How do Canadians
describe their religious
orientation?
Do you believe that God,
however you define God,
exists?
Would you say that,
for the most part,
organized religion
in Canada today is . . .
100%
Good for
society
U
NO
40%
100%
ntil it was discontinued in 2011, Statistics Canada’s mandatory long-form
census contained a single question about faith: “What is this person’s religion?”
Bad for
society
10%
NO
The most recent results said that three-quarters of us identify with one group or
another, while one-quarter have no religious affiliation. The Observer’s survey of
English-speaking Canadians produced the same finding.
However, the census picture is far from complete. For example, of those who identified them80%
selves as, say, Catholics, how many did so for no reason other than that they were baptized into that
denomination as children? How many of them believed in God? Attended church? Felt
strongly devoted to their faith?
By
To shed more light on Canadians’ actual levels of religiosity, our survey also asked
S a m antha R ideout
respondents to choose one or more phrases to describe their religious orientation. The
GRAPHICS BY
results revealed that despite the well-known downward trend in church attendance, seven
ROSS WOOLFORD
percent chose to define themselves as “devoutly religious,” and close to four in 10 called
themselves “a person of faith.” On the other end of the spectrum, one in 10 respondents
said they were against organized religion. But the polarized culture wars seen in the United States
aren’t evident on this side of the border. Here in Canada, respondents seem quite60%comfortable with
centrist labels such as “spiritual” (33 percent). And indeed, many
respondents to the survey — three in 10 — used descriptors
such as “indifferent” and/or “not against organized religion, but
personally not religious or spiritual,” which put them somewhere
in the middle, neither embracing religion nor opposing it.
This finding comes as no surprise to Joel Thiessen, a sociologist
“Devoutly religious” “Against organized
of religion at Ambrose University College in Calgary. “As opposed
religion”
to irreligious Americans, who are often hostile to religion, the
40% no religion are
growing group of Canadians who say they have
fairly apathetic overall,” he confirms. “They just haven’t been
exposed very much to religion, or they have and they say, ‘It’s
“A person of faith”
okay if it suits you, but it’s not for me.’”
“Indifferent”
Counterintuitively, one-third of these indifferent folks professed a belief in God. (What they meant by “God” wasn’t asked.)
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, a multifaith
“Spiritual”
public-interest group, has a term for people who concede that
“Not sure how to
a higher power might exist but who take no real interest in its
describe yourself”
existence or lack thereof: apatheists. “Some define
the term more
20%
broadly,” their website explains, “to refer to apathy towards all
religions, not just towards a belief in God.”
“Not against
Alisha McCorriston, 22, of Fredericton, is a case in point.
organized religion,
Asked whether organized religion is good or bad overall for socibut personally
“None of the above”
ety, she says, “I’m indifferent, as I feel I don’t know enough about
not religious or
it to take a stance. I just didn’t grow up with religious or spiritual
spiritual”
values.” Roughly half of the people who took our survey had
equally ambiguous answers to this question, saying that religion
was neither good nor bad for society, or that “it0 depends.”
Results do not add up to
100 because respondents
In this way, our survey results suggest that Canada might be
were invited to “choose all
more secular than it appears at first glance. Although two-thirds
that apply.”
of Canadians believe in God, they don’t all attach much importance to this belief.
80%
Neither good
nor bad
It depends
25%
25%
60%
Canadians are ...
7%
37%
33%
21%
24
10%
50%
40%
50%
40%
11%
11%
40%
YES
30%
YES
30%
20%
20%
Devoutly
religious
2%
www.ucobserver.org • JULY/AUGUST 2014
ReligionUNSURE/
is “good for
DON’T
society,” by
age group:
KNOW
UNSURE/
DON’T
KNOW
Spiritual
A person
of faith
0
Against
organized
religion
Indifferent
Not sure
how to
describe
yourself
Not against
organized
religion, but
personally
not religious
or spiritual
20%
10%
Age
18-24
Age
25-34
Age
35-44
Age
45-54
Age
55-64
Age
65+
10%
0
0
THE UNITED CHURCH OBSERVER • JULY/AUGUST 2014
25