The Pew Research Center ranked Spain as the 16th out of 34 European countries in levels of religiosity, with 21% of the population declaring they were "highly religious" in the poll.[3] 3% of Spaniards consider religion as one of their three most important values, lower than the 5% European average.[4]
Judaism and Christianity were introduced in the Iberian Peninsula in Roman times,[5][6][7] with the latter absorbing many elements from "pagan" practices that survived for a while even among Christianized populations.[8]Islam was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula after the Muslim conquest in the 8th century, which resulted in the establishment of Al-Andalus.[9] In the late 15th to early 16th century, Jews and Muslims were forced to choose between conversion or expulsion,[10][11] with the fostering of Catholic uniformity across the territory remaining a major concern for both State and Church authorities throughout the two following centuries.[12] Connected to the Old Regime, the Catholic Church became the most controversial institution in Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries, struggling to find ways to relate to the nascent liberal society as well as clashing with governments seeking to find an acceptable delimitation of the role of religion in public affairs.[13] Since the end of the Francoist dictatorship practical secularization has grown strongly.[14][15][16][17][18] The 1978 Constitution abolished Catholicism as the official religion of the state, while recognizing "the religious beliefs of all Spaniards" and establishing "appropriate cooperation" with the Catholic Church and other confessions.[19]
According to the Spanish Center for Sociological Research, 52.0% of Spanish citizens self-identify as Catholics, (35.2% define themselves as non-practising, while 16.8% as practising), 2.4% as followers of other faiths (including Islam, Protestant Christianity, Buddhism etc.), and 44.1% identify as: atheists (16.8%), agnostics (14.4%) or non-believers (12.9%), as of September 2023.[20]
Most Spaniards do not participate regularly in weekly religious worship. A July 2021 study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 36% never attend mass, 20.8% barely ever attend mass, 19% attend mass a few times a year, 6.8% two or three times per month, 13.4% every Sunday and holidays, and 2.9% multiple times per week.[21] According to a 2021 survey, those who go to church several times a year are 17.3% of the total population; those who go several times a month, 9.3%; those who go every Sunday and all holy days of obligation, 14.9%; and those who go several times a week, 4.3%.[22]
^CIS."Barómetro de Septiembre de 2023", 10,104 respondents. The question was "¿Cómo se define Ud. en materia religiosa: católico/a practicante, católico/a no practicante, creyente de otra religión, agnóstico/a, indiferente o no creyente, o ateo/a?". Page 20.
^Gannon, Martin J.; Pillai, Rajnandini (2015). Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 34 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity. SAGE Publications. ISBN9781483340067.
^-Jofré, Rosa Bruno (2019). Educationalization and Its Complexities: Religion, Politics, and Technology. University of Toronto Press. ISBN9781487505349.
^Cite error: The named reference NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference CSMONITOR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Constitución española [Constitution of Spain] (PDF). BOE. Vol. 311. 29 December 1978. BOE-A-1978-31229. Retrieved 26 April 2024. No religion shall have a state character. The public authorities shall take into account the religious beliefs of Spanish society and shall consequently maintain appropriate cooperation relations with the Catholic Church and other confessions.
^CIS."Barómetro de Septiembre de 2023", 10,104 respondents. The question was "¿Cómo se define Ud. en materia religiosa: católico/a practicante, católico/a no practicante, creyente de otra religión, agnóstico/a, indiferente o no creyente, o ateo/a?".
^Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas-CIS."Barómetro de Julio de 2021", 3,814 respondents. The question was "¿Cómo se define Ud. en materia religiosa: católico/a practicante, católico/a no practicante, creyente de otra religión, agnóstico/a, indiferente o no creyente, o ateo/a?".