Prague, Dec 22 (CTK) – More than one third of Czechs visit a church during the Christmas holidays, including those who are not believers, but the number of the Christmas churchgoers has been declining, according to a public opinion poll released by the STEM agency to CTK yesterday.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said they plan to visit a church during Christmas this year. This is a lower number than in previous years. In 1995, this answer was given by 45 percent of respondents.
In the fresh poll, 33 percent of respondents said they believe in God.
The share of believers in the population has been shrinking as well. In 1995, religious faith was declared by 39 percent of those polled.
In latest census in 2011, over 3.6 million people said they have no religious faith, a decline compared with the previous census in 2001.
Since 2011, the STEM polls have registered a higher number of the people who say they definitely do not believe in God.
At present, they make up 41 percent of the population, the fresh poll showed.
One third of respondents said they come from a religious family. Their share, too, is lower than in 1995.
The share of churchgoers is far lower than the share of those who believe in God.
Eight percent of people go to church once in a month at least, and 10 percent do so several times in a year.
People´s declining interest in divine services has been reflected by the counting of churchgoers, done once in five years, in 2014.
Over 400,000 people regularly visited divine services in 2014, which is a 7-percent decline against a similar survey in 2009.
The 2014 survey showed that young people go to church and that the number of churchgoers has not been declining in cities, mainly Prague.
According to Czech bishops, the Czech Republic is shifting towards the west European approach to faith that is more individual and not tied to structures.
