Sweden, UK and Netherlands regard themselves as ‘more moral’; Greece, France and Italy, less so, Evangelical Focus

A large-scale survey of 30,000 people across 25 countries worldwide has confirmed huge differences in attitudes towards moral issues

Evangelical Focus has focused on the findings of Pew Research in the 10 European countries it analysed: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Sweden and Greece.

Europe shows a wide range, like the rest of the world, when asked whether people view their societies as morally good or bad.

Whilst the Greeks and the French are unsure whether they are good people (55% view their neighbours as morally good, 44% do not in the former case, 55% to 43% in the latter), the Swedes are the most optimistic, with 88% describing their compatriots as morally good compared to 12% who see them the other way round.

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When it comes to abortion, there is a huge divide in Europe between those who consider themselves Christians and those who consider themselves non-religious. In Spain, 40% of those who consider themselves Christians are against abortion, but only 8% of those who say they have no faith are against it. The picture is very similar in Poland (38% vs 9%), Italy (34% vs 9%) and Greece (34% vs 1%). The gap between those who self-identify as believers and non-believers is narrower in Germany (18% against abortion among believers and 11% among non-believers), France (13% vs 6%) and Sweden (7% vs 2%).

But overall, at least two-thirds of respondents in European countries have no moral objections to abortion, with this view held by over 80% of the population in Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Hungary (34%), Greece (30%) and Poland (28%) are the three countries where the most people consider that “homosexuality is morally unacceptable”, as asked by the pollsters. Even in these three countries, two-thirds of the population say it is “acceptable” or not an issue to be judged from a moral perspective.

Six European countries (Sweden, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and France) are at the other end of the spectrum, being the most favourable towards the moral acceptance of homosexuality worldwide, ranging from 94% to 87% in favour. The survey does not distinguish between homosexual orientation and practice.

Pew even asks Protestants and Catholics. In the Netherlands, 21% of Protestants consider abortion to be morally unacceptable, whilst only 4% of Catholics share this view. Or Hungary, where 45% of Protestants oppose it, compared to 35% of Catholics.

France (53%) and Germany (55%) are the countries where the lowest proportion of people consider having an affair whilst married to be morally unacceptable. Opposition is highest in Sweden (77%), Poland (80%) and the United Kingdom (81%).

The Netherlands and Germany are the countries where the consumption of pornography is least rejected (26% and 28% respectively), and only in Greece does a majority consider it immoral.

Gambling is viewed as immoral by 3 in 10 people in Hungary, France, Germany and Sweden; 4 in 10 in Spain, Poland and the Netherlands; and 7 in 10 in Greece and Italy.