The history of Europe for much of the last 1,500 years has often been the story of the battles of one religious group against another. Religion was what states and empires went to war over. Yes, yes, I know: The cynical marxian historian in me (and perhaps you) might say that various religious elites across Europe through the Middle Ages and beyond were just like any other elites — they were rich property owners just trying to protect or advance their commercial interests and often used war to do so. Still — for those spearchuckers and sword carriers who did the actually massacring of the Huguenots or volunteered for the Crusades or for those citizens who showed up to cheer on a witch burning — a keen, perhaps obsessive, interest in a particular religion was, if not a motivating factor, an enabling factor.
So with that pretext, it seems an interesting development to me that just 17 per cent of France's population expresses any interest in a religion, according to a new survey done by Angus Reid for Maclean's.
“The trend towards secularism has been evident in France during the presidency of Jacques Chirac. In February 2004, the French government implemented a ban on religious symbols in schools as a measure to reaffirm the country’s secular identity. Former government minister Bernard Stasi headed the panel, which concluded that some garments—such as Islamic scarves, Jewish kippas and crosses—represent a “conspicuous” sign of spiritual affiliation that should not be allowed in the classroom.”
So how about Canada? Survey says:
“In North America, a change in Canadian perspectives has been evident over the past 14 years. In 1992, 61 per cent of respondents said religion was very important for their daily lives. This year, the number dropped to 39 per cent. In the United States there was also a decrease, from 83 per cent in 1992 to 63 per cent in 2006.”