SWS: 73% of Filipinos believe religion is very important

Majority of Filipinos consider religion as very important in their lives, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed.

ON BENDED KNEES A devotee prays at the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Baclaran, Parañaque City on April 1, 2021 as the nation paused to mark the passion of Jesus Christ. PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIA

According to the survey conducted from November 21 to 25 last year, 73 percent of adult Filipinos said religion was very important.

The latest figure is 10 points below the record 83 percent in December 2019 and 4 points above the 69 percent in June 2019.

Some 9 percent said religion was somewhat important, 3 percent said it was not very important and 15 percent said it was not important at all.

The survey found that 46 percent attended religious services every week, 25 percent attended monthly and 27 percent attended occasionally. The remaining 1 percent said they never attended religious services.

In the 2019 survey, 44 percent said they attended religious services weekly, 34 percent attended monthly, 21 percent attended occasionally and 1 percent said they never attended religious services.

The survey found that 56 percent attended services in places of worship, 24 percent watched services online or on television, and 5 percent both attended in person and watched online or on TV.

The remaining 14 percent did not participate in any religious service in the past three months.

Compared to the December 2019 poll, the November survey showed that the percentage of those who consider religion as very important fell slightly among Catholics, from 84 percent to 71 percent.

There was a similar drop among other Christians, from 78 percent to 71 percent.
SWS defines other Christians as members of faiths other than Roman Catholic and Iglesia ni Cristo.

The drop among Muslims was hardly discernible, moving from 94 percent to 93 percent.
It rose among Iglesia ni Cristo members, from 69 percent to 88 percent.

The percentage of those who regard religion as very important is highest in Mindanao (88 percent), followed by Metro Manila and Balance Luzon (70 percent each), and the Visayas (64 percent).

Compared to December 2019, the number of those who said religion was very important fell in the Visayas, down from 85 percent; in Balance Luzon, down from 82 percent; and in Metro Manila, down from 81 percent.

It hardly changed in Mindanao, moving from 85 percent in December 2019 to 88 percent in November 2020.