Only 13 per cent of people in Australia say being a Christian is “very important” when it comes to national identity compared with 18 per cent in the UK and 32 per cent in the US, according to a new US study.
A Pew Research Center study, which asked people in 13 Western nations whether being a Christian was “very important” for being a true national of that country, found that a median of only 15 per cent of people across the countries believed that was the case.
The lowest percentages were in Sweden (seven per cent), Netherlands (eight per cent) and Spain (where the question was asked with the word Catholic in place of Christian – nine per cent). The highest percentage of people who believed being a Christian was “very important” to national identity included Greece (54 per cent) and Poland (which again had the word Catholic in place of Christian – 34 per cent) followed by the US (32 per cent).
In the US, the study found the link was strongest among those for whom religion plays an important part in daily life. And while a majority – 57 per cent – of white evangelical Protestants said it was very important to be Christian to be a true American, the figure drops to 29 per cent among white mainline Protestants and to 27 per cent among Catholics.
Elsewhere the study showed the majority of populations in most of the 13 countries don’t consider being born in the country as “very important” in being considered a true national.
In Australia only 13 per cent thought that was the case while in Sweden the figure was as low as eight per cent. In Germany 13 per cent linked said birthplace was “very important” to national identity, in the Netherlands 16 per cent, in Canada 21 per cent and in France 25 per cent. The figure came in at 32 per cent in both the US and UK.
The exceptions to this were led by Hungary (52 per cent) and Greece (50 per cent) as well as in a 14th country – Japan (50 per cent).
Other findings from the survey – which involved more than 14,000 people – showed that majorities in all 14 countries surveyed (including Japan) said it was “very important” for people to speak the dominant language to be considered a “true national”.
And 50 per cent of Australians, 54 per cent of Canadians and 45 per cent of Americans as well as a median of 48 per cent of people in European nations involved in the survey said sharing national customs and traditions was “very important” to national identity.
