I love little wins for the secular community. Actually, this one might be more than minor.
Abigail Turner in CTV News Vancouver pointed out some of the encouraging recent data on religion in British Columbians’ lives. Namely, it continues to hold much less sway.
According to Research Co., 41% of individuals in B.C. have no religious affiliation. That is staggering. In much of the world, and indeed the Western hemisphere, this is not the case. Thus if you’re in B.C., take note, you live in a lucky area.
Cost of living may rise. Housing costs and rent may go up. However, whereas religion is a major factor in people’s lives – another factor of oppression, here, it is not. It is a sign of something odd, not normative.
Take into account, for most of Canadian history, to be Christian, for example, was to be the norm, to partake of religious belief was normative, now, in British Columbia, it’s inured. Even the religious, they’re liberalized. Neither is normative, but stigma lifts with inclines in representation, demographically.
Mario Canseco, President of Research Co., said, “That definitely raises questions about the future of some of these institutions when you have a younger generation who are not in tune with something like this.”
The largest drop in belief has been, definitively, among the young aged 18 to 34. If you are young and in British Columbia, your chances of adherence to the dominant religious orthodoxies is much lower.
Rev. Rhian Walker at St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church said, “I think that Gen Z and Millennials are looking at religion very differently… I think religion, organized religion, has been on the decline in the western world.”
Walker is correct. I have noted this for many years. I was wrong in some prior estimates. However, 2024 does seem to be the tipping point year in which less than half of the population of Canada will identify as Christian.
Furthermore, the only significant contributor to religious demographics isn’t the birth rate, as Canada is below the threshold for replacement. The issue is the immigrant population tends to be far more religious than natural born Canadians. That’s about it.
Not anti-immigrant at all, by the way. I come from a family of Scandinavian and Dutch “settlers” or “immigrants.” I am a Canadian culturally through and through, though departing from some Canadian norms. Half of the family was religious. It would be an intriguing family query as to the degree of religion now.
Apparently, criticism of “capitalism, colonialism and imperialism” lead to further loss of religion – maybe. Often, it seems more natural loss of practices and repetition of dogmas with each generation because – well – it’s hard and Canadians are busy and distractible.
Ian Bushfield, Executive Director of the British Columbia Humanist Association, said, “We’re seeing across the world and across British Columbia, people are finding values in different ways.” Ian is correct. Although, arguably, religion is still increasing faster than irreligion is rising. It may be more of a developed nation item at the moment.
“People are still striving for that meaning and purpose, but we can derive meaning and purpose through an understanding of one another and through science,” Bushfield emphasized.
If you need community, you can reach out to any number of secular organizations in Canada.
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Photo credit: Photo by Alejandro Luengo on Unsplash.
