Generally speaking, the Catholic nations of Europe have a higher percentage of believers in God than do the Protestant nations or the mixed nations. (The two exceptions are historically Catholic France, where the level of belief in God is about the same as in historically Protestant Britain, and the Catholic majority Czech Republic.) There are some paradoxes: atheism is more prevalent in Canada (44% Catholic, 29% Protestant) than in the United States (51% Protestant, 26% Catholic), with the respective figures for atheists being 16% and 10%. Atheism is also least prevalent in the South, where Baptists represent a plurality of the population and Catholics are generally a small minority than in other regions of the U.S. where Catholicism represents a larger percentage of the population.
As for "essentially atheist," I am not sure what you mean. The upper classes in all Western countries, including our own, tend to be more atheistic than other classes. This likely holds true in historically Catholic nations, with Poland and Ireland being likely exceptions. Church attendance is declining in all Western nations, irrespective of their historic religion.
You wrote:
"(The two exceptions are historically Catholic France, where the level of belief in God is about the same as in historically Protestant Britain, and the Catholic majority Czech Republic.) There are some paradoxes: atheism is more prevalent in Canada (44% Catholic, 29% Protestant) than in the United States (51% Protestant, 26% Catholic), with the respective figures for atheists being 16% and 10%. Atheism is also least prevalent in the South, where Baptists represent a plurality of the population and Catholics are generally a small minority than in other regions of the U.S. where Catholicism represents a larger percentage of the population."
All true I am sure, but none of that goes against what I wrote. France is Protestantized and has been since 1789. Canada, no matter how many French Canadians USED TO BE CATHOLIC, is a Protestant country with a culture, government, law code, etc. that is entirely Protestant except for some hold outs.
"As for "essentially atheist," I am not sure what you mean. The upper classes in all Western countries, including our own, tend to be more atheistic than other classes. This likely holds true in historically Catholic nations, with Poland and Ireland being likely exceptions. Church attendance is declining in all Western nations, irrespective of their historic religion."
True. All of Europe is effectively moving from the Protestant stage into the atheist stage (even Catholic countries) since all of them have governments or cultures heavily influenced by Protestantism. It is inevitable that this happen. There has been no earthly hope of changing this since the end of WWI and WWII.