The Pew Research Center survey released on Monday included results of research on attitudes of Europeans in issues related to religion, minorities, and key social policy issues. The report has been released worldwide on Monday at 3 pm Croatian time, with N1 television first reporting on some of the findings.

The complete report, along with notes on the methodology, can be found on Pew Research Center’s website.

Views on ethnic minorities

The difference in attitudes towards Muslims and Jews appear to be extreme across Europe. In almost every country in Central and Eastern Europe less than half of people polled said they would be prepared to accept a Muslim or a Jew into their family, while in Western Europe more than half said they would do so.

In Croatia, some 57 percent of people polled said they would accept a Muslim into their family, with 67 percent saying they would do so for a Jewish person. In that, Croatia ranked above the European average. Lithuania, Belarus, the Czech Republic, and Armenia ranked bottom of the list, with merely 7 percent of respondents willing to accept a Muslim person in their family.

Religion as key component of national identity

Relating national identity to religion was also found to differ significantly in Western Europe as opposed to Central and Eastern Europe, although not all countries fit the overall pattern. In most countries in the eastern part of the continent Christianity is considered an essential part of the national identity, with the highest percentages of respondents thinking so recorded in Armenia, Georgia, and Serbia.

In Croatia, 58 percent of respondents said religion was a major part of the national identity, with 42 saying this was less important.

Views on same-sex marriages

The same differences across the continent were observed in support for same-sex marriages. In Croatia some 31 percent of people polled said they were in favour of same-sex marriages, with 64 saying they are against them. In Serbia, the latter accounted for 83 percent of respondents, rising to 84 percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The highest percentage of people supporting same-sex marriages was observed in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain – and the largest opposition was found in Armenia and Georgia, where a mere 3 percent of people polled said they supported the concept.

Views on abortion

Although abortion is legal in most European countries, the divide was also obvious in matters of right to terminate pregnancy. Western European countries seem to be uniformly in support of legalised abortion, with Sweden, Denmark, and Finland topping the list. The least support for legal abortion was in Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.

In Croatia, 60 percent of those polled said they supported legalised abortion, with 37 percent saying abortion should be made illegal.

Importance of religion

Croatia ranked 6th in the number of people saying religion played an important role in their lives. Some 40 percent of respondents in Croatia said they attended church service at least once a month. The same percentage said they practised prayer on a daily basis.

Views on the separation of church and state

Europeans all over the continent seem to agree that religious institutions should be separate from the government. More than half of all respondents in all countries surveyed said religion should be kept separate from government policies. Swedes topped the chart in that respect, with Bosnia and Herzegovina ranking 3rd, with 76 percent of people polled saying religion should not get involved into politics.

Croatia ranked 10th, with 69 percent sharing the same opinion, while 27 percent said the government should support religious values.

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