Do You Think Most People are Very Interested in Their Religion?

[Sunstone]

What proportion of people in any given religion do you suppose are very interested in their religion? That is, people for whom it is among the very most important things in their life, and who make a sustained effort to practice it?

I'm not looking for a debate so much as I'd just like to get an idea of your impressions.

Thanks.

 

[Vinayaka]

Depends where you go, for mine, Hinduism. In village Hinduism in India, or pockets, like the island of Mauritius, or certain pockets elsewhere, the % of people really interested (daily practice up to an hour or more on average) is really high, like maybe 75%. But outside of those pockets, the % ages practically bottom out. Here in my western city there are probably around 2000 Hindus, or which I would say maybe 100 are keeners. So that's like 5%.

 

[Quintessence]

Depends on a lot of things. My impressions are mostly grounded in the research done by PEW, and they show some significant variations across demographics. Women, for example, are in general more "religious/spiritual" than men. People in the younger demographics (i.e. Millenials) also are generally less connected to religion than older age demographics (i.e., Baby Boomers). African Americans are shown to be more religious than other racial groups. As you'd expect, religious sects that encourage fanaticism (i.e. Evangelicals) as a norm will rank importance and interest above those that don't (i.e. Buddhists). There are geographic disparities, with the southeastern US (Bible Belt) showing greater reported importance on religion than other regions.

Overall, most (as in >50%) rank religion as "important" or "very important" in the United States. It may even be a clean majority (>66%), but I'm not as sure about that off the top of my head (it definitely is in the Bible Belt, though). Trends in other parts of the world may not be the same; I'm pretty sure the EU ranks lower on these kinds of surveys than the US; no idea about other areas as I've never seen any stats on it.

But I think it's important to point out that there are always some problems with surveys like this. They're self-reported, so you're relying on the subject's say so. Religion is often (or supposed to be) a way of life. When it is, one may overlook its importance because it's so much a part of who you are you don't really think about it. If other measures of religiosity are attempted, you run into the problem of how to do it. Sometimes they use attendance at religious services, but not all religions center around that. We do the best we can in measuring these things and must always keep in mind the limitations.

 

[Madhuri]

I would say that the percentage is incredibly low. Most people's beliefs are superficial and their practice reflects that. In addition, many of those who follow their religion strictly seem more interested in what others are doing or not doing and feeling superior.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I regard my religious practice as an aid. The practice and religion itself is not central as far as importance goes, but rather as something on equal footing with life in general. Any importance lies in gauging if anything is working.

Like medicine, or a car.....My religion tends to get more focus during times when something seems to be not "working" and less attention when things balance out and can just ride with it.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

Depends if you mean interested in performing their religious observances, interested in the actual teachings of their religion, interested in the history of their religion, interested in the functioning of their religious institutions, interested in the right of their religion to control society etc

I think that most people in modern societies (particularly western ones) have a lower level of interested in performing their religious observances than they once did. I think most people within religious traditions that prefer adherents not to examine their own religion, or if they do to not apply rationality or evidence to that examination are likely to have a lesser awareness of that tradition. But just ebcause they are less interested in one aspect does not mean they less interested in the religion in general, they may well be less interested in doctrinal matters but more interested in social impacts (such as charity groups or lobbying etc).

 

[LuisDantas]

Not many. One exception would be some pockets of particularly troubled people, mostly spiritists and a few radical Christians.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

As most people have pointed out so far, it depends on a lot of factors. But overall, I'd say about half are really interested in their religion. For most people, religion is little more than something cultural.

 

[ChristineES]

Some people are and some people are not. Those who are not interested in their own faith might be those who were raised in a faith and only follow it out of familiarity.

 

[Jainarayan]

I think a lot of people are X religion nominally, that is, in name. For my grandparents' generation, being "off the boat" from Italy, religion was very important. They attended daily Mass, had candles lit by every saint in the house, etc. But you rarely see that now (especially because they're all dead :biglaugh: ). I mean, you rarely see that with today's generations. I can't recall seeing any religious article in my sisters' houses, nor have any of my family been to church except for a wedding, baptism or funeral... Catholic by Necessity. But for me, I have deities' statues and pictures, candles and oil lamps all over the place. I literally can't fart unless I go into the bathroom, for fear of aiming at a deity. I can't believe I said that.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'd estimate 5 to 10 percent, based on my observations and experience.

 

[MatthiasGould]

Within Islam there's a lot of different forms of adherence from the most nominal followers who might wear the hijab or go to mosque for Eid to the most devout followers and fanatics. I'd say that young Muslims are becoming more religious however, certainly for the Muslim community over here.

 

[sandandfoam]

I think most (90%+) people are not interested .

 

[Amechania]

I think most (90%+) people are not interested .

You're way off, Stephen! It's gotta be closer to 88-89%. You need to think these things through before going off willy-nilly.

 

[Vinayaka]

This question is loaded with a hidden message of village mentality, ethnocentricity. If the same question was asked to a different demographic, the answer would vary. In some countries it would be 100% disinterested. In others it would be 100% interested.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

How so? It asks us our impressions, obviously we can only give direct impressions about our own experiences and indirect impressions about our wider understanding - so of course it will focus on our own environment, how does that make the OP ethnocentric? We answer it from the perspective we have, the environment we are in and the impressions we have formed - it is up to the respondent whether they will be ethnocentric or not.

 

[ChristineES]

I don't know about other faiths, but most of the Christians I know go praise the Lord on Sunday morning but don't give it another thought about Him or their religion/faith until next Sunday morning. I call them "Sunday Christians".
I think we are supposed to practice our faith (whichever faith) all week long, but that's just me.