If you don’t go to church, why do you claim to have an affiliation?

A review of Census Data on Religious Affiliation and Attendance (June 1, 2023)

As we have seen, the embrace of religion is tenuous in Canada.  Bibby found 30% of Canada claims to embrace religion1, but only a little over half of these folk claim to attend worship at least weekly or monthly.  A 2019 poll by Statistics Canada4 similarly found that only 31% of those who report Christian affiliation attended “in groups at least once per month.”

Yet, every time Statistics Canada runs a census, a large majority claim an affiliation with a specific religion, and often a specific denomination.  In 20112, this ranged from 46% in the Yukon to 94% in Newfoundland and Labrador.  One province is a bit of a head-scratcher: 82% of Quebecers claim an affiliation (a large majority being Roman Catholic), while Bibby3 notes weekly attendance rates for Catholics averaging around 20%. 

Of course we must allow for those who are too disabled or geographically remote to attend a church, but I think that would be a small percentage.  There are likely psychological reasons behind these figures.  Some may see religious affiliation as more of a cultural heritage than as a belief system.  I expect many of the selections were based on parent and grandparent affiliations, or on the church in which they were baptized or married.  Perhaps selecting ‘non-religious’ in a poll is just bad karma.  Maybe claiming a religion is like having insurance; most of the time not needed, but just maybe, someday . . .

Another possibility is that there is a share of the population of Christians who feel they can worship from outside of a church.  In 2019, only 16% of Christian identifiers stated they participated “in groups less than once a month, but individually at least once a week.4”  A 2017 U.S. Gallup poll5 addressed, in part, why people never (or seldom) attend a place of worship.  The response “prefer to worship on your own” was selected by 44% of the respondents.  The American data may be a bit skewed due to inclusion of non-Christian religions, some of which may not have a significant in-person gathering practice.

Since we are now in the digital age, it’s worth remembering that you can easily ‘attend’ an online service at any of a large number of churches, including some in your local area, or which you used to attend in person.  Would these people tell a pollster that they do or do not attend church on a regular basis?

It would be remiss to leave this topic without a brief shout-out to the C&E crowd.  These could be the respondents who indicated they attend church at least once during the year, as selected by 24% of the Christian identifiers.  For these people, the church may provide some form of enrichment of the Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter) and various life events (e.g., birth, marriage).  Or perhaps they are dragged into the church kicking and screaming by their aging parents when they come to visit.  (Who knows?!)

Since I touched on the subject of geography, I will leave you with one other interesting tidbit.  The so-called Canadian bible-belt may be losing its crown.  In 2011 census data, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan residents claimed Christian affiliation at rates ranging from 60% to 72%.  However, the Atlantic Provinces ranged from 78% to 93%.  I submit that Canada now has a bible coast.  (With little competition from the other coasts: British Columbia at 45%  and the northern territories averaging 66%.)

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1. Bibby, Reginald W, Resilient Gods: being pro-religious, low religious or no religious in Canada,

     UBC Press, 2017, page 66

2. Wikipedia, Religion in Canada, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Canada#Census_results

3. Bibby, page 41

4. Statistics Canada, Religiosity in Canada and its evolution from 1985 to 2019,

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2021001/article/00010-eng.htm

5. Gallop https://news.gallup.com/poll/1690/Religion.aspx