The case
Three million people do not belong to any church – a heterogeneous group of militant atheists, esoterics and the religiously indifferent.
Source: Simon Hehli, e-paper from 10.02.2024 / NZZ – and bsf
The commentary
Something epochal has happened in Switzerland, writes Simon Hehli: the non-denominational have overtaken Catholics to become the largest religious sociological group in the country. Today, one in three people over the age of 15 belong to this group. This was recently announced by the Federal Statistical Office. More than three million people no longer belong to a church.
It is not so easy to characterise the non-denominational beyond socio-demographic attributions. This is also due to the fact that research to date has posed the questions too narrowly, says sociologist Robert Schäfer from the University of Basel. “We asked people how they feel about Christianity, how often they go to church, how often they pray. And so we found out what they no longer do. But what they do, what interests them – we know little about that.”
The interface between religion and investment has also not yet been investigated. This is also confirmed by Roman Catholic theology professor and Islam specialist Stephan Leimgruber in Lucerne.
There is no research on the investment behaviour of the various religions and denominations. We know what certain denominational groups are not allowed to do. However, the possible differences in performance have never been empirically analysed. Investigating and perhaps bridging the gap between spirituality and investment remains a goal: according to Leimgruber, there is a deep connection between the two areas, based on the common pursuit of a “higher purpose and higher meaning”. He emphasises that Christian and Islamic religions worship a single God and have at least three pillars in common, but vary in religious practice: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving. This synergy is particularly evident in the area of charity investing, where individuals or groups seek not only financial returns, but also alignment with their deeper values and beliefs.
