Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.01.1990, Blaðsíða 237

Trúarlíf íslendinga
and psychic research have exerted considerable influence upon Icelandic
religious beliefs and views of life; these matters were well examined in Dr.
Erlendur Haraldsson’s detailed survey of 1978.
In the present survey, a third of the respondents said that they professed the
Christian faith, while more than 40% said that their faith was individual and
personal. Only 2% said that religion is an illusion, while an additíonal few said
that they had no interest in religious matters. About 6% thus opposed relig-
ion or said that it was unimportant, while 10% were unsure of their own relig-
ious stance. Each of the large groups professing religious faith maintain inter-
nally consistent positíons. Those who profess Christianity were more apt to give
„Christian" answers to the various questíons concerning faith and religious life
than were those adhering to a personal faith. The former group is more highly
influenced by the traditional core of Christían teachings, as comes out clearly
in the attitudes expressed toward the church and its sacraments and also to-
ward ethical questions such as abortion and sexuality. In moral matters, those
who profess Christianity are more conservative than those who say that they
practice religion after their own individual fashion. When religious stance is
compared with age, gender and education as a variable explaining attitudes
toward these ethical questions, it emerges that religious stance is the most
important factor in connection with abortion and adultery, while age is the
most important in connection with attitudes toward sexual relations between
unmarried persons.
A difference in attitude toward Jesus Christ among those professing Chris-
tianity, on the one hand, and those professing a personal faith, on the other,
provides clear evidence of differing basic attitudes toward Christianity. Those
in the former group emphasize the religious role of Jesus as the Son of God
and the savior of man, while those in the latter group look upon him more as
a moral paragon. There is likewise a strong difference between the two groups
in the stance taken toward life after death.
The religious views of those professing individual faith reflect the pluralism
and subjectívism of modern society where each person considers himself free
to accept or reject such views on the basis of his own reasons and decisions.
This does not imply that people have formed well-considered views in opposi-
tíon to that of Christianity or that they reject the Christían faith as such. Rather
they select from Christíanity that which they think meets their particular needs
and ignore the remainder. Given such individualistic standards, religious
needs will clearly be satisfied in a variety of different ways.
In 1984, part of an international survey of values was conducted in Iceland.
It showed that Icelanders are rather devout and that many of them find great
strength and comfort in their religious faith. The present survey confirms this
finding. The large majority of Icelanders were taught to pray as children, and
even among the youngest Icelandic parents praying with the children is com-
mon. The faith directed at „comfort and strength" reveals itself in ideas of God
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