What Religion Do The French Believe In?

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What Religion Do The French Believe In?

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Answer 1

France is a secular country, which means that religion and state are separate. I guess it’s because of this that the French government don’t keep any statistics about religion, either – they don’t see it as any of their business, which is probably a good thing!

However, there have been several unofficial polls on the religious beliefs of the French.

Religion in France

In 2006, 51% of France’s population identified as Catholic. From my experience, it tends to be the rural communities that are more religious than the urban ones – for example, most kids in Normandy are baptized and have had their First Communion ceremony, but if you go somewhere like Paris, religion isn’t such a big deal.
Other than Catholicism, France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, with over 10% of people in France naming Islam as their religion.
Only 31% of French citizens said that they weren’t religious, compared to 50.7% in the United Kingdom.

Answer 2

France is a secular country and freedom of religion is a constitutional right there. According to a January 2007 poll by the Catholic World News, 51% of French were Catholics, 31% had no religion, 10% said they had no opinion on religion or they were from any other religion, 4% said they are Muslims, 3% were Protestant and 1% followed Judaism.

However, In France, tensions occasionally erupt about alleged discrimination against minorities, especially against Muslims.