Seoul, South Korea - Nearly two out of 10 Koreans say they do not believe in the existence of god, according to a recent poll conducted in the United States.
In an Associated Press-Ipsos poll of the United States and nine of its allies on religious attitudes, 19 percent of Koreans said they did not believe in God, the highest percentage among nations polled, tied with France.
Another 6 percent of Koreans said they didn’t know if God exists and did not believe there was a way to find out.
The survey, which polled 1,000 adults in each participating nation on May 12-26, also covered Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Only 2 percent of the U.S. respondents and 1 percent of Mexicans said they didn’t believe in God.
Korea also had the highest percentage of respondents who said they didn’t have any religion at 41 percent. It is 10 percentage points higher than the second highest _ 31 percent recorded in Germany.
Australia had the third highest ratio of people without religion at 24 percent while Italy and Mexico showed the lowest at 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Nine percent of U.S. respondents did not affiliate themselves with any religious organization, the third lowest among surveyed nations.
According to the poll, Buddhism was the most popular religion in Korea with 24 percent of the respondents regarding themselves as its followers. Twenty-three percent and 11 percent identified Protestantism and Catholicism, respectively. The remaining 1 percent identified other religions.
Catholicism was the religion of choice in Italy (92 percent), Mexico (83 percent), Spain (80 percent), France (71 percent), Canada (39 percent) and Australia (27 percent). Protestantism was the most popular in the U.K. (56 percent), Germany (36 percent) and the U.S. (30 percent).
Asked whether religious leaders should take part in politics, 21 percent of Koreans and 37 percent of Americans said they approve. On the other hand, 12 percent of French respondents said they approve, the lowest approval rate for the interaction of religion and politics.
When asked how important religion is in their lives, 63 percent of South Koreans said it is important, the fifth highest behind Mexico (86 percent), the United States (84 percent), Italy (80 percent) and Canada (64 percent).
France had the lowest percentage of respondents who said religion was important in their lives at 37 percent.
The poll in each nation has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey results are available at http://wid.ap.org/polls/050606religion.html