Church attendance declines.

Ottawa--The Statistics Canada autumn 1998 report, Canadian Social Trends, reports that at the time of the 1961 Census, less than 1% of Canadians claimed to have no religion. By 1991, this proportion increased to almost 13% with much of the acceleration taking place between 1981 and 1991. While the 1996 Census did not have a question on religion, the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS) revealed that 14% of Canadians aged 15 and over had no religious affiliation. In other words the percentage of non-religious Canadians continues to grow.

Historically, Canada has been predominantly Christian with the population divided between Protestants and Catholics, together with a tiny minority of Jews. In the last 10 years (1986 to 1996), Catholics remained at about 45% of the adult population, but the share of the established Protestant denominations (United, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran) has dropped from 28% of the adult population to 20%. At the same time, the Evangelical Protestant denominations remained at 6% of the adult population. Meanwhile, Eastern non-Christian religions (Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism and other smaller groups) have grown to represent almost 3%.

20% in Church on Sunday

Since the mid-forties, people have been attending religious services less and less. In 1946, a Gallup Poll reported that 67% of Canadian adults had attended religious services during the previous week. By 1996, the GSS reported that only 20% of adult Canadians had attended religious services every week.

The greatest decline in weekly attendance has been among Catholics, falling from 37% in 1986 to 24% in 1996. Corresponding to the decline in weekly attendance has been an increase in the number of people who do not attend religious services during the year. While in 1986 only one in seven Catholics did not attend church, by 1996 nearly one in three did not. Over the same time period, weekly attendance of mainline Protestants has declined from 17% to 14% of adults, while Evangelical Protestants have maintained weekly attendance figures in the 50% to 60% range.

Religious service attendance has declined across all age groups. Not surprisingly, seniors show the most enthusiasm for religious services. In 1996, 34% of those aged 65 and over attended weekly, compared with only 12% of 15-24-year-olds.

Another way of looking at the same picture is to check Church attendance of all Canadians. In 1996, many adults (32%) who said they were affiliated with a religion, did not attend religious services at all. Another 10% said they only attended once or twice a year. This would indicate that practically half of the adult Canadian population is, for all practical purposes, religionless.

Although attendance at religious services has declined in 1995, Reginald Bibby's Project Canada survey indicated that the vast majority (81%) of Canadians still believed in God. (This compares with 89% in 1975.) That 81% statistic conflicts with the one given at the beginning of this report, namely that only 13% of Canadians are without religion. According to Bibby it would be at least 19%. Or are people now so confused that they think they can be religious without believing in God?