Germans lose feeling with Christianity

The two largest German churches are losing more and more members, and the agreement with Christian beliefs is also dwindling PRO reports. Only 37 percent of the population still believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

According to a survey in December 2021, by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy, 28 percent of the German population belongs to the Protestant Church and 25 percent to the Catholic Church. That is less than previous years and thus fits in a trend of disconnection from the Church.

However, only 12 percent of the Protestants and 23 percent of the Catholics genuinely feel connected to the Church and says it believes. According to the surveyors, the erosion of the Christian faith becomes evident because 6 percent of Catholics and 11 percent of the Protestants even agree that religion is unnecessary.

Especially young people seem to lose their ties with the Christian religion. Distrust towards churches grows.

Three levels of erosion

According to the survey, there are three levels of erosion of Christianity. In the first step, people lose faith in the essential contents of the Christian beliefs, for example, in the Divinity of Christ, in which only 37 percent of the population still believes, compared to 56 percent in 1986. The next stage is reached when many people decide to end their membership of a Church. The last level consists of turning away from the Christian cultural tradition.

It is, however, remarkable that 70 percent of the Germans still believes that Christianity belongs to Germany. Also, most non-believers agreed with that statement.

Hamburg historian Thomas Großbölting predicts that the influence of the churches in politics and society will decline sharply, Katholisch.de reports.

He points at the increasing number of non-denominational people and the growing religious plurality as the reason for this decline. Also, the abuse scandal undermined the credibility of the Churches.