Religion, Faith, Churches in Austria

According to a recent poll of a leading Austrian Newspaper (DIE PRESSE, www . diepresse.com) about what Austrians believe, for example if they pray or if they like the pope, 47% of all Austrians confessed to believe in God. The poll was made (by IMAS) from July 19. to August 3. in 2007 and published on September 1. 2007.
The sample size was 1014.


Some more results in a nutshell:

'There are wonders' is believed by 41 % (of all Austrians), (of all Catholics: 43%).
'There is a live after death': Austrians: 36%, Catholics: 41%.
'Jesus is the son of god': Austrians: 28%, Catholics: 33%.
'Jesus rose from the dead': Austrians: 27%, Catholics: 32%.
'Big Bang Theory': Austrians: 27%, Catholics:26%.
'There are angels': 22, 25
'There is a heaven': 19, 23
'Life was created according to a plan': 19, 21
'Incarnation': 17, 18
'Jesus, born of a virgin': 17, 20
'Astrology': 14, 14
'There is a devil': 12, 14
'There is a hell': 12, 14
'God created earth in 6 days': 9, 12
'UFO's exist': 8, 8
'Witches exist': 8, 8

'Are prayers important for Christians' (say yes) : 35, 40 this meaning 35 percent of all Austrians think that prayer is important, and 40 percent of all Catholics think that prayer is important and of this 40 percent again 51 percent truly pray regularly.



To the overall situation of churches in Austria

In the last 30 years the evangelical churches ('Evangelische Kirche') lost 16% (70.000) of its members. In 1971 this church had 446.000 members and was the second biggest group after the Roman Catholics.

Some more numbers:
RC = Roman Catholic
E = Evangelics, Reformed, Lutheran and others
I = Islamics
OW = Other Denominations, Churches / Without Confession

Year RC E I OW
1971 6.540.000 446.000 8.000 320.000
2001 5.915.000 376.000 339.000 963.000
Source: Statistik Austria, Volkszählungen 1971, 2001

The total population of Austria was increasing 8% in these 30 years, the Catholics share was shrinking overall around 10%. In Vienna (2001) less than half of the population was of Roman Catholic Faith.
Around one million people in Austria either 'have no confession' or do not belong to an officially recognized religious organisation.

Well, this post was to just give you a small very short overview on the religious situation in Austria. People of the Near East or elsewhere tend to have the imagination of Europe or of European countries being 'christian'.
What do some numbers say for example to Austria? In 2007 approximatly 12 percent (I couldnt figure out if of all Austrians, or only Catholics, or what - sorry) regularly go to church on Sunday (mostly older people in the country).

A pessimistic person might define this situation with words like secularism, lethargy, anomy and could be right in applying these terms. However modern management theory, the urge and mission to evangelize, taught us not to see problems, just opportunities :-) ... So now we can look at these numbers as a challenge.

Want to take also a short look on the global situation?

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