4 ms·

The eastern block countries if I'm not mistaken practice Christianity so I don't think religion is as crucial a factor.

Mikeb85 11y ago
Yup but they practice Orthodox Christianity which has no issue with taking an allegorical view of some of the details of the creation story (Catholics are like this too, to a degree). Fundamentalists/evangelicals are a minority in the Christian world, and are to Christianity what the Salafists/Wahhabists are to Islam...
- nzp 11y ago
  I'm not sure about that. Orthodox Christianity is pretty strict about that kind of stuff. I strongly doubt any Orthodox priest or monk with authority would say that there's any allegory in the creation story. There are some contemporary theologians and bishops who might attempt to court modern public with "updated" views, but that's hardly official teaching. The reason you don't hear much from Orthodox Churches on this topic is that most would find it absurd to even discuss questions such as these.
mamon 11y ago
Eastern block countries after half the century of communism are mostly atheistic, even if they appear religious on the outside. I think that some pretty low scores (less than 50%) may be due to poor education - some people simply couldn't comprehend question, for it being too abstract.
- nzp 11y ago
  Pretty much. Here in Serbia, the official number is IIRC > 90 % Orthodox Christian, but out of that number, hardly anyone actually believes in god in all seriousness and in line with the Church doctrine. Also hardly anyone goes to church on a regular basis, in fact I'd say that the idea of weekly church attendance is something that most people picked up from American pop culture. There even are fairly respected local priests who squarely say to people there is no god, and then proceed to woo women, eat meat on fasting days (there's even a "spell" with which they bless the non-fish meat to turn it into fish) and so on. It's pretty hilarious really. :) The last and only minister of education that proposed creationism be taught in schools was laughed out of office.
  - myth_buster 11y ago
    Thanks TIL.
  - ArekDymalski 11y ago
    >(there's even a "spell" with which they bless the non-fish meat to turn it into fish) What is the name of this spell/ritual? It's so hilarious that i'd like to learn more.

Yup but they practice Orthodox Christianity which has no issue with taking an allegorical view of some of the details of the creation story (Catholics are like this too, to a degree). Fundamentalists/evangelicals are a minority in the Christian world, and are to Christianity what the Salafists/Wahhabists are to Islam...

nzp 11y ago
I'm not sure about that. Orthodox Christianity is pretty strict about that kind of stuff. I strongly doubt any Orthodox priest or monk with authority would say that there's any allegory in the creation story. There are some contemporary theologians and bishops who might attempt to court modern public with "updated" views, but that's hardly official teaching. The reason you don't hear much from Orthodox Churches on this topic is that most would find it absurd to even discuss questions such as these.

mamon 11y ago

Eastern block countries after half the century of communism are mostly atheistic, even if they appear religious on the outside. I think that some pretty low scores (less than 50%) may be due to poor education - some people simply couldn't comprehend question, for it being too abstract.

nzp 11y ago
Pretty much. Here in Serbia, the official number is IIRC > 90 % Orthodox Christian, but out of that number, hardly anyone actually believes in god in all seriousness and in line with the Church doctrine. Also hardly anyone goes to church on a regular basis, in fact I'd say that the idea of weekly church attendance is something that most people picked up from American pop culture. There even are fairly respected local priests who squarely say to people there is no god, and then proceed to woo women, eat meat on fasting days (there's even a "spell" with which they bless the non-fish meat to turn it into fish) and so on. It's pretty hilarious really. :) The last and only minister of education that proposed creationism be taught in schools was laughed out of office.
- myth_buster 11y ago
  Thanks TIL.
- ArekDymalski 11y ago
  >(there's even a "spell" with which they bless the non-fish meat to turn it into fish) What is the name of this spell/ritual? It's so hilarious that i'd like to learn more.