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Information about religion in Canada

A parallel report for the U.S. is located elsewhere

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Quote:

"Generally, not only across Canada but the entire Western world, we're aware of a trend that says that institutionalized religion is not central to peoples' lives, as is individualized religion." 3 Rev. Harry Oussoren, executive minister of the United Church of Canada's Support to Local Ministries. 1

Overview:

Like the United States, Canada is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. South-eastern Ontario has been called the most religiously diverse region of any country in the world. A major contributor to this trend is the large number of immigrants to Canada who have settled in the Toronto, ON area.

Some trends in Canada:

	The percentage of Christians is in relatively rapid decline in Canada, dropping at about 0.9 percentage points per year. Although this is a miniscule drop over the course of a year, it amounts to almost 10% a decade. This rate is close to that of the U.S.
	Small non-Christian faith groups are increasing in number and popularity.
	The percentage of Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, secularists, and persons of no religious adherence is increasing rapidly.
	Many Canadians identify themselves as adherents of a specific religion, religious group or denomination, but no longer attend services.

Topics covered in this section:

	2001 Census data Detailed Christian data from the 2001 census Detailed non-Christian data from the 2001 census
	How Americans and Canadians differ religiously
	Government treatment of religious charities
	The freedom of religious groups and individuals to discriminate
	Other topics: Importance of religion; denominational reaction; comments

Reference used:

1. Ferdy Baglo, "Canada's churches suffering serious decline. Researcher says membership losses pushing Canadian churches to brink of 'extinction'," Spero News, 2005-DEC-06, at: http://www.speroforum.com/.

Copyright � 1998 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 1998-JUL-5
Last update: 2008-FEB-25
Author: B.A. Robinson

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