Americans: what country do you think is the least religious?

Question

Sorry if its offensive to anyone that I'm only asking for the opinions of Americans, but there is a good reason for it.

I'm writing a fictional piece about an atheist who moves into a highly religious part of America, but he doesn't know a lot about their religion.

To make it seem realistic, I'd really like to know what country Americans see as being the least religious and, therefore, most likely to be ignorant of it.

Thanks for your answer.

Answer 1

Statistically, Sweden is the least religious country in the world.

Answer 2

Not really sure and most people who make claims are generally misguided.

ALL of Europe was rooted in religion.

Lutheran or a form of it, was a state religion on both Germany and Sweden. Both are shying away, but the stats still say that 60-70% are still religious.

That's about the same as America

I'd say it's among the Nordic or Northern Europen countries

Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands

BUT the stats still say EACH of those is still over 60% religious.

There is not ONE country in which the stats say less than 50% is religious

NOT one country.

That means a MAJORITY of every country in the world is somewhat religious

Now, what say you!

Answer 3

Good question. You have a few choices to select as your atheists country of origin, depending on what fits your narrative best: Russia, Sweden, South Korea, UK, or France are all likely candidates
.
Sweden: " '05 poll showed 53% 'believe there is some sort of spirit or life force' and 23% that 'they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force"'. Sweden ranks aside with France and Russia on having a large minority of its citizens who have no religion. Independent of these statistics, it is generally known that Swedish society, collectively, is comparatively secular and non-religious"

In no particular order:

South Korea: 41% say they are non-religious.

UK: "Although the 2001 UK Census revealed 14.6% of the population identified themselves as having no religious beliefs, the 2005 Eurobarometer report showed that 62% did not believe in a god. The 2007 Tearfund Survey (page5) reports that 66% of UK adults, 32.3 million people, have no connection with church. Most of them, it says, are 'unreceptive and closed to attending church'."

France: '03 poll 41% of respondents said that existence of God was "unlikely". 33% declared themselves "atheist", and 51% for "Christian". When questioned about their religion, 62% answered Roman Catholic, 6% Muslim, 2% Protestant, 1% Jewish, 2% "other religions", 26% "no religion" and 1% declined to answer. The discrepancy between the number of "atheists" (33%) and the number of with "no religion" (26%) may be attributed to people who feel culturally close to a religion, follow its moral values and traditions, but do not believe in God. A December 2006 poll by Harris Interactive, published in The Financial Times, found that 32% of the French population described themselves as agnostic, a further 32% as atheist and only 27% believed in any type of God or supreme being. A January 2007 poll found that 51% of the French population describe themselves as Catholics, 31% as atheists, 4% as Muslims, 3% as Protestants and 1% as Jews. Gallup International reports that 15 percent of French citizens regularly attend religious services, compared to 10 percent of UK citizens and 57 percent of American citizens"

Answer 4

Probably one of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark or Sweden. They are very open minded. Many countries that repress religion wind up fostering resurgences of religious sentiment/practises.

Answer 5

Sweden

Answer 6

Which country is the 'least religious.' I read recently that the Czech Republic holds that position.

Answer 7

Most of the people I've met from Sweden are not religious.

Answer 8

I wish all countries weren't religious. Stop living a fantasy world.

Answer 9

England.

Answer 10

Probably Sweden or one of the other Scandinavia countries.