Religion in Belgium

A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, long considered more religious than the Brussels! or Wallonia regions in Belgium, showed 55% of its inhabitants calling themselves religious while 36% claimed believing that God created the world..

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,

• 43% of Belgian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
• 29% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
• 27% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".

The Status of Recognized Denominations

Christianity is traditionally seen as Belgium's majority religion, but by 2004 weekly Sunday church attendance had dropped to about 4 to 8%. The second largest religion practised in Belgium is Islam (3.5%). There are small minorities of Buddhists, Hindus and Jews (all of them individually less than 1%). Belgian law officially recognizes those denominations, as well as the secular organizations (Dutch: vrijzinnige levensbeschouwelijke organisaties, French: organisations laïques). Recently, Buddhists have also applied for official recognition. Official recognition means that priests (called "counsellors" within the secular organizations) receive a state stipend, and that parents can choose any recognized denomination to provide religious education to their children if they attend an official school.

After attaining autonomy from the federal state level in religious matters, the Flemish regional parliament voted a new Flemish regional decree on recognized religious denominations, installing democratically elected church councils for all recognized religious denominations and made them subject to the same administrative rules as local government bodies - with important repercussions as far as financial accounting and open government are concerned. In 2006, exceptionally, Roman Catholic church councils were still appointed by the bishops they resorted under, as the Roman Catholic Church still had not decided on the criteria for eligibility. Many Flemings baptized in the Roman Catholic faith as infants have since become agnostic, or converted to another faith.

History

Religion was one of the differences between the Roman Catholic south and the Protestant north of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which eventually broke up in 1830 when the south seceded to form Belgium.

Since 1830, Roman Catholicism has also played an important role in Belgium's politics. One example is the so-called "school wars" ("guerres scolaires" in French) between the philosophically left parties (Liberals first, Liberals and Socialists later) and Catholics which took place between 1879 and 1884 and later between 1954 and 1958. Another important controversy happened in 1990 when the Roman Catholic and very religious King Baudouin I refused to officially ratify with his signature an abortion bill that had already been approved by parliament: Prime Minister Wilfried Martens was asked by the King to find a solution, which consisted of having Baudouin declared unfit to fulfill his constitutional duties as a monarch for some days, while Government ministers signed in his place.

Hinduism also has followers in Belgium. i love you all. o... wait not you!!!!!!!!!!!(i like $ @ yahoo.com)

See also

• Scientology in Belgium

• Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg
• Hindus Vaishnava university in Belgium
• Holy Corner, a small Ghent ecumenic neighbourhood with four officially recognized churches
• Islam in Belgium
• History of the Jews in Belgium
• Religion by country
• Roman Catholicism in Belgium

External links

• Namaskar - Hindu Association of Brussels, Belgium
• The Hindu Forum of Belgium, comprised of about 20 organisations fights Swastika ban
• Rules for the election (or rather: appointment) of Flemish Roman Catholic church councils, by Kerknet Vlaanderen (in Dutch)