Is Canada less religious than the States? (license plate, cars)

[netwit]

Originally Posted by imokay

Is Alberta the most religious and one of the least religious provinces at the same time?

Rank Jurisdiction % Irreligious
- Canada 16.2%
1 Yukon 37.4%
2 British Columbia 35.1%
3 Alberta 23.1%
4 Manitoba 18.3%
5 Northwest Territories 17.4%
6 Ontario 16.0%
7 Saskatchewan 15.4%
8 Nova Scotia 11.6%
9 New Brunswick 7.8%
10 Prince Edward Island 6.5%
11 Nunavut 6.0%
12 Quebec 5.6%
13 Newfoundland and Labrador 2.5%


Irreligion in Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't think of Albertans as more religious than other provinces - they are more conservative, which doesn't necessarily include religion. If anything, I think that in the Canadian west it is less acceptable to speak about religion, which your chart thingy would seem to show. Although I'm not too clear on how "irreligious" is defined.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Do you Canadians living in Texas full or part-time feel put-off by the local religiosity?

[mikeyyc]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Do you Canadians living in Texas full or part-time feel put-off by the local religiosity?

Meh. It's a bit over the top, but whatever floats your boat. If there ever was an argument for having churches pay tax, it wouldn't be hard to find examples here.

I get that one of the primary tenents of the Evangelical church is to preach and recruit, but I just wish they'd practice being "good christians" as much as they harp on other peoples need to do the same.

[imokay]

Originally Posted by netwit

I don't think of Albertans as more religious than other provinces - they are more conservative, which doesn't necessarily include religion. If anything, I think that in the Canadian west it is less acceptable to speak about religion, which your chart thingy would seem to show. Although I'm not too clear on how "irreligious" is defined.

But I wonder why, then, do many Canadians think Alberta is so religious? They do have some weird stuff like the creationist museum, but could it be that Alberta is less religious as a whole, but that there is more religious extremism among the religious, and this is partly the reason for the higher social conservatism?

Irreligion is defined as a lack of belief in a deity.

[callmemaybe]

Originally Posted by imokay

But I wonder why, then, do many Canadians think Alberta is so religious? They do have some weird stuff like the creationist museum, but could it be that Alberta is less religious as a whole, but that there is more religious extremism among the religious, and this is partly the reason for the higher social conservatism?

Irreligion is defined as a lack of belief in a deity.

I actually think that might be the case with the American South too. Like say, the percent of people who are Christians in Texas vs. Oregon probably isn't a huge difference, like maybe 70 percent of Texans vs 55 percent of Oregonians, but the percentage of religious people who are fanatics might be 20% in Texas and only a few percent in Oregon. Nothing to back that up, just an example.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

In general, would "big religion" be less popular in Canada than "big government"?

[netwit]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

I actually think that might be the case with the American South too. Like say, the percent of people who are Christians in Texas vs. Oregon probably isn't a huge difference, like maybe 70 percent of Texans vs 55 percent of Oregonians, but the percentage of religious people who are fanatics might be 20% in Texas and only a few percent in Oregon. Nothing to back that up, just an example.

I think that is it - I don't think that Albertans are more religious but I think more kooks come from Alberta. But, since I live in a fairly religious area, we've had an influx over the years of American-style big church, born-again, evangelical religion, bringing along some rather strange ideas, and it is possible that different areas in the country are also influenced by this. They aren't the quiet types

As to where Canadians get the idea that Albertans are more religious, I think we sometimes get confused over the way conservatism is now defined in the US and which we hear about on the news and when we think of Alberta, we think of conservative, and forget we have a different version of conservatism.

[netwit]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

In general, would "big religion" be less popular in Canada than "big government"?

Yes! We have some big churches around here but I don't think any of them are anywhere near what is considered big in the US.

[travis3000]

I don't see any of the big church US movement here in Canada. At least not in Ontario or Quebec. Church attendance is declining here by the year but it is a slow process of course. I was in the US last week and counted dozens of stickers on peoples cars saying "One nation under god" and "god bless the USA', while in Canada I have never seen these stickers once. I do see the odd car with that fish looking thing on the back of their cars. But overall, religious Canadians are more quiet about their beliefs and non vocal.

To put it in perspective, historically around 60-65% of Canadians vote for center-left wing parties (Liberal, NDP, Bloq, Green).

[ellemint]

"In God we Trust" -- God is built into the American consitution. Not so in Canada. I think the U.S. is quite a bit more religious than Canada.