Serbia Is among Europe's Most Religious Nations; 95 Percent of Population Declares Being Religious

A Belgrade daily writes today (October 6, 2011) that Serbs are among Europe's most religious nations, and adds that 95 percent of the population declared themselves as religious, according to the Orthodox Church Info blog.

The Vecernje Novosti newspaper asked the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarchy to comment on this "astonishing data."

"After decades of enforced atheism in our society, people have turned to the Church. The temptations that our state has been exposed to in the past years contribute to the strengthening of our faith," the daily quoted its SPC source.

Minister for Religion and Diaspora Srdan Sreckovic also commented on the report by saying that the state and the Church are and will remain separated, but noted that for Serbs, national and religious identity are one and the same.

Last year's U.S. State Department report noted that Serbia's population was made up of 85 percent Orthodox Serb Christians, five percent Roman Catholics, three percent Muslims, and 1.5 percent Protestants.