Posted Sunday, June 8, 2003; 16.45BST

	DESMOND BOYLAN/REUTERS DECLINE: The convent attracts fewer these days ...

What may be new, however, is that the Christian establishment now sees and accepts itself as a minority force — an underdog, where in centuries past it literally ruled Europe. "Churches have always gone through periods when their influence is greater and periods when it was less. Now we are down," says German historian Jobst Schöne, a bishop in the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church. "Christianity will be a minority. Nobody should close his eyes to that fact."

In all of Ireland, just one Jesuit priest — Tony O'Riordan from County Cork — will be ordained this year. At least he believes in God; last week, the Church of Denmark suspended a pastor after he told a newspaper that God doesn't exist. That man may want to consider a career change, but he's not alone in breaking with religious traditions. According to the Third Wave of the European Values Study, a report by Tilburg University in the Netherlands that will be released to the public in July, only in Ireland, Malta and Poland do more than half the people go to church weekly. More than half of those polled in France, Britain, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands said that religion is not important to them.

The outside world bedazzles youth, and it's much harder for them than it was before. They are the ones most vulnerable today — IVAN DRAGICEVIC, visionary of Medjugorje, Bosnia

Governments are severing official ties to the faith that has been inextricably linked with European history since the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century. This week the European Union is debating a draft constitution that nods at the "spiritual impulse" in Europe's "heritage" but makes no mention of God or Christianity — despite the best lobbying efforts of Pope John Paul II. Most European countries no longer have state religions, and there's pressure to disestablish in Britain and Norway, two that still do. The crucifix has long since been taken down from public schoolhouse walls; today's argument is about whether teachers — or students — should be allowed to wear the Muslim veil. That's a reminder that Europe has good reasons to make the Christian God a little harder to find. In a pluralist society that takes pains not to exclude any religion or culture — and now includes more than 37 million Muslims — the days of Christianity as the "official" religion should be over.

It may sound strange to say, but in some ways Europe's faith has survived the church. While the Continent may be more secular than ever, God hasn't gone away for everyone. Many Europeans, able to distinguish between the message and its flawed human messengers, still find Him where they always have — in church. And many others who don't attend say they still believe in God and in the importance of religion, especially at life's key moments. Faith is more private, more personal, which means it may be harder to find and often more at odds with Christian orthodoxy. But in some places — among immigrants and youth — it is thriving and even growing.

The same Third Wave survey that shows a lack of interest in religion among half of Europe also shows enduring belief in God and some of faith's trappings. In all but a handful of countries, more than two-thirds of people believe in God. In all except the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, more than 70% of respondents said that a religious service is important at death; the numbers were slightly lower for marriage. This clear "yearning for something beyond" has led to what Exeter University sociologist Grace Davie calls "a funny mixture of what we have in modern Europe, which is still a religious sensibility, but a loss of the tradition and the knowledge base." Your faith may not look like your grandmother's. But "this is not the end of Christianity at all," says theologian Hans Küng. "I have hope."

He points to last month's Ecumenical Church Day in Berlin, which actually lasted five. On the last day, more than 200,000 gathered in front of the Reichstag for Germany's largest ecumenical service ever. There were traditional hymns as well as contemporary choruses, and readings in Polish, Arabic and Swahili. A sea of worshippers waved orange scarves, and bowls of water from the Reichstag's fountain were passed to symbolize baptism. It was a fitting end to an event that had seen thousands crowd into seminars, workshops and concerts. Says Küng: "When 7,000 people attended just to hear me answer the question, 'Why be a Christian today?' you cannot be a pessimist."

GOD HAS GONE PRIVATE
Leaving God out of the E.U. constitution, says Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Poland's first postcommunist Prime Minister, is like "someone cutting the Cathedral of Notre Dame out of a Paris album." Mazowiecki co-authored the preamble to his country's 1997 constitution, which included mention of God. "The influence of Christianity on shaping the face of Europe was so enormous that one used simply to speak of Western civilization as Christian civilization."

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	Room for God? [June 9, 2003] Where's religion's place in the new constitution? Holy, Holy, Holistic [Jan. 27, 2003] Why are Germany's convents and monasteries marketing themselves as New Age spiritual retreats? 21st Century Pope [Dec. 16, 2002] Papal succession is a hot — but whispered — topic among Catholics of all ranks The Enemy Within [Sep. 19, 2001] The French experience shows how integration can defuse the dissatisfaction that can lead to terrorism Pathway to the Stars [June 18, 2001] Four centuries after being expelled by astronomy, astrology reapplies for a place in university life Why Greeks Blasted the Pope [May. 4, 2001] Centuries of Orthodox-Catholic hostility explain the pontiff's hostile reception. Search all issues of TIME Magazine