ohwilleke

We hear a lot about the rise of secularism in the U.K., but less firm data about the rest of Europe. One interesting indicator of the rise of secularism in Italy, is the rise of the civil marriage in Italy. In 1961, only 1.6% of all marriages were civil marriages. In 2000, 24.4% of all marriages were civil marriages.

Source: <a href="http://www.istat.it/Anumital/italy2001/italy2001.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.istat.it/Anumital/italy2001/italy2001.pdf</a>

[ July 23, 2002: Message edited by: ohwilleke ]</p>

Foxhole Atheist

I think in considering that Italy is the seat of Christianity, whether Christians wish to believe that or not, this is a step in the right direction, don’t you think?

DMB

Another indicator is that for a long time the birth rate in Italy has been very low, despite the Vatican's ban on effective means of contraception.

ohwilleke

True, although I like the marriage indicator even more, because it is a public event, and because the kind of wedding you have has few practical consequences. If you use birth control, you may be saying . . . I believe in God, but not in the Pope's ruling on this, or I believe in the Pope's decree, but don't have the money not to sin . . . if you have a secular wedding, you are simply saying, "I don't need the churches blessing."

Boro Nut

Well that's Italians for you. Get two families together for a wedding, and 75.6% of the time it ends up in an argument. Perhaps the improvement in civility since 1961 is as a result of immigration. What do you think?

Boro Nut