is rather interesting (see the bbc website for results), UK appearing the most sceptical, non-church going etc of nearly anywhere apart from Russia, which has the advantage over us by being communist and religion thus being discouraged. The reasons are pretty obvious - the UK as a whole doesn't really encourage being religious, it being seen as a bit of an embarassment if someone is. To quote Raymond Briggs' mum in Ethal & Ernest, 'I don't want him to be religious, I just want him to be married in a church! It's so much nicer!' The fact that our PM is religious tends to be seen as a bit suspicious and of too much influence on his personality.
The most interesting bit is the question on whether the world would be a more peaceful place without religion. Britain was highest, with 29% believing it would be. Not a big shock, considering for the last few decades, we've been living with the Troubles. Not directly caused by religion, it's at least half turf war, but when the two sides specifically identify themselves as belonging to different denominations as the reason for attacking each other or making innocent bystanders targets, you can see people start to think 'if there wasn't religion, this would wipe out the reason they have for fighting each other.' Plus, if you've ever sat through a history class in the UK, nearly any time religion is discussed as part of a historical event, it's normally a violent one and the religious lot are portrayed as out-of-their-tree fanatics. We get taught the Reformation, we get taught Bloody Mary, who burned hundreds in the name of religious strife, we get taught the Crusades, greed given a religious veneer, we get taught Puritan fanaticism... basically, religion comes off as bad. They've got a point. To be frank, I'm really surprised the poll didn't show Israel as being almost as high in the 'religion causes violence', but then, we're talking more about nationality and turf rather than religion there.
What I found most disturbing in the poll was the amount of people who said they'd die for their religion, no matter what proportion or country. It's a belief, people, it's not worth your damn life. No religion or set of beliefs laid down as commandments asks you to lay down your life for it. Only fanatics and zealots ask you to do that. And as a Mr. Pratchett once said, 'No cause is worth dying for. You can find another ten causes on the next street corner, but you've only got one life.'
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