You can find a curious relation in these 11 countries with large atheist/agnostic population. Their progress in social and technological development is somehow backwardly proportional to their religiousness. Quite unlike the 10 most religious countries in the world where the exact opposite can be observed.
Religion has been one of the forces shaping the world ever since people accepted the concept of it. While in the beginning religion was solely based on folklore and who could think of the most interesting myth to explain something, early religion was all about people’s inability to explain common occurrences we don’t even notice anymore in our everyday lives. From then on, new faiths and religious, branches of such and various sects saw the light of day and the swords or blood of their enemy. Some, however, stuck with people throughout the centuries and we can still see them being very popular among people today. Well, not these people.
The modern world is highly incompatible with religion. While they all, in their roots, have a lot to teach the average person as far as morality and setting boundaries to good and evil within reason, religious scrolls and books are nothing like they started as. Throughout time lots and lots of people with intentions which had nothing to do with faith altered and misinterpreted these holy scripts with the sole intention of propagating their own ideas and increasing their control. Today, though, control and ideology have little to do with supernatural beings floating around in the sky. We live in the world that is rotated by forces explained by science, in a system observed by science, in a direction and manner that were shunned by the Christian church for centuries. We use a numerical system that was given us by the same people who kill women who expose their wrists and ankles. We enjoy numerous forms of culture that are the offspring of people who believed in one of the more amusing, highly incestuous pantheon of superhero like deities. Why do we keep on fighting over who has the better imaginary friends? Well, this question might not be in a dire need of an answer because religion is on a never seen before decline nowadays.
We can all agree that peace, love, compassion and mindfulness are core concepts which we should all embrace but enforcing them through fear of going to some blood-freezing alternate dimension of torture and suffering might not be the way. And it’s certainly not the way for the countries we are about to look at now.
11. France
Kicking off the list, France takes the eleventh place with a big enough numbers of people who claimed religion as not important at all in their lives. This fact is interesting mainly due to the proximity of France to the world’s Catholic center.
10. Finland
You probably expect to see a lot of Scandinavian countries on this list and if you do, you are right. Finland is apparently one of the most religious of them and still makes the tenth spot in the least religious places around the world.
9. United Kingdom
Seemingly over its strong affiliation with various churches throughout the ages, the United Kingdom takes the ninth spot on the list. While having religion dictate some of the most important events that have ever taken place on the Old Continent in the past, the UK’s people are long past that time.
8. Czech Republic
From all it seems, people in the Czech Republic are a bunch of jolly people. First they are some of the biggest alcohol consumers, they have a blooming entertainment industry and they apparently do not let religion ruin their fun.
7. Japan
While Japan can seem like a very odd place to foreigners, it has never been a place of fanatically religious people. At least not as much as many other parts of the world. Today Japan is a leader in many areas of development and certainly a country to take an example from.
6. Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country where people more or less follow the “live and let live” philosophy, even though their super liberal image is only so for the tourists. People in the Netherlands who do not consider religion to be essential to their life have a way higher prevalence over those who do.
5. Hong Kong
This highly autonomous special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China takes the fifth place on our list of the 11 countries with large atheist/agnostic population. Hong Kong’s people have left religion behind in favor of industrial power and prosperity.
4. Norway
Our next Scandinavian entry is a country where a popular pastime is burning churches. Do you think Norway’s population is among the more religious? Probably not. And in such case, you are right because Norway takes the fourth place among the least religious countries worldwide.
3. Estonia
Quite like our number four, Estonia – the third contender on this list – takes its place with fewer than a single person in five saying that religion plays any major role in their life at all.
2. Denmark
Denmark doesn’t only have a lot of agnostic or atheistic people. Denmark has very little religious people at all. With close to eighty percent of the population claiming that religion plays little to no role in their life, this Scandinavian country takes the second place.
1. Sweden
Sweden, however, takes the first spot in our list of the 11 countries with large atheist/agnostic population with upwards of eighty percent of the people stating that they do not attribute anything more than myths and legends to religion in surveys.
