Religious Life in Canada, by the Numbers

Did you read about the latest Statistics Canada figures which show that a decreasing number of Canadians belong to a religious organization or group? This should come as no surprise to those of us who are part of what were once mainline Christian denominations in which by far the greatest number of congregations are now oldline and oldtimer, myself included. I honestly don't know how our son and nephew, both United Church ministers, "keep the faith" when the tide seems to be ebbing out despite their creative and faithful efforts.  

According to the 2021 population census, 34.6 per cent of people in Canada claimed no religious affiliation, while on the Left Coast in British Columbia it's 52.4 per cent. That 50% threshold seems significant. 

Of course, this doesn't mean that people are no longer spiritual in some form, or that they no longer believe in a deity, or that they don't pray. Over the years I've had plenty of conversations with folk who gave up organized religion but still had a deep spiritual yearning. Some of them had been traumatized by their experience in churches or angry about injustices perpetrated by religious institutions including residential schools. Others have simply drifted away on the tide of growing secularism. The pandemic gave lots of religious communities a nasty kick in the pew as well. 

I can say that over the decades in ministry I was often frustrated and at times angered by the ingrained denial of church members and boards who were unwilling to engage in the important conversations about who God wanted us to be in a changing society and who we presented Christ to those who had doubts but also serious questions. Many of the most vocal resisters are now dead and gone, at least from this life. It's a pathetic legacy and I wonder if they had some "splainin' to do. 

I still see the importance and relevance of Christian community as the living, breathing expression of the living Christ. We do have to move past the "edifice complex"` of cherished but decaying buildings. And the "Scrooge McDuck" tendency to hoard our financial resources is foolhard as well.