More than one-fourth of Canadians claim not to be affiliated with any religion.
All state property in Quebec is decorated with crosses, and a giant cross tops the Mont-Royal mountain. However, Canada is one of the least religious countries in the world.
The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has announced that the giant cross in the national assembly is not a religious symbol. Only 27% of Canadians claim to have religion as a centerpiece of their lives. This is far below the average level of religiousness in the world (55%). For instance, religion is important for more than half (53%) of the US population. In the Pew Research ranking of 40 countries, Canada takes the 12th place among the least religious countries.
Since 2011, Canada’s religious composition has changed dramatically. The number of Catholics decreased by more than 10%. At the same time, the share of other religions has become progressively greater: every tenth Canadian citizen is now affiliated with Islam, Hinduism or Sikhism.
Over the same period, the percentage of atheists and people not affiliated with any religion has increased from 4% to 24%. In fact, Canada’s share of atheists is 4% above that of the US.
One of the most important factors for this trend is a growing gap between different generations of Canadians. Almost 40% of Canadian millennials claim to have renounced the official religion opting for a spiritual outlook on life. Although, it is wrong to say that the millennials totally dismiss religion as they are one of the most tolerate and open-minded generations when it comes to religious difference.
The most curious statistical data concerns religious difference within Canadian provinces and territories. Quebec is gradually becoming one of the least religious provinces in Canada. As of 2011, Quebec has seen a dramatic increase in the number of minority faiths. This should be of no surprise given the rate of growth in the number of immigrants all across the province. Again, the proliferation of new minority faiths can widen the divide between generations as the Canadian millennials are more susceptible and open to alternative religious views compared to their predecessors.