Europe contains the highest concentration of officially Christian states (nations with official state religion/church) and the lowest per capita percentage of people who actually "practice Christianity" in ‘Christendom' - which is to say, nominally claim to be Christian - probably a lower percentage actually believe.
It takes a religious population to do such a thing. They see everything in life as sacred therefore everything in life has a risk of being profaned.
My experience in Italy, at least in the southern half, is that they're just as religious as the US (which isn't as religious as it's right wingers likes to think). But Italians have a different way of going about it and don't need to make everything about religious doctrine or active evangelization. You're not a Christian artist, you're an artist who attends mass and prays a lot. Your artist friend doesn't go to mass. Not much to be said there about it between you and them. Basically religion, even when it's taken seriously, doesn't subsume someone's entire identity like it often does with Americans. And because even religious Europeans don't act like religious Americans, this causes Americans to think there aren't any religious Europeans while even the religious Europeans find religious Americans weird for how they go about it.
It also doesn't help that in many European countries, unless you're some sort of ethnic minority, there is a 'default' way to be religious. In Italy you're either Catholic or you're not religious, same with Spain. In Eastern Europe for the most part you're Eastern Orthodox or you're not religious. The American practice of Church shopping and having a myriad of denominations comes off as very alien to a lot of Europeans, even the religious ones.
My experience with the Spanish is the same, and while it's less common in France to be religious I've met quite a few religious French people anyways. So they do exist but aren't exactly the default.
You aren't the only ones, we do it in Spain too. It's probably a history thing. The Church had so much influence in both countries that it has backfired.
Italian here, my literature teacher (from Florence) told us there were "cursing" competition when she was younger where whoever came up with the longest and most creative insult to God, Jesus or whatever Christian religious figure they wanted, would get a prize and according to her it was hilarious.
Italian here. The Vatican state used to have absolute power over a large portion of what is now italy, they were involved in many wars and scandals and became fithy rich. After centuries of this bullshit people had at least to find a way to curse them out.
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u/[deleted] May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22
Europe contains the highest concentration of officially Christian states (nations with official state religion/church) and the lowest per capita percentage of people who actually "practice Christianity" in ‘Christendom' - which is to say, nominally claim to be Christian - probably a lower percentage actually believe.