Most Filipino adults continue to believe that religion is very important in their lives, based on the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results released on Wednesday, March 31.
The nationwide survey conducted on Nov. 21-25, 2020 with 1,500 respondents found that 73 percent of adult Filipinos were saying that religion is very important in their lives, 9 percent saying "somewhat important," 3 percent "not very important," and 15 percent "not at all important."
SWS said the view that religion is very important has been dominant in all its surveys since it began to track these responses in December 2015.
"Regardless of the respondents’ religious affiliation, large majorities say religion is very important in their lives," SWS pointed out.
However, compared to December 2019, SWS said the percentage of those who considered religion as very important fell slightly among Catholics, from 84 percent to 71 percent.
It also fell slightly among other Christians, from 78 percent to 71 percent.
SWS defines other Christians as Christians other than Catholics and Iglesia ni Cristos.
Meanwhile, it hardly changed among Muslims, consistently the highest in responding "very important," from 94 percent to 93 percent.
SWS said the percentage rose among Iglesia ni Cristos, from 69 percent to 88 percent.
The survey also found 46 percent saying they attend religious services weekly, 25 percent monthly, and 27 percent occasionally.
The remaining 1 percent were saying they never attend religious services.
SWS said this compares to the 2019 average attendance of 44 percent weekly, 34 percent monthly, 21 percent occasionally, and 1 percent never.
During the same survey period, SWS found that 56 percent of adult Filipinos participate in religious services by attending in person at the place of worship in the past three months, 24 percent by watching online or on TV, and 5 percent both by attending in person and by watching online or on TV.
The remaining 14 percent said they did not participate in any religious service in the past three months.