Britain, not the US, is the odd one out

[muriel_volestrangler]

All across Europe, politics and religion still go hand in hand

...
This history hasn't ended. Not, of course, in the great balloon of al-Qaida that dogs every policy. Not in Bosnia or Kosovo, as Islam and Christianity fail to coexist. Not in Cyprus, north and south. Not between faiths in Northern Ireland. Not when Turkey's EU membership is on the table and the opponents talk "Christian Europe". Not when the charge against Buttiglione is led by German MEPs dubbing him "an acolyte of the Pope". Not when mainstream conservatism in Strasbourg - the one that excludes our Tories - is Christian Democrat.

Many of these tensions, to be sure, are reflected in mainland Britain. Many of the faiths that live side by side on this island have passion and dynamism to spare. But they do not make us a country where religion much impinges, or can any longer drive, our politics.
...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1345912,00.html

Any comments from other Europeans? I wasn't aware that religion was a driving force behind much of European politics. The objection to Buttiglione seemed rather similar to the British suspicion of Tony Blair - that they both take their religion too literally.

Has Peter Preston got it right - are the sceptical British the exception?

[nickinSTL]

1. I don't think so...

I'm not that clear on it, myself, but I worked with a French woman in the mid-90s in Germany who was mystified by the mixing of church and state in US politics. So, I get the impression that it doesn't happen in France, at least.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Total Bullshit

BTW: Religious attitudes in the US are similar to those in the third world.



Among Wealthy Nations …
U.S. STANDS ALONE IN ITS EMBRACE OF RELIGION

Religion is much more important to Americans than to people living in other wealthy nations. Six-in-ten (59%) people in the U.S. say religion plays a very important role in their lives. This is roughly twice the percentage of self-avowed religious people in Canada (30%), and an even higher proportion when compared with Japan and Western Europe. Americans’ views are closer to people in developing nations than to the publics of developed nations.

The 44-nation survey of the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows stark global regional divides over the personal importance of religion.<1> In Africa, no fewer than eight-in-ten in any country see religion as very important personally. Majorities in every Latin American country also subscribe to that view, with the exception of Argentina. More than nine-in-ten respondents in the predominantly Muslim nations of Indonesia, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal rate religion as personally very important. In Turkey and Uzbekistan, however, people are more divided over religion’s importance.

Secularism is particularly prevalent throughout Europe. Even in heavily Catholic Italy fewer than three-in-ten (27%) people say religion is very important personally, a lack of intensity in belief that is consistent with opinion in other Western European nations. Attitudes are comparable in former Soviet bloc countries. In the Czech Republic, fully 71% say religion has little or no importance in their lives – more than any nation surveyed – while barely one-in-ten (11%) say it is very important. And in Poland, the birthplace of the Pope and where the Catholic Church played a pivotal role during the communist era, just 36% say religion is very important.

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=167

[fujiyama]

3. I noticed

it didn't forget Poland. :P

[Kellanved]

4. That's not a good article

Far under the Guardian's usual level. The specialness the author tries to construct doesn't exist. The church attendance in the UK is one of the higher ones in the EU; for instance higher than in France or Germany. The special thing about the UK is the Anglican church - I don't see how he can make claims about the UK being more secular then the continental countries and keep a straight face.

And while the conservatives in many European countries are Christian Democrats, that is not the case in all of them. For instance the UMP in France is no more Christian than the Tories in the UK - rather a lot less.

There is more official church/state mixing in Europe than in the US, that's true. However that mixing isn't limited to Christianity; any Religion able meet the requirements is able to obtain that status. On a personal level however, Church is far less important than in the US; for example, politicians are not expected to be god-fearing saints. Even Christian Democrats are not expected to be frequent Church goers or fundamental Christians; some are not Christians at all.

The taking over of European politics by fundamentalists is one of the greatest fears Europeans have; the reaction against Buttiglione is a good example for that. Many (left) people look to Italy and are afraid; the embracing of creationism for the schools, the close ties to the Vatican - the mere possibility of the (Christian) Conservatives at home imitating Berlusconi's or Bush's fundamentalism, these things are the stuff of any Social Democrat's nightmares these days.


Here is a better article on the matter:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,325722,00.html
And:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,326279,00.html