Visiting the church is a traditional Christmas custom for many Czechs despite the country having one of the highest rates of atheism in the world
Nearly two-fifths of them (39 percent) heading to church during the Christmas holidays, representing more than a third more than claim to believe in God, states the STEM research agency. The results imply that a fair amount of atheists are also attending church to celebrate Christmas.
“Even though most of the people going to church during Christmas are those who believe in God, for one-third of Czech families, going to church is a Christmas tradition despite being reluctant to say whether they believe in God or not,” stated the STEM agency, adding that in the mid-1990s, for example, 45 percent of people went to church during Christmas.
However, the number of people who believe in God has not changed much in recent years. Between the mid-1990s and 2012, the number of believers slightly decreased. Since then, these statistics have been fluctuating.
Among those people who say they believe in God are mostly those coming from religious families, with women being more religious (46 percent) than men (29 percent). Also, 46 percent of Czechs living in the Moravia and Silesia regions believe in God compared to 27 percent in Bohemia.
The highest proportion of believers is in the age group over 60 years of age (43 percent) and among people aged 30 to 44 (38 percent).
