is because of the meaningless (without genuine and honest faith) rituals they perform (and a performance it can be).

[MKPrilep]

maybe they asked albanians?!

[damian]

maybe theyre confusing religious with superstitious is there any idea you have to be orthodox, muslim whatever etc to be macedonian which i think is false

[George S.]

i would like to know how they calculated the religiosity index.AS i have studiied advanced stats & how to bs with stats.I read some where it's like forcasting using line of best fit using averages etc you can massgae the stats to say anything.So supposedly they did a thousand people where???Something doesn't sound right.Also how about after the second world war most people would have had a heavy dose of communism.Where the church was kind of outlawed.I heard people didn't really marry in churches during that period.There is a saying that people seem religious for all the wrong reasons.
They leave the real religion to the priest to intercede for them or people beleive if they make a money donation all will be well.Also the church is more of a meeting place easter & Macedonian bozik.So technically people aren't really religious at all.The following of rituals etc is that going to save them or is there more involved.In the past people never understood the sermon because it was either in greek or latin so its only recently with all the translations of the bible that people could read & ubnerstand.Do people really understand what the bible says???

[Jankovska]

Yep, probably one of the reasons why they are all still slaves. I mean Christianity is the slaves religion afterall.

[FriendofMacedonia]

Yep, probably one of the reasons why they are all still slaves. I mean Christianity is the slaves religion afterall.

Exactly, couldn't have said it better myself. The Abrahamic religions are pure evil, I mean it can't be a coincidence that every time throughout history a country becomes more secular, its people become more prosperous. If the Balkans ditched the peasant, medieval ways of Chrisianity, we'd immediately be doing better in every possible way.

[lavce pelagonski]

And just like that we become Muslim, well done.

[George S.]

's the case of not knowing any better.It is the hope that some else will do it for you.Someone not you will pick up the pieces.

[damian]

i would like to know how they calculated the religiosity index.AS i have studiied advanced stats & how to bs with stats.I read some where it's like forcasting using line of best fit using averages etc you can massgae the stats to say anything.So supposedly they did a thousand people where???Something doesn't sound right.Also how about after the second world war most people would have had a heavy dose of communism.Where the church was kind of outlawed.I heard people didn't really marry in churches during that period.There is a saying that people seem religious for all the wrong reasons.
They leave the real religion to the priest to intercede for them or people beleive if they make a money donation all will be well.Also the church is more of a meeting place easter & Macedonian bozik.So technically people aren't really religious at all.The following of rituals etc is that going to save them or is there more involved.In the past people never understood the sermon because it was either in greek or latin so its only recently with all the translations of the bible that people could read & ubnerstand.Do people really understand what the bible says???

good points george i would add religion has made us victims of Bulgaria and greece also since we were assimilating in their religious systems, priests, liturgies etc

[George S.]

bishops wanting to take church property etc sound familliar.

[lavce pelagonski]

Damian your forgetting that under Ottoman rule the priests were the ones who kept us going with our faith, they were instrumental in VMRO.

[Tomche Makedonche]

These results don't equate with the discussions I've had with Macedonians over faith. This forum itself testifies to that. I think Gallup has asked the wrong questions, and its probably a result of not really understanding 'religion' or 'faith' and the difference between the two. One can be 'religious' without any belief in a deity. Many theologists consider 'religious' as a category of people who do not have any specific belief (or any belief at all for that matter) but who practice certain rituals without necessarily understanding them or thinking about why they do so.

'Religious' people can still be atheists. My local church (MOC) is full of them. They attend every Sunday, dance the dance but don't actually believe in a Supreme Being or that the Bible is His literal word. Yet they still consider themselves to be 'religious' and I can only deduce that is because of the meaningless (without genuine and honest faith) rituals they perform (and a performance it can be).

I can't tell you how many people I know that have no hesitation admitting that they don't believe in god (or any kind of higher power) what so ever, which is normally followed with the line "where's the proof?", yet every year on Bozhik and Veligden I continue to see them at church. Although I have no issue with this at all (each to their own) whenever I've asked why do they bother attending, their answer can always be summarised with the following three words: "just in case", so basically in their heads, their attendance is to serve the same purpose as some kind of insurance policy. I always find this fascinating, especially since my personal view is that standing in a church does not make someone a Christian, well at least not anymore then standing in a garage would make someone a car...

[George S.]

TM take as an example like julia gillard she doesn't beleive in anything & she was telling people to pray for the flood victims.So how far can one drag religion for the sake of running their daily lives.It becomes a crutch so society uses to lean on otherwise they got nothing else.Definitely we see people in church that really shouldn;t be but then who will decide who goes in or not.