Religion - Belief and Tolerance in the US and Europe

At a time when a BBC survey shows that a minority (44%) of UK children know that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, a Financial Times (FT)/Harris Poll shows Americans more likely than Europeans to believe in God, but also more likely to support the right of Islamic women to wear the veil.

The FT/Harris survey was conducted among 12,507 adults in the US and in five European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Spain). Of the Europeans surveyed, Italians are the most likely to believe in a supreme being (62%) and the French are the least likely (27%).

Majorities in all five European countries feel that the church and state should be kept separate. Yet a significant percentage of Germans (56%), British (56%) and Italians (68%) support the teaching of religion at school, while many people in the United States (59%), France (72%) and Spain (49%) are opposed to this. Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll®, Harris Interactive, states: 'Given that the Queen is Head of the Church of England, and that Italy and Spain are usually thought of as Catholic countries, this is a remarkable finding.'

When asked their views on making non-Christian holy days public holidays, the Germans are most likely to believe that no other religions' holy days should be officially recognised as public holidays (63%).

Just one in 10 French adults believe children should be allowed to wear religious signs or articles of clothing at school, compared with the three quarters (77%) of Americans who believe this should be allowed.

And when discussing the Dutch government's plans to legislate against the wearing of Islamic veils in public, the British, French and Italians are most likely to support the ban (39%, 39% and 35% respectively). In contrast, Americans are most likely to state that Islamic women should have the right to wear veils if they wish to do so (59%).

Harris Interactive's home page is at www.harrisinteractive.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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