About a fifth of people in the Czech Republic believe in God, although some have doubts, according to a recent survey on faith conducted by STEM/ MARK and commissioned by the Christian Maranatha non-profit organization. Overall, 35 percent of respondents stated they believe in some higher power, while 23 percent do not believe in any in God or a higher power.
The survey showed that 48 percent of respondents were led to believe in God by their families. Before reaching adulthood, 57 percent of these people realized their faith in God or a higher power. According to the survey, women, people over the age of 60, and inhabitants of Moravia, in the southeast part of Czechia, are more likely to believe in God.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, five percent of people changed their attitude toward faith and God — 2 percent of whom did not believe, and now they do, and 3 percent went through an opposite scenario. According to the survey, the pandemic made a fifth of respondents reflect on the meaning of life on Earth.
Regarding the opinion on the Ten Commandments, 57 percent of people said they knew about them, but even without them, they say they know what is and is not right. The commandments are important for 8 percent of people. However, more than half of the respondents believe that leaders of the state and prominent public figures should strive to make the values based on the commandments more professed in Czech society. Overall, 85 percent of respondents think they do not need faith in God to have moral principles.
When it comes to the Bible, 56 percent of respondents have not read it, and 50 percent of respondents consider it a historical source partly based on historical events. Five percent of respondents see it as historical truth, and 19 percent said it is a historically untrue source of stories. Nineteen percent of respondents said they would like to read the Bible in the future.
Only 2 percent of people in Czechia attend church services at least once a week. Fifty-seven percent of respondents attend less than once a year. Seven percent of people attend Christmas midnight mass regularly, and 45 percent of respondents do not attend church at Christmas at all.
In connection with the origin of life on Earth, almost half of the respondents think it was a coincidence, while 15 percent of people believe in the involvement of a higher power. Eight percent of respondents are convinced that it was God’s doing.
The survey also focused on how much people talk about some topics. For example, 72 percent of respondents said that they do not discuss the existence of God with others, and about half of people usually do not even talk about the existence of a higher power or how the universe and man could have come into being.
Previous surveys have determined that Czechia is the second-most atheist country in the world after Japan.
