Is Canada less religious than the States? (lawyer, live)
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^ Canada has a large Christian base but people are not as uptight about religion compared to the US. In 2001 about 7/10 Canadians subscribed to some form of Christianity with 16.5% subscribing to no religion. The numbers for 2011 are not released yet but if trends continue, the no religion section will rise and Christians will decrease.
A 2011 Ipsos Reid survey showed that 47% of Canadians believe religion can do more harm than good. Approx 64% believe that religion provides more questions than answers. This may show a decline in Canada in religion.
The best example is this: Canada is affiliated with Christianity more than any other religion. Our government however rarely mixes the two. Religion is seen as something people practice on their own time. Our politicians are not in bed with the religious leaders, and government policy is not dictated by religion. Alberta (Canada's most conservative and religious province) is being governed by a female human rights lawyer who just marched in the gay pride parade with a rainbow flag draped over her body. She also just extended funding to transgender operations. So in Canada... even our most Conservative people still put equality and civil rights before religious beliefs.
Essentially, religion may be somewhat close in Canada to the US statistically (although I think stats wise religion is still lower in Canada than the US), however people do not take it as seriously, especially in Quebec where 85% of the province is Christian however less than 10% attend church at all, with only 5% attending regularly, the lowest in the western world.
Last edited by travis3000; 06-14-2012 at 07:32 PM..
I'm guessing it might be more traditional here. People tend to view religion as a personal relationship between you and "God"...it's considered rude to let everybody know what your "God" thinks of them.
Shut up and keep it to yourself, that's my philosophy
I'd tend to agree with what several other posters have already stated - that we're not necessarily less religious, but religion does seem to be a much more private thing than in the US, and tolerance of others' religion, or at least non-interference with other religions seems to be the standard.
Do you think Canada has a higher proportion of atheists to America, or is it equally Christian just not as evangelical/in your face?
On a per capita basis compared with USA I think Canada has a higher proportion of non-Christians. That's not to say that all the non-Christians are atheists. They could be atheists or be of any one of many, many other religions, or agnostics or tribal spiritualists or whatever. So I think it's a mistake to only ask about Christians versus atheists by comparison with USA since there are so many other belief systems to take into consideration in Canada.
And most are definitely not all evangelizing and in your face about whatever their belief system is. It's a personal thing and most people mind their own business and expect other people to mind their own business about it. Birds of a feather will find each other and flock together if that's what they want but it's a rare thing for people to be harrassing and trying to push their beliefs on other people.
ETA: Some provinces on a provincial per capita basis are more or less religious than other provinces. For example if you look at the 2001 census stats for BC you'll see that roughly half of the BC population claim some manner of Christianity, one quarter claim no religion, and one quarter claim other religions. Compare that with Ontario for example and you'll see that other provinces are different. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religio...Census_results
I think we're much more private about our religious beliefs. Although it's important in many people's lives, it's not considered fodder for public consumption, and definitely not something you'd talk to strangers about. It's a bit like sex, you'd talk about it with your friends but you wouldn't mention it in a valedictory speech or make jokes about it with the new neighbour unless you were lacking in decorum. That doesn't make sex any less important in peoples lives, in fact, in some ways, making it a bit taboo enhances its mystery. We'd need smarter heads then mine, however, to explain the whys of these differences. It's also true that church attendance is lower than in the religious parts of the US, but about on par with New England (except for Quebec because of the historical phenomenon of the Quiet Revolution in the '60s against the semi-theocratic situation the Catholic Church had established. That doesn't mean everyone in Quebec suddenly became Atheists, though, it just means many, but hardly all, Catholics stopped going to Church.)
(except for Quebec because of the historical phenomenon of the Quiet Revolution in the '60s against the semi-theocratic situation the Catholic Church had established. That doesn't mean everyone in Quebec suddenly became Atheists, though, it just means many, but hardly all, Catholics stopped going to Church.)
Quebec is a bit like Italy, Spain and Argentina in that most people do not go to church but still consider themselves to be culturally Catholic. This is why a high proportion in Quebec reports affiliation with the Roman Catholic church and atheism is relatively low.
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