Thought this might be of interest to some of you, and since it's about France and in French it may not be publicised in USA / UK.
The article I came across (in French) can be found at http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.7aa29fd7688d76edc3400f9a2b6b3eb9.1f1, and below is my translation of it. Possibly not 100% perfect translation, and certainly clunky, but I'm confident that all the stats are correctly translated.
I posted it in this Atheist section because I was surprised at how strong the stated atheism is - whereas I had the (apparently wrong) impression that the French are quite religious. And I also thought it very interesting that there's a huge chunk of people who say they are Catholic but don't believe in God...
AFP 6 February 2011
Less than four out of ten French people believe in God, according to a survey published on Sunday by Le Parisien / Aujourd’hui in France, released to coincide with the next opening of the film “Qui a envie d'être aimé?”
According to this survey from the polling institution Harris Interactive, believers (36%) are slightly more numerous than atheists (34%) in France. The last third of the French population (30%) are divided into 22% of people who don’t know whether they believe in God but do ask themselves the question, and 8% who don’t know whether they believe and don’t ever think about it.
The well-off professional category is more believer (36%) than the less well-off (29%) and more women are believers than men.
According to the newspaper, the opinion also reveals that “5% of those who don’t practise any religion still believe in God” and that “34% of the respondents who call themselves Catholic say that they don’t believe in God”.
The survey was carried out online from the 24th to the 25th January for the domestic edition of the newspaper and the Alpha association – using a sample of 1,051 individuals from the Harris Interactive panel, selected via the quota method.
The article I came across (in French) can be found at http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.7aa29fd7688d76edc3400f9a2b6b3eb9.1f1, and below is my translation of it. Possibly not 100% perfect translation, and certainly clunky, but I'm confident that all the stats are correctly translated.
I posted it in this Atheist section because I was surprised at how strong the stated atheism is - whereas I had the (apparently wrong) impression that the French are quite religious. And I also thought it very interesting that there's a huge chunk of people who say they are Catholic but don't believe in God...
AFP 6 February 2011
Less than four out of ten French people believe in God, according to a survey published on Sunday by Le Parisien / Aujourd’hui in France, released to coincide with the next opening of the film “Qui a envie d'être aimé?”
According to this survey from the polling institution Harris Interactive, believers (36%) are slightly more numerous than atheists (34%) in France. The last third of the French population (30%) are divided into 22% of people who don’t know whether they believe in God but do ask themselves the question, and 8% who don’t know whether they believe and don’t ever think about it.
The well-off professional category is more believer (36%) than the less well-off (29%) and more women are believers than men.
According to the newspaper, the opinion also reveals that “5% of those who don’t practise any religion still believe in God” and that “34% of the respondents who call themselves Catholic say that they don’t believe in God”.
The survey was carried out online from the 24th to the 25th January for the domestic edition of the newspaper and the Alpha association – using a sample of 1,051 individuals from the Harris Interactive panel, selected via the quota method.