Religion in Latvian Society. Current State and Historic Background

Essay from the year 2024 in the subject Theology - Comparative Religion Studies, University of Latvia (Faculty of Business, Management and Economics), course: A History of Latvian Culture: 20th Century, language: English, abstract: This essay focuses on the role religion has in contemporary Latvian society. How the religion nowadays is shaped by the history of the country and how the history of the country was and is shaped by its religion. It also dives into what Latvians believe, how many Latvians believe and how many don't. Like many other countries, Latvia's history and culture are (heavily) shifted by religion. Not only was it one of the last European countries to get christianized , but it nowadays also has a large portion of people who consider themselves as non-believers. Despite that, all the other prominent Christian confessions (albeit different in proportion) are also present in Latvia - which can be seen as a result of the country 'standing at the crossroads' of different historic empires and cultures and thus being comprised of different influences. Nowadays Latvia's religious believers are divided into mostly Lutheranism (36,51%), then also Catholicism (19%), and the Eastern Orthodoxy (13,49%). After that, there are also other Christian confessions (1,42%), other believers (0.03%) and people who don't believe at all (31.09%). These numbers were given out by the Ministry of Justice for the year 2019. In this regard Latvia can be seen as a special case in (Eastern) Europe. Not only is the country different from the majority of other European states in regard to their main religion. Latvia is also - especially in Eastern Europe - one of the most secular states.