Majority of Czechs reject belief in God, Pew report reveals

A new report released by the Pew Research Center has found that a majority of Czechs are religiously unaffiliated, and many are rejecting the belief in God.

The findings of the study, published on Monday, indicated that only 29 percent of Czechs believe in God, and 66 percent do not. As many as 72 percent do not identify with a religious group, including 25 percent who say they are "atheist" and 46 percent who describe their religion as "nothing in particular."

Only 27 percent of Czechs say they believe in Heaven, and only 19 percent say they believe in Hell.

The latest figures from the Czech Republic stands in contrast to the statistics in other nations in Eastern and Central Europe where a majority of adults believe in God and still identify with a religious group.

The survey found that a there is still widespread belief in God across 18 countries in the region, with a median of 86 percent.

Over 90 percent of people expressed belief in God in nations such as Georgia, Armenia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, and Greece.

Pew noted that the Czech Republic has long had a large unaffiliated population, with 64 percent of adults saying they were raised without religious affiliation.

The research group predicts that the nation will remain largely unaffiliated for the foreseeable future, as the surveys finding indicated that 79 percent of Czech parents are raising their children unaffiliated.

The report further noted that 29 percent of Czech adults who were raised in a religious group are now unaffiliated.

Czechs are much less likely to have conservative social views and participate in religious activities compared to people from neighboring countries. Eighty-four percent of Czechs support legal abortion, while 65 percent approve of same-sex marriage, which was among the highest levels in the region.

The report also noted that Czechs are more likely than others to say that religious institutions focus too much on rules. As much as 55 percent of Czech adults say religious institutions are focused on money and power, while 42 percent say the institutions are too involved in politics.

The survey conducted by Pew in May revealed that the majority of Central and Eastern European nations have embraced religious belief after the fall of the Soviet Union and the atheistic Communist regimes.

Most of the Eastern and Central European countries continue to hold strong Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian majorities, but the study indicated that a median of only 10 percent of Orthodox Christians regularly attend church.