_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Lagging church attendance
Youths seeking “my way”
A recent poll on religion and religious conduct in Chile shows that, despite the claim by 95 percent of Chileans to believe in God, church attendance in the country is among the lowest in Latin America.
According to the poll, carried out by the Gallup organization, only 33.6 percent “regularly” attend church, temple, or synagogue. The rate of churchgoing among women is twice that of men.
According to Francisco Castillo, professor of religious studies at La Republica University, “Chile was considered a conservative and religious country until very recently, but modernity is definitively changing the Chilean face.”
“There is still a longing and desire for the sacred, but there is also a desire to live religion ‘my way,’ away from institutions,” Castillo said. He added:
Young people are not opposed to religion and are still searching for God and the supernatural, but usually take a more skeptical stand toward institutions and norms. Nevertheless, those same young people usually become more religious when they become responsible for a family and start having kids.
According to the poll, 65 percent of people practicing their religion are 40 or older, while teenagers make up only 10 percent. According to the poll, the highest rate of religious practice is found in the lowest and highest socio-economic levels—40.5 percent and 34.5 percent respectively. In the middle class, religious practice is only 28.5 percent.