Prevent decline of religiousness in the West

From the end of World War II upcoming European generation became more and more unaffiliated with religion. As someone who lives in The Netherlands this country is the most visible example.

Is it possible to have less irreligious population in Europe in comparison to our timeline?
 
Well, the easiest PoD for that would be to prevent WW1. Much of the European cynicism and irony towards life in general in modern European culture was spawned from the horrors of these two world wars, and the interwar period.

Another factor could be a different take on culture during the era of Romanticism in the 19th century. Even during this time, there were many people in Europe who were vocal Atheists, and/or people who were generally critical towards Organized Religion and keeping every tenet of it.

Unlike in Anglophone countries, being a "law-abiding citizen" either in Religious or Secular matters was generally not considered such a great virtue in European culture, than in the USA, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, so I think a PoD that would generally make Europe more religious would be better sought in the 19th century than the 20th.

Another factor to look out for is that many Pagan-inspired local customs continued to be practiced in Europe way after the 19th century, and unlike in America, these were not persecuted, but integrated into day-to-day religious practice. For example, Romania is the most religious country of present-day OTL Europe, with most inhabitants subscribing to Orthodox Christianity, in spite of this, my Mother tells me that when I was a newborn, two deeply religious woman relatives of ours who introduced themselves as witches visited me from Romania in 1990, and tied colorful ribbons around my naked body while chanting something to imbue me with protection.
 
This process started in the 19. century. Maybe preventing the French Revolution?
While not as influential on the whole population, there where many influential atheistic, agnostic, secular and free-thinking intellectuals in the second half of the 19. century in Germany.
But it is also correct, that the number of atheists and religious unaffiliated people in Germany rose after world war 1. (I once saw a book from that time complaining about this development).
I can't speak about other european societies, since my knowledge is limited.

Another option would be a better reaction of the churches to the new problems of industrialization and urbanization. There are people who tried to combine social policies and movements with Catholicism, but the catholic church opposed "modernism" in general. It would be difficult to change this opposition to "modernism" from the catholic church, you probably need to use a POD before the French Revolution.
 
Stop the rise of science.

People look for answers.
People look for answers that make the most sense.
Most people or at least a growing majority of people have decided that science gives answers which make the most sense.
Stop the rise of science and you are left only with religion to provide answers.
 
I really think that at the end of WO II many people went to church, because it was expected of them and they didn't want to fall out of the group. My parents, both born in the war, went to church bravely. Every week they f.i. also had to go to confession (of sins committed). They told me that mostly, they made up small sins, like stealing a candy from the candy jar, while being silent about what could be considered a real sin, and so could have graver consequences. So far for religiosity.
I think that the social power of the church was broken, when the state made sure by instating the caretaker state that people weren't economical dependent on their religious community. After that the people quickly left the church. This could also be the reason why it didn't happen so strongly in the US.
I'm of the opinion that the PoD must be before WO II, if it is even possible.
 
Ideally you'd need to crush the French Revolution. However, preventing WWI or making it last significantly shorter should also do the trick.
 
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