Are Protestants, Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox more inclined to removing shoes in homes? Which culture is more 'Offalist?'
This post is just for fun. Anybody who has done proper ethnographic research will see the errors in my methodology.
Let's list shoe-removing countries by religious majority. To make this simple, I am going to confine myself to historic Christendom and leave out Christian majorities in Asia, Africa and the pacific.
Shoe-removing Countries with Catholic majorities
Austria
Poland
Croatia
Slovenia
Lithuania
Latvia (but Protestants are almost even)
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Total: 8 countries
Shoe-removing Countries with Protestant majorities
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Estonia (but Orthodox are almost even)
Total: 6 countries
Shoe-removing countries with Orthodox majorities
Russia
Belarus
Romania
Moldova
Ukraine
Georgia
Bulgaria
Serbia
Montenegro
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (come on, you Balkans, sort it out, then I won't have to use that mouthful)
Total: 10 countries
I have heard conflicting things about Hungary, Armenia and Greece. Most of the evidence suggests that Greeks don't take their shoes off at the door.
Okay, so Eastern Orthodox win, Catholics come second, Protestants come last. Obviously this does not prove Eastern Orthodoxy is the true religion. Of course my weird demographic study does not take into account the large Roman Catholic populations in South America, where people mostly keep their shoes on in homes.
As for me, I am a Protestant. I believe the Bible to be the sole and infallible authority for Christians and that justication by faith alone is at the heart of the gospel. I reject the claims of the false Papacy and the traditions of Orthodoxy.
