More Turks disassociate morality and faith in God – study

The number of people in Turkey who believe there is a connection between morality and a belief in God is declining, Euronews Turkish reported on Monday, citing a Pew Research study.

Some 75 percent of participants said they found it necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values in 2019, down from 84 percent in 2002, the study found.

The study, carried out in 34 countries, found a “strong inverse correlation” between GDP per capita and level of education, and believing faith in God is requirement for morality.

In Europe, Turkey’s neighbours Greece and Bulgaria had the highest ratio of people who believe morality and faith are connected, with 53 percent and 50 percent respectively, Pew found.

Only nine percent of Swedes said it was necessary to believe in God to be moral, followed by the Czech Republic’s 14 percent and France’s 15 percent.

In Sweden, 78 percent of participants didn’t believe religion played an important role in their lives, followed by 72 percent in the Czech Republic.

An overwhelming 89 percent of Turks surveyed, however, said religion was somewhat or very important in their lives.

Only eight percent of Turks said faith was not at all or not too important.