Most young Christians in Iceland do not believe God created the earth, survey reveals

Most Christians around the world believe that God created the heavens and the earth as stated in the book of Genesis in the Bible, however, this is not the case in one European country.

Iceland, situated between Greenland and Ireland, was considered one of the most Christian nations in Europe. Statistics showed that about 20 years ago, about 87 percent of the total population are Christians.

However, times have changed for the Nordic nation, whose Christian populace has shrunk to less than 50 percent.

According to a Gallup poll, younger people are less religious in Iceland, while adults tend to be more inclined to religion compared to the other parts of the world where younger Christians are more active in church and ministry.

Bjarni Jonsson, managing director of the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, said that the trend was due to secularization among young people. Jonsson, who is a member of an atheist non-government organization also said that the increase in education and broad-mindedness of Iceland's youth made them open to theories other than creationism, or the belief that God created the earth.

Meanwhile, Solveig Anna Boasdottir, who is a professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Iceland, said that while young individuals of the nation do not believe that God created the earth, they still consider themselves as Christian.

In fact, Boasdottir said that these young Christians believe that science and religion may be mixed together in order to explain some existential truths in the world.

"Theories of science are broadly accepted among both young and old," Boasdottir stated. "That does not necessarily affect people's faith in God."  

According to The Washington Post, thousands of Icelanders suddenly joined the ancient Zuist movement last year - a religion centered on worshipping Sumerian. Within two weeks about 3000 people had reportedly signed up, while some of the new Zuist members have less interest in the movement's spritiual goals than in an annoucement that the Zuist church would pay its members the amount of money they were taxed, amounting to around $80 a year.