The “secularization hypothesis” is seductive and common, but if you google, you’ll see that it’s debated whether societies do in fact become less religious as they get richer.
Honestly, I’m so uninformed any opinion I have on the subject is almost totally uncertain. I’ve typed out multiple replies to this comment, and deleted them all because I simply didn’t have a high enough confidence rating. Sorry!
OTOH, religions can either get more or less popular, so all things being equal (which I doubt they are in real life) lowered popularity is evidence for the laws working.
… which is significantly lower than before it was outlawed.
Had it never been officially discouraged in the first place, I would still expect it to be less popular in 2013 than 1913. Wouldn’t you?
The “secularization hypothesis” is seductive and common, but if you google, you’ll see that it’s debated whether societies do in fact become less religious as they get richer.
Honestly, I’m so uninformed any opinion I have on the subject is almost totally uncertain. I’ve typed out multiple replies to this comment, and deleted them all because I simply didn’t have a high enough confidence rating. Sorry!
OTOH, religions can either get more or less popular, so all things being equal (which I doubt they are in real life) lowered popularity is evidence for the laws working.
But is still higher than other Western countries today, and is a very sharp rise over the past twenty years, which may be still continuing.
Would this be true if communism hadn’t fallen?
Still, you’re right, it doesn’t seem to have stuck.