A recent Canadian poll shows about half of Canadians believe in God but do not necessarily see value in attending church. Many non-believers still feel attached to their religion.
A new poll by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies shows about half of Canadians believe in God, a measure that has been roughly stable for the last few years.
It is common for Canadians to believe in God and feel unattached to their religion, the poll shows. But it is even more common for Canadians to report deep skepticism about God’s existence, even to the point of firm atheism, while also feeling closely attached to their religion.
I was wondering if similar trends were present in the United States. The article states immigrants tend to be much more religious than non-immigrants and states other findings about specific religions.
Can’t speak for national trends, but around here church attendance, which had been slowly declining, cratered during the Covid lockdowns and hasn’t come back to anywhere pre-pandemic levels. I believe the Catholics (who keep ver good records) are reporting about 23% attendance, and there’s really nothing anyone can do to change that trend.
OTOH, at a local Lutheran church in my small town in Montana they are expecting a huge turnout for Good Friday/Easter Services and have brought in lots of extra chairs and packed the nave. So for at least some holidays, Christians will show up in droves. Why typical Sunday services are so down may have something to do with COVID, although I don’t really see why COVID would keep people away.
People might be re-assessing their reasons for going to church. Inner belief in God, attachment to one’s religion of origin, and actively participating in regular group services at a house of worship – 3 separate things.
On a recent Bill Maher show, Bill says that people who call themselves “NONE” (Atheist, Agnostic, or Nothing-in-Particular) made up 5% of the population in 1972, 15% in 2005, and 32% in 2023. Did “NONE” really increse six-fold in fifty years, or were many of them reluctant to declare they were Athiests back in 1972.
One way to increase percentage of “believers” is to execute the non-believers. Thomas Aikenhead was hanged just because he maintained that theology was a rhapsody of ill-invented nonsense.
I think it’s an interesting question regarding atheism. There are likely many still in the closet due to social conventions supporting believing in God. And for many faithless, its not like we actively don’t beleive, its just that it does not take up any time or energy, unless someone tries to shove their beliefs at us. Otherwise, its not even a thought. But polite society seems to demand religion, any religion, over being atheist, so I suppose “not active in any religion, but beleive in God” gets you out of an uncomfortable conversation.
I suppose it may depend on what we mean by “attending.” During COVID, the church that we go to developed various virtual offerings (such as livestreamed and recorded services). Those have continued even after in-person services have resumed. And I know a number of people who continue to “attend” virtually – some because of COVID; others out of convenience. But I’m not sure how “church attendance” is measured for them.
But, as you noted, the church doubled the number of in-person services on Easter and they were all completely full.
I do wonder also how the increasing politicization of Christianity is affecting attendence.
I know people on both sides of the spectrum have been affected. One close friend, who is religious, stopped attending services during the Trump years (and has rarely been back since) because far, far too many services seemed to only amplify the recent politics.
And I know people, not close friends, who fell down the Q hole, got got religion out of it, and goes to a local church that all but worships Trump and sees themselves as the last defense against the Godless Socialists.
Both my wife and I have/had many family members that are/were “Christians”, but as far as we know, never stepped foot in a church. Both of our parents are active church goers but we will attend with them while we are visiting at Christmas just to avoid us telling them our real thoughts on organized religion.
I live in the least religious state in the US. Something like 60% “other”. Many churches here have been repurposed or torn down. There is currently a stink about a historic Catholic church that they want to tear down for urban renewal.
It is far more common here for people to just ignore religion than to either pay lip service or be religious but not church-going. But, I know we are not representative of the country as a whole.
I do know that the “Christian Conservative” movement of the last 40 years has really soured a lot of young people on religion in general. Many younger people have the view that being seen as religious will brand you as racist, sexist, misogynistic, intolerant and authoritarian. Because that is what organized religion has sold itself as for so long.
My opinion is that the decline in church attendance is but part of a general weakening of all community ties, responsibilities, and of all social groups. We are following our individualistic cultural tenets by detaching ourselves from all the structures that wove together communities – Rotary Club, Freemasons, bowling leagues, volunteer fire department, library guild, you name it, and it’s struggling. We’re all free-floating motes now.
Being a member of a church is the central way the majority Americans used to know each other, help each other, have fun together, hear and make music, celebrate milestones and grieve tragedies. I am sure there were (and still are) people in the pews every Sunday who didn’t have much use for God but appreciated the other things that churches do.
And the individualistic culture was there all along in a way, in that in America it sort of became a matter of fact at some point that you could change churches like you change brands of soap with no moral compunction, and if necessary even just head another mile out of town and create your own.
We have just reached the point where ever more people are asking themselves why even bother to do that.
Well, the country was founded by splinter sects not tolerated in their home country. But I think the impulse to create a more perfect church, however you defined that (keeping out the heretical and impure was a popular motive) was much stronger than the desire to be beholden to no one and nothing, for the bulk of our history.
As an aging Boomer myself, I can throw out my own limitations to Sunday worship.
(1) I don’t drive any more. I’d have to start campaigning days in advance if I wanted to go to church on Sunday.
(2) Mr VOW doesn’t really care about church. He’d rather stay at home and argue with news channels on TV.
(3) The Daughter and The Son-in-Law have a zillion things to do before the workweek/schoolweek begins.
(4) I can’t hear, and Mr VOW automatically heads to the back of the church so he can slouch and sleep. I try to drag him closer to the front, but he digs in his heels.
I’m of the demographic who says that I hope God understands.
Our church has done the same; we look at “views” of the services (they’re streamed live on YouTube), and we let people register their attendance online. Even so, we know that we likely don’t have a full picture of who’s watching.
In-person attendance is still much lower than it was pre-COVID, just accelerating what had been a long, slow decline.
I think this is definitely true; our church (a liberal United Methodist church) does a lot of work in the community in support of alleviating hunger and homelessness, and is a “reconciling congregation” (inclusive and supportive of LGBT+ people). I’ve been helping lead our efforts to rebrand the church, and reach out to those who are interested in spirituality or faith, but may have grown up outside of an organized church, and feel that “Christianity,” based on what they see, is judgmental and intolerant, and something that definitely is not for them.
Not according to the surveys. Most people who left off church-going still believe in God, or the divine; they just don’t believe in church, or in a particular dogma of Christianity. Many are some variety of “I’m spiritual not religious.” Avowed atheism is still a small minority of the population. Somewhere around 3-10%.