Editing Central Europe (section)

===Religion===
{{multiple image
 | align = right
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 | image1 = Percent of Catholics in Europe by Country–Pew Research 2011 (no legend).svg
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 | caption1 = Adherence to Catholicism in Europe
 | image2 = European_countries_by_percentage_of_Protestants_(2010).svg
 | alt2 =
 | caption2 = Adherence to Protestantism in Europe
 | footer = Central European major Christian denomination is Catholicism as well as large [[Protestant]] populations. Click map to see legend.
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Central European countries are mostly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] (Austria, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia) or historically both Catholic and [[Protestant]] (the [[Czech Republic]], Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland). Large Protestant groups include [[Lutheran]], [[Calvinism|Calvinist]], and the [[Moravian Church|Unity of the Brethren]] affiliates. Significant populations of [[Eastern Catholicism]] and [[Old Catholic]]ism are also prevalent throughout Central Europe. [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] Christianity is a minority denomination observed to varying extents across Central Europe.

Central Europe has been the center of the [[Protestant]] movement for centuries, with the majority of Protestants suppressed and annihilated during the [[Counterreformation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/262/268312/art/figures/KISH_13_309.gif|title=Map: The Religious Divisions of Europe ca. 1555|publisher=Pearson|access-date=16 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/europe_religion_1560.htm|title=Map of Europe in 1560: Religion|publisher=Emersonkent.com |access-date=24 September 2015}}</ref>

Historically, people in [[Bohemia]] in today's Czech Republic were some of the first Protestants in Europe. As a result of the [[Thirty Years' War]] following the [[Bohemian Revolt]], many [[Czechs]] were either killed, executed (see for [[Old Town Square execution]]), forcibly turned into Roman Catholics, or emigrated to [[Scandinavia]] and the [[Low Countries]]. In the aftermath of the [[Thirty Years' War]], the number of inhabitants in the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] decreased from three million to only 800,000 from multiple factors, including devastating ongoing battles such as the significant [[Battle of White Mountain]] and the [[Battle of Prague (1648)]]. However, in recent years, most Czechs report as overwhelmingly non-religious, with some describing themselves as Catholic (10.3%).

Before the [[Holocaust]] (1941–45), there was also a sizeable [[Ashkenazi Jewish]] community in the region, numbering approximately 16.7&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite book|title=American Jewish Year Book|publisher=[[American Jewish Committee]]|url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142|access-date=31 May 2017|archive-date=5 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505002513/http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=10142|url-status=dead}}</ref> Poland and Lithuania had the largest Jewish populations in Europe as a percentage of their total populations, with Jews constituting 9.5% of the Polish population and 7.6% of the Lithuanian population in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org}}</ref>

Certain countries in Central Europe, particularly the Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland have sizeable [[atheist]] and [[irreligion|non-religious]] populations. In 2021, 48% of the Czech population declared that they had no religion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Czech Republic |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/czech-republic/ |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=United States Department of State}}</ref> In 2022, 43.8% of the German population declared that they had no religion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-25 |title=Religionszugehörigkeiten 2022 |url=https://fowid.de/meldung/religionszugehoerigkeiten-2022 |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=fowid.de |language=de}}</ref> Meanwhile, 33.5% of the Swiss population stated that they were not affiliated with any religion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Office |first=Federal Statistical |title=Religions |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/sprachen-religionen/religionen.html |access-date=2024-02-18 |website=bfs.admin.ch}}</ref>