Religious opinions, beliefs and attitudes

The CIS’s study of January 2002 also tried to define the Spaniards opinion on the position of religion in the society of yesterday, today and tomorrow; 72.5% of people interviewed consider that religion today has less of an influence than it did ten years ago, while 64.9% of individuals say that religion will have less of an influence in the future than it does today.
When asked whether religious authorities should have an influence on government actions or not, 81.1% said no. These affirmations coincide with the religious neutrality of the Spanish State and mark a break with the characteristic situation of Franco’s regime, which was marked by a close interweaving of religion and the State.
One of the questions in the above-mentioned study refers to the importance of religion in the lives of Spaniards. Health was number one on their list, with a rating of 9.71 on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, family was next on the list with a rating of 9.62, followed by work with 8.53. The least important aspects were religion (5.34) and politics (3.69).

D 13 September 2012    AIrene González González

According to an opinion poll carried out by the Spanish Ministry of Labour, 63.2% of young Spaniards say they are Catholic (practicing or not), against 81% of the total population.
The proportion of Spaniards aged 15 to 29 who say they are practicing Catholics has decreased by half between 2000 and the end of 2003, dropping from 28% to 14.2%. In 1967, during General Franco’s dictatorship, 77% of young Spaniards said they were practicing Catholics. Over the decade that followed, marked by the transition and return to democracy, religious practice dropped drastically to under 25% in 1987.
The study shows that 83% of young Spaniards used some method of contraception during their first sexual experience in order to avoid an unwanted pregnancy (92.5%) or to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases (36.7%). Condoms, which the Spanish church recognised for the first time on Tuesday for their preventive role against AIDS, are used regularly by 79.4% of those polled.

Opinion poll carried out by the Spanish Ministry of Labour on 5, 214 people at the end of 2003.

D 13 September 2012    AAnne-Laure Zwilling

Like previous studies, the 2004 Informe Juventud en España (study on the youth in Spain), carried out by the INJUVE (Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs), has once again revealed that the majority of young people do not practise any religion. The number believers from all the religions put together, is lower than the number of atheists, agnostics, non-believers, those who are non-practising or indifferent. Among those who consider themselves to be believers, a little over 60 % are Roman Catholics, of whom only 14% say that they are practising Catholics.
For both boys and girls, the lower the age, the higher the level of religious practise. The turning point occurs at age 20. However, from this age, a difference also begins to set in between the sexes. It must be noted that this study does not provide data on young people who practise other religions - it merely assumes that they represent about 2.9% of the population under study.
The study also reveals the influence of other factors such as ideology, nationality, gender, level of education and size of area of residence on the extent of religious practise by individuals. The majority of Catholics and non-practising Catholics are centre-right women of Spanish nationality. Left-wing non-practising Catholics are mostly village dwellers with a low level of education.

Source: Informe Juventud en España 2004, INJUVE, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, 2005, pp. 533-534. See the study’s findings (in Spanish, Section IV, "Valores, Participación").

D 13 September 2012   

On the other hand, a survey carried out on University students by Fundaciòn BBVA between the end of 2004 and January 2005, reveals a low level of religiosity among them (average of 3.3 out of 10, using multivariate criteria). Of the 3000 students who participated in the study, those who say that they are "not in anyway religious" (nada religiosos) are as high as 52.4%.
The data gathered shows an increasing detachment from the Roman Catholic doctrine and influence of the Church’s authorities. The Roman Catholic Church is the least trusted institution among the students. A large consensus appears in their opinions on current issues affecting society. 8.8 out of 10 students interviewed support the idea of unmarried couples living together, 8.4 support the use of human artificial reproduction methods, 7.9 are in favour of same-sex marriage, 7.8 support single parenthood, 7.5 euthanasia, 7 abortion and 6.8 back adoption by homosexual couples.Finally, the lowest level of religiosity is found among students in the social and experimental sciences.

See the findings of the survey (in Spanish) (section III, p. 16-17).
See the French translation of the survey by Claude Proeschel.

D 13 September 2012    APuerto García

In April 2010, the Metroscopia Institute published the results of a survey entitled "The immigrant Muslim Community in Spain" (La Comunidad Musulmana de origen inmigrante en Espana). The survey had been commissioned by the Spanish Government, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Work and Immigration, within the framework of the National Plan for the Alliance of Civilisations.
The survey firstly allows us to grasp the evolution in religious self-determination among the population concerned, which, between 2006 and 2009, shows a downward trend in practising Muslims (from 52 to 41 %) in favour of Muslims who practise occasionally or not at all.
A second set of questions deals with the way life is experienced in Spain, how compatible Islam is with it and, more generally, with democratic values. These are broadly asserted, along with general confidence in Spanish institutions. On conditions for exercising worship, immigrant Muslims are largely in favour of state neutrality in religious matters. A minority of them (13 %) state that they had encountered obstacles to practising their religion. Finally, most respondents consider that Western countries guarantee the major, fundamental values more than Muslim countries do, as well as favourable economic and social conditions.

D 13 September 2012    AClaude Proeschel