Abstract
The Christian legacy of Europe appears first in the large and globalizationresistant gap which distinguishes European countries of Catholic culture from those of Protestant culture. By analysing the European Values Survey data, the author then shows the ways in which this legacy varies from one generation to another: the older generations remain more deeply influenced by the Christian system than the younger ones. By comparing the 1981, 1990 and 1999 data by cohorts, the author points out the complexity of evolutions: with the replacement of generations, religion very often seems to be of decreasing relevance, but the young recompose elements of religiosity in forms that are often loose, far from the great narratives and dogmas of institutions. Thus only minorities build an entire system of attitudes strongly influenced by a religious or anti-religious identity. The increase in loose religious identities among the majority has not led to the dulling of conviction among the minorities.