The proportion of people in Poland who describe themselves as religious believers has fallen to 84%, down from 87% last year and from 94% in 1992, although still one of the highest levels in Europe. Meanwhile, 42% say that they practise their faith at least once per week, down from almost 70% three decades ago.
Those who say they do not practise a faith at all number 19%, up from 9% in 1992. Among that group, almost 13% say they have never practised religion while 85% have stopped practising at some point in their life, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The figures come from the latest of a long-running series of surveys by CBOS, a state research agency. It found the highest proportion of non-practisers in large cities (37%), among the youngest age group (38%, compared to 13% among the oldest), and people with higher education (22%).
Among those who have given up religious practice, CBOS found that the most common reasons given – cited by 17% of people – related to a sense of no longer needing religion (e.g. “I’m not interested in it”, “it doesn’t make sense”), reports the Catholic Information Agency (KAI).
The second most common set of reasons, given by 12%, pertained to criticism of the church (e.g. “the church as an institution began to annoy me”, “the church is a mafia organisation”).
A further 11% cited a lack or crisis of faith; 10% mentioned criticism of priests’ behaviour (such as “arrogance” or “intolerance”); 9% gave political reasons (e.g. “the church meddles in politics”); and 7% said they lacked trust in the church or priests.
Meanwhile, 7% cited their health or age as reasons for no longer practising their faith while 4% mentioned the pandemic. Another 5% pointed to paedophilia scandals in the church.
Recent years have seen the Catholic church in Poland – a country where officially over 90% of the population are classified as Catholic – face a number of challenges, such as child sex abuse scandals and accusations of involvement in politics, including pushing for an unpopular near-total ban on abortion.
However, CBOS’s director, Mirosława Grabowska, told KAI that, “contrary to expectations”, those who have quit religious practice do not usually refer to “specific” issues such as sex abuse scandals but rather to a “generally critical attitude towards the church and priests”, as well as their own worldview being incompatible with religious faith.
This creates “a more difficult situation for the church”, she explained, “because slogans such as ‘we’ll keep our distance from politicians’ or ‘we’ll deal with paedophilia scandals’ may not be enough to change this general image of the church”.
“The church as an institution and priests repel young people especially, and the actions and behaviour of the clergy…[have created] negative personal experiences that have already formed – in certain social groups – generalised attitudes of aversion to the church,” she concluded. “And it is difficult to change generalised attitudes.”
Main image credit: EpiskopatNews/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
