The 2000 census shows that the pews in the Roman Catholic and the Zwinglian Evangelical-Reformed Churches are emptying.

While 46.2 per cent professed allegiance to the Catholic Church in 1990, this figure had dropped to 41.8 per cent by 2000. Support for the Protestant Church meanwhile had fallen to 33 per cent from 38.5 per cent.

The precise reasons for that change are unclear. What is, however, more certain is that the exceedingly rare move of Pope Benedict – to admit that he actually made a mistake when he lifted the excommunication on the controversial Holocaust denier – will not make much difference to all those who find their traditional church out of touch with real society.

Meanwhile the number of people recording “no religious affiliation” rose from 510,900 to 809,800 – a jump of just under 60%. In fact, they form the third-largest group in Switzerland after the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches, accounting for a little over 11% of the population.

Also the Islamic religion has steadily gained on ground. Since 1990 the number of Muslims (4.3%) has doubled – mainly owing to immigration from the former Yugoslavia.

Even if these statistical data need to be treated with caution, it is plain that there has been a clear drift away from the traditional churches towards a wide variety of religions and belief systems.

The emerging Swiss plurality requires that conflicting interests are reasonably balanced against each other. For today and the future THE JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM© seeks to participate in securing a just and respectful Swiss democratic society in which a multitude of incompatible and irreconcilable doctrines – religious, philosophical, and moral – can coexist.