Beliefs, attitudes, and opinions
Subjective religiosity and belief
In contrast to the continuous decline in religious participation and practice, the data show a slightly different picture in regard to subjective religiosity and religious belief. Concerning religious self-assessment, 54,3% in West Germany considered themselves as a religious person in 1990; a figure which remained comparatively stable until 2008. In East Germany, the decrease in individual religiosity is also connected to a decrease in subjective religiosity. Here, the percentage of respondents considering themselves as religious declined from 32,3% in 1990 to 17,2% in 2008.
Furthermore, the belief in God or a Higher being is also rather widespread among the German population compared to the participation rates. Altogether, data for 2000 show that 74% believe in God or a Higher being, with Catholics being the most religious (84% of Catholics, 71% of Protestants). However, 52% of the respondents without religious affiliation also stated to believe in God or a Higher being.
Pollack, Detlef und Gert Pickel (2003). „De-Institutionalisierung des Religiösen und religiöse Individualisierung in Ost- und Westdeutschland“. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 55: 447-474.
Religious self-assessment (in %)
Question: “Independently of whether you go to church or not, would you say you are…”
West | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2008 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A religious person | 54,3 | 63,0 | 58,1 | 54,8 | 52,7 |
Not a religious person | 26,4 | 26,0 | 31,2 | 32,4 | 35,1 |
A convinced atheist | 2,4 | 7,3 | 4,2 | 4,3 | 5,2 |
No answer | 0,1 | 0 | 1,4 | 2,9 | 0,9 |
Don’t know | 16,8 | 3,7 | 5,1 | 5,6 | 6,2 |
East | |||||
A religious person | 32,3 | 27,4 | 26,8 | 27,7 | 17,2 |
Not a religious person | 37,2 | 45,2 | 46,0 | 39,4 | 56,5 |
A convinced atheist | 17,3 | 25,4 | 20,9 | 31,0 | 22,7 |
No answer | 0,3 | 0 | 1,6 | 1,0 | 1,0 |
Don’t know | 13,0 | 2,1 | 4,6 | 1,0 | 2,5 |
14 September 2012Source: World Values Surveys/European Values Studies; own calculations.