Is Anyone in Canada Secular?

5.
Is Anyone in Canada Secular?

William A. Stahl
I s anyone in Canada secular? A facetious question. Obviously the answer is

yes, but exactly how many is difficult to determine. There are two problems
inherent in the question. A great deal depends, of course, on what one means
by “secular,” a problematic term inextricably bound with 19th-century ideology.
The second problem is that Canada is paradoxical. On the one hand, self-
identification with a religious organization is very high and “belief ” in God is
even higher. On the other hand, few Canadians today attend a place of worship
regularly and religion is conspicuously absent from most of public life.
Note that the question is “is anyone in Canada secular?” rather than “is
Canada a secular society?” The focus of this chapter is on people’s behavior and
not on institutional orders, and “secularization” is taken to mean a decline in
people’s religious beliefs and practices, and not institutional differentiation.
In order to understand the Canadian paradox, it is necessary to briefly sketch
the social and historical context of religion in Canada, which differs profoundly
from that of the United States. The chapter then presents a profile of religious
“dropouts” in Canada, paying particular attention to those who infrequently
attend religious services or who tell the census taker that they have “no religion.”
The chapter concludes by arguing that “secular” is a concept that does not
describe Canada very well but that “disembedding,” as developed by Giddens1
and Taylor,2 more adequately describes the Canadian situation.
The Canadian Religious Context

One can only understand the paradoxical situation of religion in Canada today
by looking at the social and historical context. Many people assume that because
Canada and the United States have an integrated economy, share large elements
of popular culture, and both contain a denominational institutional structure,
religious dynamics in the two countries are similar. This assumption is not
59
60 Secularism & Secularity
correct. In historical context, religion is where the United States and Canada
most differ,3 while Adams4 documents major—and growing—differences in
values between Canadians and Americans.
Both the United States and Canada are pluralistic, but their dynamics have
always been different. The United States has constitutional separation of church
and state. Canada has not had a state church since 1857, but neither does it
have constitutional church-state separation (which allows churches to maintain
a prominent role in education, for instance). American pluralism was grounded
in an underlying, religiously based consensus.5 By contrast, John Porter described
religion as “one of the major bases of political conflict”6 in Canadian history.
Up until World War I, religion was the foremost badge of identity in
Canada—people thought of themselves first as Protestant or Catholic (a role
played since then by language). Religious conflict, together with the chronic lack
of resources inherent in a small population spread over an enormous land, has
bequeathed to Canada a relatively strong institutional emphasis. The religious
entrepreneurs so prominent in American history have been rare in Canada.
A large majority of Canadians identify with one of only three churches:
Roman Catholic, United Church of Canada, or Anglican (65 percent in the
2001 census,7 down from the historical average of 75 percent). And Canadians
have always been overwhelmingly Christian. In the 2001 census, only 6 percent
of Canadians identified with a religion other than Christianity8 (by contrast
the figure in 1871 was 2 percent). On the other hand, this should not obscure
a significant amount of what James9 calls religious dimorphism, the situational
blending or cobbling together of different spiritual traditions, especially among
First Nations people, immigrants, or in “mixed” marriages. Religion in Canada
has always manifested strong regional variations, with Roman Catholics
dominating Quebec and the unchurched being most numerous in British
Columbia.
At the end of World War II church attendance in Canada was extremely
high. It fell steadily until the 1990s. Currently, only 32 percent of Canadians
over 15 attend their place of worship at least monthly, while 19 percent claim no
religious affiliation at all, as seen in Figure 5-1.
In response to the question “Where have all the people gone?” Reginald
Bibby10 has argued convincingly that they have not gone anywhere at all.
Canadians continue to maintain strong religious self-identification. Relatively
few switch churches, and then usually to a denomination close to their religious
“family.” Evangelical Protestants have not increased their percentage of the
population (about 8 percent) since Confederation. Sects and cults remain
marginal. People are not dropping out, Bibby frequently quips, they are only
dropping in.
5. Is Anyone in Canada Secular? 61
Figure 5-1
Religious Affiliation and Attendance Among Canadians 15 and Older
1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 % change 1985-2004
Population aged 15 100 100 100 100 100
& older
No religious affiliation 12 12 15 20 19 7
Frequency of
attendance
Not in last 12 months 19 23 27 21 25 5
Infrequently 28 28 24 28 25 -3
At least monthly 41 37 33 31 32 -9
Data: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey
From: Clark & Schellenberg, 2006: 2
Drop Outs, Drop Ins, and Religious Nones

Do falling levels of church attendance and rising levels of those who say they
have no religion mean that Canada is becoming more secular? Not necessarily,
because these figures measure only two dimensions of religious behavior. There
is some discussion in the literature11 that attendance figures may be skewed by
over-reporting in cultural circumstances where respondents perceive religious
activity to be “expected.” It is also quite possible that at times in Canada when
one’s religion is thought to be “none of your business” attendance or other
practices may be under-reported.
Furthermore, James12 chastises sociologists for uncritically accepting as
normative a monotheistic exclusiveness—as reflected by focusing upon weekly
church attendance—that may miss more individualized, eclectic spirituality.
Indeed, focusing exclusively on this one dimension of religiosity could be
compared to trying to understand the importance of hockey in Canada by only
counting season-ticket holders.
Fortunately, many sociologists recognize the need to look at additional
aspects of religiosity. Clark and Schellenberg13 measure four dimensions:
affiliation, attendance, private religious practices, and the importance of religion
in a person’s life. They conclude their study by developing a Religiosity Index
which combines all four of these dimensions.
Affiliation
Canadians have been asked their religious affiliation by the census since 1871
and by Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey (GSS) since 1985. This
records people’s self-identification with a religious group, a figure that is usually
significantly higher than the churches’ own membership records as reported in
their Yearbooks. Until the 1960s, however, the Dominion Census or Statistics
Canada did not allow a response of “no religion.”
Since then, the “religious nones” have grown from 4 percent in 1971 to 7
percent in 1981, 12 percent in 1991, and 16 percent in 2001. The GSS puts
the figure at 19 percent of Canadians over 15 in 2004, as seen in Figure 5-1. In
addition, 25 percent of Canadians reported they had not attended services in the
previous year, up 5 percent in the past two decades. People in these two categories
are disproportionately young, as shown in Figure 5-2, disproportionately live in
British Columbia, as shown in Figure 5-3, and are more likely to be native-born
Canadians than immigrants, or, if an immigrant, to be from China or Japan.14
In part, the low levels of affiliation in British Columbia are affected by the
disproportionate numbers of immigrants from China and Japan in the Greater
Vancouver Area. Also note the anomaly in Quebec, which in 2004 had the
largest number of people who never attend services (35 percent), but the lowest
number of people who claim “no religion” (9 percent).
In his Project Canada surveys, Bibby looked more closely at those who
claim “no religion.” Of those in the “no religion” category, he found that 75
percent are under the age of 40,15 and that 63 percent come from a home with
at least one religious parent, as seen in Figure 5-4 (page 64). For most of these
people, “no religion” is a temporary designation, with about one third becoming
reaffiliated within five years and two-thirds within ten years. Desire for religious
rites of passage has remained extremely high for the past twenty years.
For example, in 2000, 89 percent of teenagers nationally wanted a church
wedding, including 79 percent of those claiming “no religion.”16 Nor does “no
religion” equate with unbelief. Bibby17 found that 40 percent of adults and 35
percent of teenagers in that category say they believe in God, and 35 percent of
adults and 30 percent of teenagers say they pray privately. About half express
interest in spirituality, he reports,18 but 98 percent of that interest is in less
conventional forms.
Attendance
Attendance is the most widely used measure of religiosity. But here too the data
are equivocal. Regular attendance (usually defined as weekly attendance) has
declined sharply over the past 50 years for mainline Protestants (United, Anglican,
Figure 5-2
Young Adults Are Most Likely to Have No Religious Affiliation
No religious affiliation Has a religious affiliation but does not attend services
60
50
40 23
28
30 25 28 24
27 21 27
20 28
20 19 23 24
30 16 18
10 19 23 20
15 16 13 17 14
12 7 10 8 8
0 4
1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004
15 and Over 15-29 30-44 45-59 60 and Over

Figure 5-3
British Columbians Are Least Likely to Be Religious
No religious affiliation Has a religious affiliation but does not attend services
60
50
21
40 28 26
30 25 25 20
27 23 22 21
22 36 35
20 19 18 36
23 29 31
19
10 19 13
17 18 16 19 23 23
12 15 6
11 6 9 12 18
0 5 4
1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004 1985 1995 2004
Canada Atlantic Quebec Ontario Prairies British
Canada Columbia

Figure 5-4
Mother’s Religion of Religious Nones
None Catholic Protestant Other
3%
30% 37%
30%
Lutheran, Presbyterian) and Roman Catholics in Quebec, with smaller declines

for Roman Catholics outside Quebec. Conservative Protestants have tended to
hold their own, with some groups gaining and others declining over the years.
Clark and Schellenberg19 use monthly (rather than weekly) attendance as a more
valid measure.20 They show that overall attendance has leveled out over the past
10 years at about one-third of the Canadian population, as seen in Figure 5-1
(page 61). Looking at weekly attendance, Bibby21 shows a plateau at 24 percent
through the 1990s, dipping to 21 percent in 2000 and then rebounding to 26
percent in 2003. As we saw above, non-attendees are disproportionately young,
reside in British Columbia (and in this case, Quebec), and are more likely to be
native-born Canadians.
Private Religious Practices

Private religious practices consist of various forms of spirituality, such as prayer,
meditation, or reading sacred texts or praying on one’s own. In everyday
discourse it is not uncommon to hear people say that they are “spiritual” but not
“religious.” Clark and Schellenberg22 found that 53 percent of Canadians engage
in such activities at least monthly, and an additional 11 percent a few times a
year, as seen in Figure 5-5.
Figure 5-5
Frequency of Religious Practices on One’s Own, Canada, 2002
Frequency of Religious Practices on One’s Own, Canada, 2002
A Few Times Not in Past 12
Weekly Monthly No Religion Total
a Year Months
Total 43 11 11 18 17 100
Men 34 10 13 23 20 100
Women 51 11 10 14 15 100
Age
15 to 29 32 12 12 19 25 100
30 to 44 39 11 12 19 19 100
45 to 59 44 10 11 19 15 100
60 or older 58 9 8 17 9 100
Region of Residence
Atlantic 48 13 13 19 8 100
Quebec 43 11 14 24 7 100
Ontario 44 11 10 17 17 100
Prairies 41 11 10 16 22 100
British 35 8 8 14 36 100
Columbia
Immigration Status
Canadian- 40 11 12 20 17 100
born
Immigrated 51 8 8 17 16 100
before 1982
Immigrated in 50 9 8 12 21 100
1982-2001
Frequency of attendance at religious Services or Meetings
At least 75 13 5 6 - 100
monthly
Infrequently 37 17 25 21 - 100
Not in last 12 27 8 13 51 - 100
months
No religious - - - - 100 100
affiliation
Data: Statistics Canada, Ethnic Diversity Survey, 2002
What was most significant for Clark and Schellenberg was that 37 percent
of those who attended services infrequently and 27 percent of those who did
not attend services at all engaged in private religious practices on a weekly basis,
“representing 21 percent of the adult population.”23 Unfortunately, those who
had declared they had no religious affiliation were not asked this question in the
GSS, but as seen above, Bibby 24 found that approximately a third of those in the
“no religion” category engaged in some private religious practices at some time
during the year.
The profile here matches what is seen above, with private religious practices
highest among those over the age of 60, who live in Atlantic Canada, and who are
immigrants, and lowest among the young, those who live in British Columbia
and who are native-born Canadians.
These practices are not necessarily those of conventional religion, however.
James 25 points out that many of these private practices may be quite divergent
from the “orthodox” practices of the group with which the person identifies.
Bibby 26 found that of the 73 percent of Canadians who said they have spiritual
needs, 47 percent expressed an interest in less conventional forms of spirituality.
For the 54 percent of Canadians who claim “no religion” but who say they have
spiritual needs, 98 percent are interested in less conventional forms. Obviously
interest does not automatically lead to practice.
The Importance of Religion in a Person’s Life

The fourth dimension of religiosity is the importance of religion in a person’s
life. Clark and Schellenberg ranked people’s responses to this question as high,
moderate or low, based on a five-point Likert Scale, as seen in Figures 5-6 and
5-7.
Again, those who declared “no religion” were not asked this question.
They found that overall, 44 percent of Canadians ranked the importance of
religion as “high” and 19 percent as “low.” For those who did not attend services
regularly but who engaged in private religious practices at least monthly, 45
percent ranked religion as “high.” Among those who engaged in neither public
nor private religious practices, 15 percent still ranked the importance of religion
in their lives as “high.” For those rating the importance of religion as “low,” the
profile remained the same: more men than women, more young than old, more
in British Columbia than elsewhere, and more native born than immigrants.
Figure 5-6
The Importance of Religion to One’s Life, Canada, 2002
Importance of Religion to You*
High Moderate Low No Religion Total
Total 44 20 19 17 100
Men 36 21 23 20 100
Women 51 20 14 15 100
Age
15 to 29 34 20 22 25 100
30 to 44 39 23 20 19 100
45 to 59 43 22 20 15 100
60 or older 62 16 13 9 100
Region of Residence
Atlantic 54 22 17 8 100
Quebec 41 26 26 7 100
Ontario 47 19 16 17 100
Prairies 42 19 17 22 100
British 34 15 15 36 100
Columbia
Immigration Status
Canadian- 40 22 21 17 100
born
Immigrated 55 15 15 16 100
before 1982
Immigrated in 57 12 10 21 100
1982-2001
*Importance of religion to you is scored from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (very important). High importance
is defined as a score of 4 or 5, moderate importance as a score of 3, and low importance as a score of 1 or 2.
Those reporting no religious affiliation were not asked this question. Figures are percentages.

Figure 5-7
The Importance of Religion to One’s Life
by Attendance and Private Religious Practice, Canada, 2002
Religious Practices Importance of Religion to You

Attendance at Private Religious High Moderate Low
Religious Services Practices
At Least Monthly At Least Monthly 87 11 2
At Least Monthly Infrequently or Never 60 27 12
Infrequently or Never At Least Monthly 45 36 18
Infrequently or Never Infrequently or Never 15 31 54
The Religiosity Index

As a final measure, Clark and Schellenberg combined all four dimensions into a
Religiosity Index, as seen in Figure 5-8. Affiliation was scored as 0 or 1, and each
of the other three dimensions ranked from 0 to 4. The combined score ranges
results in low religiosity (0-5), moderate (6-10) or high (11-13). Overall, 40
percent of Canadians ranked “low,” following the familiar pattern. Of particular
significance is the importance of religious upbringing. When neither parent was
religious, 85 percent of the children scored a “low” degree of religiosity. Clark
and Schellenberg conclude: “even when other forms of religious behavior are
considered, almost half of Canadians aged 15 to 29 still have a low degree of
religiosity.”27
Secular or Disembedded?
What do these trends say about secularity in Canada? Given the ambiguous and
paradoxical nature of the data, interpretation becomes dependent upon theory.
Unfortunately, the two theories most discussed in the literature, secularization
and rational-choice, are both ideological and neither describes the Canadian
situation adequately. As Beyer says, “If a central problem with secularization
theory be that it falsely universalizes the European experience (at least to
“Western” countries), then religious market theories run the same risk, except
that their provincialism would be American.”28
The argument that religion is declining is hard to sustain when eight of ten
Canadians self-identify with a religious group, even if only three in ten attend
Figure 5-8
Religiosity Index, Canada, 2002
Degree of Religiosity
Low (0-5) Moderate (6-10) High (11-13) Total
Total 40 31 29 100
Men 48 28 24 100
Women 32 33 35 100
Age
15 to 29 48 30 22 100
30 to 44 43 32 25 100
45 to 59 39 31 30 100
60 or older 26 30 44 100
Region of Residence
Atlantic 29 35 36 100
Quebec 39 37 24 100
Ontario 37 30 33 100
Prairies 42 28 31 100
British Columbia 54 22 25 100
Immigration Status
Canadian-born 41 32 26 100
Immigrated before 1982 33 27 40 100
Immigrated in 1982-2001 34 25 41 100
religion of parents
Both parents same religion 32 34 33 100
Parents from different 50 28 22 100
religions
Neither parent religious 85 6 10 100
services regularly. Attendance decline leveled out a decade ago, and Bibby29
reports that a rebound has begun. Private religious practices are widespread.
And of the nearly 20 percent of Canadians who say they have no religion, 40
percent say they believe in God, a third engage in private religious practices, and
two-thirds eventually reaffiliate with a church. The number of people in Canada
who would fit the “classical” definition of being secular is quite small.
A concept that may better describe the Canadian situation is what Anthony
Giddens30 and Charles Taylor 31 call disembedding. Giddens defines disembedding
as “the ‘lifting out’ of social relations from local contexts of interaction and their
restructuring across indefinite spans of time-space.”32 Both he and Taylor see
it as a central and ongoing characteristic of modernity. In traditional society
individuals were embedded in their communities; that is, people’s identities
were shaped within the bounded context of religion, authority, and view of the
cosmos. As Taylor puts it, “From the standpoint of the individual’s sense of
self, [embeddedness] means the inability to imagine oneself outside a certain
matrix.”33
The long, complex process of modernization is in large part a process of
disembedding, which according to Taylor “involved the growth and entrench
ment of a new self-understanding of our social existence, one that gave an
unprecedented primacy to the individual.”34 Disembedding is thus not just the
loss of community or the decline of religion. It is the substitution of one moral
order for another, complete with new forms of solidarity, authority, and trust.
Looked at through this theoretical perspective, the Canadian data indicates
that cultural boundaries are being redrawn and the nature of religious practices
has changed. Canadians are less embedded in their religious communities, but
a large majority of Canadians seem to be unwilling to abandon their religious
identities. Individual spirituality, a good deal of it eclectic, has become more
important and large numbers of Canadians engage in private religious practices.
Canadians have not abandoned the church, but what they want from it has
changed. Most people want the church to provide rites of passage and a holiday
experience, many still look to it for meaning and spirituality, but few are any
longer committed to the church as a total life style. What at one time may
have been considered normative behavior, such as weekly attendance, is now a
virtuoso performance.
These changes in religious behavior have consequences for the organizational
and institutional dimensions of religion as well. The church is no longer the
center of the community, nor is it the sole arbitrator of morality or legitimacy.
Many churches, whose top-heavy structures have been slow to adapt, now face
financial problems. But change is not the same thing as decline.
Endnotes
1. Giddens, Anthony, The Consequences of Modernity, (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1990).
2. Taylor, Charles, Modern Social Imaginaries, (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,
2004).
3. cf. Beyer, Peter, “Religious Vitality in Canada: The Complementarity of Religious
Market and Secularization Perspectives.” Religion and Canadian Society, Ed. Lori
Beaman, (Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press, 2006), 71-90; Grant, John Webster,
“The Church in the Canadian Era,” A History of the Christian Church in Canada,
Eds. Terrance Murphy and Roberto Perin. Vol. 3 (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson,
1972); Lipset, Seymour Martin, Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of
the United States and Canada, (London: Routledge, 1990).
4. Adams, Michael, Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging
Values, (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2003).
5. cf. Bellah, Robert, 1975, The Broken Covenant, (New York: The Seabury Press,
1975); Handy, Robert, A Christian America, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1971); Mead, Sidney, The Nation With the Soul of a Church, (New York: Harper &
Row, 1975).
6. Porter, John, The Vertical Mosaic, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965),
512.
7. Statistics Canada, 2001 Census, February 13, 2007, http://www12.statcan.ca/eng-
lish/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel/canada.cfm.
8. Ibid.
9. James, William Closson, 2006, “Dimorphs and Cobblers: Ways of Being Religious
in Canada,” Ed. Lori Beaman, Religion and Canadian Society, (Toronto: Canadian
Scholar’s Press, 2006).
10. Bibby, Reginald, Fragmented Gods, (Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1987); Bibby, Regi-
nald, Unknown Gods, (Toronto: Stoddard, 1993); Bibby, Reginald, Restless Gods,
(Toronto: Stoddard, 2002); Bibby, Reginald, 2004, Restless Churches, (Toronto: No-
valis, 2004).
11. cf. Hadaway, C. Kirk and Penny Long Marler, “How Many Americans Attend Wor-
ship Each Week? An Alternative Approach to Measurement,” Journal for the Sci-
entific Study of Religion, 44(3): 307-322; Reimer, Samuel H., “A Look at Cultural
Effects on Religiosity: A Comparison Between the United States and Canada,” Ed.
Lori Beaman, Religion and Canadian Society, (Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press,
2006), 54-70.
12. James, pp. 119-131.
13. Clark, Warren and Grant Schellenberg, “Who’s Religious,” Canadian Social Trends
(Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Summer 2006, Catalogue No. 11-008).
14. Clark and Schellenberg.
15. Bibby, 2004.

16. Bibby, 2002, 2004.
17. Bibby, 2004.
18. Bibby, 2002.
20. see also Bibby, 2002, 2004.
21. Bibby, 2004, p. 23.
23. Ibid. 2006, p. 4.
24. Bibby, 2004
25. James.
26. Bibby, 2002, pp. 180-182.
27. Clark and Schellenberg, p. 7.
28. Beyer, p. 71.
29. Bibby, 2004.
30. Giddens.
31. Taylor.
32. Giddens, p. 21.
33. Taylor, p. 55.
34. Ibid. p. 50.

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5.

Is Anyone in Canada Secular?

I s anyone in Canada secular? A facetious question. Obviously the answer is

The Canadian Religious Context

Drop Outs, Drop Ins, and Religious Nones

Data: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey

Data: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey

None Catholic Protestant Other

Lutheran, Presbyterian) and Roman Catholics in Quebec, with smaller declines

Private Religious Practices

The Importance of Religion in a Person’s Life

Data: Statistics Canada, Ethnic Diversity Survey, 2002

Religious Practices Importance of Religion to You

The Religiosity Index

Low (0-5) Moderate (6-10) High (11-13) Total

15. Bibby, 2004.

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