During our time in Europe so far we have seen many different monuments, memorials, historical sites, and many cathedrals. Visiting the cathedrals has been a very interesting experience. One of the things that struck me the most was that Europe is filled with so many restored and/or preserved cathedrals that serve no functional purpose other than historical sites. The majority of old cathedrals and and churches we have been too no longer hold church services. Many have an entry fee to simply get in to see the sanctuary, solidifying their status as memorials and tourist attractions.
I find it odd that people here do care a deep amount for the cathedrals and they are very important to the cities that they exist in, but only for their historical value. Participation in organized religion in Europe is almost non-existent based on what I’ve seen. In some countries, reports show that an overwhelming majority of people identify as atheist, such as the Czech Republic where a whopping 78% of people have no religious affiliation or beliefs. I don’t understand how in the span of a century, from the time when my grandpa was born in the Netherlands until now, Europe has gone from being staunchly religious to almost completely irreligious. People may claim to believe in God or that they say their prayers and are moral people, but they have no affiliation with organised religion.
Personally I find this reality saddening. Europe has largely turned its back on God, and I can’t help but wonder why. Talking to our bus driver Joop, who himself claims to be religious but said he never attends church services, he said that he thinks people are so irreligious because things are so good in Europe right now, and people think that they don’t need God because of that. This is a valid point, but it seems like the US should be seeing similar levels of irreligiousness as Europe, but yet the US is overwhelmingly more religious than Europe from what I have seen, read, and experienced. I don’t really have a good explanation for why Europe has given up on religion. It saddens me to see the current state of religion in Europe because of this and it has tainted some of the cathedral experiences with that knowledge in mind.