According to the National household survey in 2011, while the largest faith in Canada remains Christianity, nearly one quarter of Canada’s population has no religious affiliation. 30 percent of the world now identifies as a Christian which is down from 35 percent in 1910. Why is Christianity on the decline? And why are young people abandoning religion all together?
Julius-Kei Kato a religous studies professor at King’s University College in London says “I think there is going to be a further decline in Christianity among our young people. The Christian churches have not kept up with the culture of young people. Hence, when young people attend church they find it is not actually relevant for their lives, for the questions they are asking.”
Kato says that parents of these young people are not any more religious than their children because they grew up in a time when there were many revolutions like the sexual revolution.
Many students I spoke to claimed to be not religous at all, however, many immigrant students seemed very in touch with their religious beliefs. Kato says that “people coming from non-western countries tend to be more traditional.”
Fanshawe’s head Chaplain, Francois Kruger, says “there are stats that say religion is on the decline. In my mind, I don’t think people are less religious, I think they are just less inclined to attach themselves to a particular organization or a particular religious institution, such as a church….but I don’t think Canadians are less religious in terms of believing.”
In a survey conducted in the States, it was found that 46 percent of Americans never think about whether they will go to heaven or not. Francois Kruger says that we have a mindset in North-America that seems to be very science-knowledge based. Kruger says that people are more inclined to believe in the natural, meanwhile, the idea of heaven and hell are more supernatural concepts.
Kruger thinks that many people do not identify with religion because in the school system these days children are taught to not discuss their religious views in public.
