Norwegians least religious in Europe

A new study suggests that one in 10 Norwegians say they're not religious at all, while most say they're only moderately so. That makes Norwegians the least religious in Europe.

The survey, financed by the European Commission, asked respondents to rank how religious they were on a scale from zero to 10.

Only 9 percent of Norwegians questioned ranked themselves with an "8" or higher, reports newspaper Vaart Land.

None of the other 15 countries participating in the survey scored so low.

Norwegians also ranked low in church attendance. In Poland, on the other hand, half the population attends church services at least one a week, according to survey results. Greece, Ireland and Portugal also were on the other end of the scale from Norway.

Professor Harald Hegstad at the University of Oslo said Norwegians are "spiritually lazy." Earlier studies have suggested that while the vast majority of Norwegians are members of the state church because they're automatically born into it, only around 4 percent regularly attend church services.

"We have a sort of ritualized Christianity here that doesn't demand much of people," he said.