Assist News Service: The United States of America, Western and Eastern Europe are far apart as far as religion is concerned. While 86 percent of all U.S. citizens believe in a Creator God, this only applies to 80 percent of the population in Eastern Europe and 70 percent of the population in Western Europe.

This is one of the results of a recent survey carried out by GfK Custom Research Worldwide with headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany. GfK researchers interviewed 21,000 persons in 21 countries in September and October on behalf of The Wall Street Journal Europe.

On the whole, women are more likely to believe in God than men. In Western Europe, for instance, three in four women are convinced that God exists but only two in three men share the same belief. Only 32 percent of the population in the Czech Republic believe in a higher being and 42 percent in Sweden and Denmark.

On average three in four interviewees said that they belong to an organized religion. Religious affiliation is particularly strong in Romania (97 percent), Turkey (95 percent) and Greece (89 percent). Romania and Greece are predominantly Orthodox countries, while Islam is the main religion in Turkey.

Secularism seems to run high in the Netherlands, where just 53 percent of the population are affiliated with a church or religious community. In Belgium and Germany four in 10 interviewees said that they do not adhere to a religious faith.

Read more ...