Which Europe are we talking about here -- Old or New? The name Medjugorje comes to mind.
[WS:] Actually both. Obviously the "Old" or Western Europe is rather secular, and religious institutions survive mainly as instrumentalities of state welfare policies or museums of national history. But I would also make a similar statement of the "New" or Eastern Europe.
It is true that wacky religiosity is on the rise, mainly as a result of proselytizing by American sects that moved in after the fall of the "iron curtain" and the social economic upheaval created by that downfall, which created fertile grounds for that proselytizing. It is also true that local right wing politicos use nationalism and religiosity to stir popular emotions.
At the same time, however, most ordinary people do not take religion personally, as a defining factor of who they are. They treat religious institutions and holidays as a repositories of folk tradition, an opportunity for social events or family gatherings rather than a guiding moral force in everyday life. The attend churches to show off and meet friends and neighbors or to celebrate social occasions rather than for religious inspiration. Religious fanatics and fundamentalists are rather rare and treated with a "grain of salt" if not open derision by the rest of society.
Wojtek