American & Chinese (Dis)Belief

Worldwide, 62 percent of people define themselves as being religious, according to a poll by research institutes WIN and Gallup. The United States is not the most religious country in the world, but still 56 percent of respondents say they are religious in any way. The most religious people can be found in Thailand (98 percent) and Nigeria (97 percent).

However, American religiosity sticks out if you compare it to the attitudes in the least religious country: China, where 67 percent of people identify themselves as being "convinced atheists", which means they are not just "not religious" (this could also be described as "agnostic"), but believe in not believing in religion.

The researchers also found that "levels of religiosity diminish as income and education levels of the interviewees increase". However, in China the explanation is more likely to be found in the ideological underpinnings of Communism. The question is whether believing in not believing in religion is nevertheless a quasi-religious state of mind in itself.