New Delhi, July 10: Three out of four young adults
in India and other developing countries pray at least once a
day, says a new international study, overturning popular
perception that youngsters are not as religious as their
parents or grandparents.
The comparative study conducted by German non profit
organisation Bertelsmann Foundation surveyed 21,000
individuals across 21 countries including India and found that
teenagers and young adults are much more religious than is
commonly assumed.
According to the study, the perception that young people
are less religious than their parents and grandparents is
typically western European and does not correspond to the
reality worldwide.
Young adults in developing countries and Islamic states
are no less religious than other adults, reveals the study. In
morocco, around 99 per cent believe in god and life after
death. In Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria this figure is 90
percent, and in Israel, Indonesia and Italy it is 80 percent.
"The assumption that religious belief is dwindling
continuously from generation to generation is clearly refuted
by our worldwide surveys even in many industrialised
nations," says Dr Martin rieger, project leader of the
Bertelsmann foundations religion monitor.
Revealing contradictory trends, the study says worldwide
more than four out of five young adults (85 per cent) are
religious and almost half (44 per cent) are deeply religious
and only 13 per cent have no appreciation for god or faith in
general.
However, the study points out that there are large
differences between individual countries and among the various
denominations. Whereas young adults in Islamic states and
developing countries in particular are deeply religious, young
Christians in Europe especially are comparatively unreligious.
80 per cent of all young protestants outside of Europe
are deeply religious and 18 per cent are religious, compared
to just seven per cent of young protestants in Europe who are
deeply religious, and 25 per cent can only be classified as
nominal members of their church, says the survey.
It is a similar picture with young Catholics. Although
the proportion of deeply religious Catholics in Europe is 25
percent, outside Europe this figure is 68 percent. Only a
third of young people in eastern Europe and Russia have been
christened, and most young people have no connection at all to
faith and the church. Only 13 percent are deeply religious.
The study also revealed that a third of the young
adults surveyed worldwide (35 percent) who regard themselves
as not belonging to a denomination nonetheless identified
themselves as religious.
Bureau Report