Introduction

The main religions are today as important as in the past although the percentage of active members is decreasing in most country, especially in the most developed ones. Islam is said to be the exception but there are no proofs that it is really the case.

The members of each church can be subdivided as follow:

• The Orthodox, the most active members, are against any changes in the doctrine and the rituals of their church. They do not accept any relaxation of the old rules to adapt them to the present social environment. They tend to impose their views to all the members of their church with the result that many people quit the congregation
• A majority of church goers are more open minded, and are willing to accept a limited amount of changes to adapt the doctrines and the rituals to the new environment –social, political, cultural and financial- in which people live today
• The passive members, the people that have de facto left the church but are still nominally classified as being part of it. They do not care what their church does or say; they do not go to church, except for special occasions (like baptism, weddings, funerals) and they live their own material life as they wish. This does not mean that they do not believe in the god or gods of their religion, they only have left the congregation.