France’s changing religious landscape

If you happen to watch the Tour de France, it’s hard not to notice the huge number of Catholic churches along the way, which might suggest that France, after all, is God’s country. The reality couldn’t be more different! 

We recently watched a round table organized by French’s daily, “Le Figaro”, that was quite surprising by the numbers that were cited by the participants. As of 2029, the majority of the French population (51%) claimed to have no religion. 

This flight from religion has been increasing in France during the last decade and it involves 58% of the native population, 19% of immigrants that arrived when they were over age 16 and 26% of immigrant offspring. 

Soon, Muslims may overtake Catholicism in France, with only 29% of the population claiming to be of Catholic faith (a steep downtrend) while 10% say they’re Muslims, a growing number that makes them a strong number two. Finally, 9% of the rest of believers are other Christians or miscellaneous religions. 

As far as religious practice goes, only 8% of declared Catholics regularly go to Church (except to get baptized and buried, which hovers around 95%). This compares to just over 20% of other Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, and 34% of Jews. 

Long term, Islam seems the most robust of all religions as 91% of people brought up as Muslims follow their parent’s religion. Same thing for the Jews were 84% stayed in their belief system, while it’s only 69% for non-Catholic Christians and a low 67% for Catholics. 

All things being equal, growing up in a religious family is key to maintaining the attachment to its faith. What wasn’t covered and seemingly less understood in that debate was the crucial role that education plays in keeping people attached to their religion. 

A low education, thus a lower socioeconomic level, promotes a stronger attachment to religion and greater gullibility, a key ingredient in any spiritual faith…