Irreligion in Canada
Irreligion is common throughout all provinces and territories of Canada. Irreligious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, and humanists.[1] The surveys may also include those who are deists, spiritual and pantheists. The 2011 Canadian census reported that 23.9% of Canadians declare no religious affiliation.[2] According to Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, among those estimated 4.9 million Canadians of no religion, an estimated 1.9 million would specify atheist, 1.8 would specify agnostic, and 1.2 humanist.[3]
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Surveys and public opinion polls[edit]
In 2011, a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid showed that 47% of the Canadian population believed religion does more harm in the world than good, while 64% believed that religion provides more questions than answers.[4] A 2008 Canadian Press Harris-Decima telephone survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found 23% were willing to state they do not believe in any god.[5]
The Canadian Ipsos-Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good," sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up with 30% who do not believe in a god. Interestingly, the same poll found that 33% of respondents who identified themselves as Catholics and 28% Protestants said they didn't believe in a god.[6]
A 2010 80-questions mail-in survey of 420 Canadians by Carleton University Survey Centre and the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies found 30% agreed with the statement "I know God really exists and I have no doubts", 20% acknowledged they "have doubts" but "feel that I do believe in God", 10% answered they believe in God "sometimes", 20% said they don't believe in a "personal God" but "do believe in a higher power", 12% adopted the classic agnostic position and said they "don't know whether there is a God and don't believe there is a way to find out", and 7% said no god exists. Slightly more than half believed in heaven, while less than a third believed in hell, with 53.5% saying they believed in life after death. About 27% said they believe in reincarnation, and 50% expressed belief in religious miracles.[7]
Associations[edit]
Some non-religious Canadians have formed associations, such as the Humanist Association of Canada, Centre for Inquiry Canada or the Toronto Secular Alliance. In 1999, some non-religious Canadians signed a petition to remove "God" from the preamble to the Canadian Constitution. Svend Robinson, who tabled this petition in Parliament, was subsequently relegated to the backbenches by his party leader.[8] Shortly afterwards, the same group petitioned to remove "God" from the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", but to no avail.
Irreligion by province[edit]
The Canadian provinces and territories ranked by percentage of population claiming no religion according to the 2001 Canadian Census and the 2011 Canadian Census.[9]
| Rank | Jurisdiction | % Irreligious (2001) | % Irreligious (2011) | Change (2001-2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - |  Canada |
16.2% | 23.9% | +7.7 |
| 01 |  Yukon |
37.4% | 49.9% | +12.5 |
| 02 |  British Columbia |
35.1% | 44.1% | +9.0 |
| 03 |  Alberta |
23.1% | 31.6% | +8.5 |
| 04 |  Northwest Territories |
17.4% | 30.5% | +13.1 |
| 05 |  Manitoba |
18.3% | 26.5% | +8.2 |
| 06 |  Saskatchewan |
15.4% | 24.4% | +9.0 |
| 07 |  Ontario |
16.0% | 23.1% | +7.1 |
| 08 |  Nova Scotia |
11.6% | 21.8% | +10.2 |
| 09 |  New Brunswick |
7.8% | 15.1% | +7.3 |
| 10 |  Prince Edward Island |
6.5% | 14.4% | +7.9 |
| 11 |  Nunavut |
6.0% | 13.0% | +7.0 |
| 12 |  Quebec |
5.6% | 12.1% | +6.5 |
| 13 |  Newfoundland and Labrador |
2.5% | 6.2% | +3.7 |
See also[edit]
- Secular Thought was a Canadian periodical from 1887–1911
- Religion in Canada
- Irreligion by country
- Importance of religion by country
References[edit]
- ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2010), Atheism and Secularity: Issues, concepts, and definitions, Praeger, ISBN 9780313351815, retrieved 2010-02-03
- ^ "Religions in Canada—Census 2011". Statistics Canada/Statistique Canada.
- ^ "Non-Christian religious data in Canada". Religioustolerance.org. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
- ^ "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good". Sep 12, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Almost a quarter of Canadians don't believe in any god, new poll says". CBC News. Jun 3, 2008. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
- ^ "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good | Ipsos". Ipsos-na.com. Sep 12, 2011. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ The results of this survey are considered accurate to within 4.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "Heaven exists, but not hell, Canadians believe".
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "Canadians yearn to believe, survey on spirituality shows".
- Randy Boswell (Sep 3, 2010). "More Canadians believe in heaven than in hell: survey".
- ^ Kurt Bowen (2005). Christians in a Secular World: The Canadian Experience. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-7735-2712-6.
- ^ StatCan Staff (2003-05-13). "Religions in Canada, 2001 Census". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
External links[edit]
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