Irreligion is common throughout all provinces and territories of Canada. Irreligious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists. [1] The surveys may also include those who are deists, spiritual, pantheists. The 2021 Canadian census reported that 34.6% of Canadians declare no religious affiliation, which is up from 23.9% in the 2011 Canadian census and 16.5% in the 2001 Canadian census. [2] [3] According to Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, among those estimated 4.9 million Canadians of no religion, an estimated 1.9 million would specify atheist, 1.8 million would specify agnostic, and 1.2 million humanist. [4]
In 2011, a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid showed that 47% of the Canadian population believed religion does more harm in the world than good, while 64% believed that religion provides more questions than answers. [5] A 2008 Canadian Press Harris-Decima telephone survey of just over 1,000 Canadians found 23% were willing to state they do not believe in any God. [6]
The Canadian Ipsos-Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good", sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up with 30% who do not believe in a God. The same poll found that 33% of respondents who identified themselves as Catholics and 28% Protestants said they didn't believe in a God. [7]
A 2010 80-questions mail-in survey of 420 Canadians by Carleton University Survey Centre and the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies found 30% agreed with the statement "I know God really exists and I have no doubts", 20% acknowledged they "have doubts" but "feel that I do believe in God", 10% answered they believe in God "sometimes", 20% said they don't believe in a "personal God" but "do believe in a higher power", 12% adopted the classic agnostic position and said they "don't know whether there is a God and don't believe there is a way to find out", and 7% said no God exists. Slightly more than half believed in heaven, while less than a third believed in hell, with 53.5% saying they believed in life after death. About 27% said they believe in reincarnation, and 50% expressed belief in religious miracles. [8]
Many non-religious Canadians have formed associations, such as the Humanist Association of Canada which was founded in 1968, the Centre for Inquiry Canada, the University of Toronto-based Toronto Secular Alliance, Canadian Atheists, and the Society of Freethinkers which was founded in 1992. In 1999, hundreds of non-religious Canadians signed a petition to remove the mention of "God" from the preamble to the Canadian Constitution. Past House of Commons members, Svend Robinson, who tabled this petition in Parliament, was subsequently relegated to the backbenches by his party leader. [9] Shortly afterwards, the same group petitioned to remove the mention of "God" from the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", but have not yet succeeded.
The Canadian provinces and territories ranked by percentage of population claiming no religion according to the 2001 Canadian Census, [10] the 2011 Canadian Census [11] and the 2021 Canadian Census [12] These results were obtained with the question "What is this person's religion?"
Rank | Jurisdiction | % Irreligious (2021) | % Irreligious (2011) | % Irreligious (2001) | Change (2011—2021) | Change (2001–2011) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- | Canada | 34.6% | 23.9% | 16.2% | +10.7 | +7.7 |
01 | Yukon | 59.7% | 49.9% | 37.4% | +9.8 | +12.5 |
02 | British Columbia | 52.1% | 44.1% | 35.1% | +8 | +9.0 |
03 | Alberta | 40.1% | 31.6% | 23.1% | +8.5 | +8.5 |
04 | Northwest Territories | 39.8% | 30.5% | 17.4% | +9.3 | +13.1 |
05 | Nova Scotia | 37.6% | 21.8% | 11.6% | +15.8 | +10.2 |
06 | Manitoba | 36.7% | 26.5% | 18.3% | +10.2 | +8.2 |
07 | Saskatchewan | 36.6% | 24.4% | 15.4% | +12.2 | +9.0 |
08 | Ontario | 31.6% | 23.1% | 16.0% | +8.5 | +7.1 |
09 | New Brunswick | 29.7% | 15.1% | 7.8% | +14.6 | +7.3 |
10 | Prince Edward Island | 28.5% | 14.4% | 6.5% | +14.1 | +7.9 |
11 | Quebec | 27.3% | 12.1% | 5.6% | +15.2 | +6.5 |
12 | Nunavut | 24.9% | 13.0% | 6.0% | +11.9 | +7.0 |
13 | Newfoundland and Labrador | 16.0% | 6.2% | 2.5% | +9.8 | +3.7 |
The Canadian provinces ranked by percentage of population claiming to believe in God according to Association for Canadian Studies. [13] These are results obtained of respondents' agreement with the statement "I believe in God", in a poll conducted in May 2019.
Rank | Jurisdiction | % Strongly or somewhat agree | % Strongly or somewhat disagree | Ratio |
---|---|---|---|---|
- | Canada | 58.80% | 28.40% | 2.07 |
01 | Nova Scotia | 42.40% | 42.40% | 1.00 |
02 | British Columbia | 48.20% | 39.60% | 1.22 |
03 | Quebec | 53.50% | 33.50% | 1.60 |
04 | Prince Edward Island | 40.00% | 20.00% | 2.00 |
05 | Alberta | 63.70% | 25.80% | 2.47 |
06 | Ontario | 63.60% | 24.50% | 2.60 |
07 | New Brunswick | 60.50% | 18.70% | 3.24 |
08 | Manitoba | 65.80% | 20.30% | 3.24 |
09 | Newfoundland and Labrador | 65.80% | 15.80% | 4.16 |
10 | Saskatchewan | 73.20% | 9.00% | 8.13 |
2021 [14] [15] | 2011 [16] | 2001 [17] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Population | % | Population | Population | % | ||
European | 9,289,060 | 73.85% | 6,020,695 | 76.69% | 3,811,880 | 77.79% |
Chinese | 1,230,520 | 9.78% | 852,740 | 10.86% | 603,115 | 12.31% |
Indigenous | 849,560 | 6.75% | 437,570 | 5.57% | 212,120 | 4.33% |
African | 278,895 | 2.22% | 125,905 | 1.6% | 80,430 | 1.64% |
South Asian | 156,885 | 1.25% | 67,405 | 0.86% | 30,610 | 0.62% |
Latin American | 141,470 | 1.12% | 51,035 | 0.65% | 20,775 | 0.42% |
Southeast Asians | 139,805 | 1.11% | 71,840 | 0.92% | 39,915 | 0.81% |
Multiracial | 102,885 | 0.82% | 39,715 | 0.51% | 13,875 | 0.28% |
West Asians | 102,610 | 0.82% | 39,930 | 0.51% | 9,940 | 0.2% |
Koreans | 86,780 | 0.69% | 44,195 | 0.56% | 20,040 | 0.41% |
Japanese | 66,930 | 0.53% | 49,150 | 0.63% | 34,660 | 0.71% |
Filipino | 54,735 | 0.44% | 19,230 | 0.24% | 6,990 | 0.14% |
Arabs | 40,010 | 0.32% | 15,300 | 0.19% | 5,435 | 0.11% |
Other Ethnicity | 37,365 | 0.3% | 15,885 | 0.2% | 9,320 | 0.19% |
Total Irreligious Canadian Population | 12,577,475 | 100% | 7,850,605 | 100% | 4,900,095 | 100% |
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
Irreligion is the neglect or active rejection of religion and, depending on the definition, a simple absence of religion.
Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of beliefs and customs that historically has been dominated by Christianity. The constitution of Canada refers to God and the monarch carries the title of Defender of the Faith, however Canada has no official church and the government is officially committed to religious pluralism. Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing individuals to assemble and worship without limitation or interference.
British Columbia is a Canadian province with a population of about 5.5 million people. The province represents about 13.2% of the population of the Canadian population. Most of the population is between the ages of 15 and 49. About 60 percent of British Columbians have European descent with significant Asian and Aboriginal minorities and just under 30% of British Columbians are immigrants. Over half of the population is irreligious, with Christianity and Sikhism being the most followed religions.
Accurate demographics of atheism are difficult to obtain since conceptions of atheism vary considerably across different cultures and languages, ranging from an active concept to being unimportant or not developed. Also in some countries and regions atheism carries a strong stigma, making it harder to count atheists in these countries. In global studies, the number of people without a religion is usually higher than the number of people without a belief in a deity and the number of people who agree with statements on lacking a belief in a deity is usually higher than the number of people who self-identify as "atheists".
The predominant religion in the Republic of Ireland is Christianity, with the largest denomination being the Catholic Church. The Constitution of Ireland says that the state may not endorse any particular religion and guarantees freedom of religion.
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.
Atheism, agnosticism, scepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general irreligion are increasing in Australia. Post-war Australia has become a highly secularised country. Religion does not play a major role in the lives of much of the population.
In the United States, between 6% and 15% of citizens demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics. The number of self-identified atheists and agnostics was around 4% each, while many persons formally affiliated with a religion are likewise non-believing.
According to sociologists as of 2022, "the proportion of atheists in the US has held steady at 3% to 4% for more than 80 years." According to the Pew Research Center in a 2014 survey, self-identified atheists make up 3.1% of the US population, even though 9% of Americans agreed with the statement "Do not believe in God" while 2% agreed with the statement "Do not know if they believe in God".
Christianity is the most adhered-to religion in Canada, with 19,373,330 Canadians, or 53.3%, identifying themselves as of the 2021 census. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms refers to God. The French colonization beginning in the 17th century established a Roman Catholic francophone population in New France, especially Acadia and Lower Canada. British colonization brought waves of Anglicans and other Protestants to Upper Canada, now Ontario. The Russian Empire spread Orthodox Christianity in a small extent to the tribes in the far north and western coasts, particularly hyperborean nomads like the Inuit. Orthodoxy would arrive in mainland Canada with immigrants from the eastern and southern Austro-Hungarian Empire and western Russian Empire starting in the 1890s; then refugees from the Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc, Greece and elsewhere during the last half of the 20th century.
Irreligion in New Zealand refers to atheism, agnosticism, deism, religious scepticism and secular humanism in New Zealand society. Post-war New Zealand has become a highly secular country, meaning that religion does not play a major role in the lives of many of the population.
As of 2020, 20% of Singaporeans have no religious affiliation. The rate of irreligion is different among ethnic groups of Singapore: about 26% of Chinese residents have no religion, compared to just 0.4% of Malay residents and 2.2% of Indian residents. Age is an also important factor, as around 24% of people aged 15 to 24 indicated they had no religious connection, compared to 15% of residents aged 55 and over in the last census.
Irreligion in the United Kingdom is more prevalent than in some parts of Europe, with about 8% indicating they were atheistic in 2018, and 52% listing their religion as "none". A third of Anglicans polled in a 2013 survey doubted the existence of God, while 15% of those with no religion believed in some higher power, and deemed themselves "spiritual" or even "religious".
Irreligion in the Netherlands pertains to atheism, agnosticism, and other forms of irreligion in the Netherlands. Irreligion is the majority religious position in the country since around 2015, making the Netherlands one of the minority of mostly irreligious countries in the world. After that, there is still a very large and prominent Christian minority, plus a large irreligious but former Christian minority. Also, about a million, mostly Sunni Muslims make up about a 5% Islamic minority, making Islam the second biggest religion in the Netherlands – a new development through immigration, mostly since ca. 1970. Until World War II, the Netherlands had a small but influential Jewish minority for centuries. The Holocaust all but irradicated them, but not the Jewish influences in Dutch history and culture.
Irreligion in Ireland pertains to the population of Ireland that are atheist, agnostic, or otherwise unaffiliated with any religion. The 2022 census recorded that 14% of the population was irreligious; the second largest category after Roman Catholicism. The population was traditionally devoutly Catholic throughout much of Ireland's modern history, with a peak of 94.9% identifying as Catholic in the 1961 census. This percentage has declined to 69% in the 2022 census, the lowest recorded. Conversely, those with no religion made up less than 0.1% of the population in 1961; the proportion grew slowly until the 1991 census where it began to rapidly increase to its current share of 14% of the population in 2022.
Irreligion in Latin America refers to various types of irreligion, including atheism, agnosticism, deism, secular humanism, secularism and non-religious. According to a Pew Research Center survey from 2014, 8% of the population is not affiliated with a religion.
Irreligion in Turkey refers to the extent of the lack, rejection of, or indifference towards religion in the Republic of Turkey. Based on surveys, Islam is the predominant religion and irreligious people form a minority in Turkey. Precise estimates of the share of Deists, atheists, agnostics, and other unaffiliated people in the population vary, though in the survey averages they make up more percentages than Christians and Jews in the country.
Irreligion in Romania is rare. Romania is one of the most religious countries in Europe, with 92% of people saying that they believe in God. Levels of Irreligion are much lower than in most other European countries and are among the lowest in the world. At the 2011 census, only 0.11% of the population declared itself atheist, up from the 2002 census, while 0.10% do not belong to any religion. While still one of the most religious countries in Europe, practicing, church and mass attendance is quite low, even compared to some less religious countries than Romania. It is mainly practiced by elderly people, mainly in rural areas, while in urban areas church attendance and practice is much lower. As of 2021, almost 85% are declared religious, of which about 73% are declared orthodox, 12% other religions, about 1% atheists or irreligious and about 14% declared nothing about religion.