Canadians trust the non-religious more than the religious

"67 per cent of those surveyed said they trusted “people who are religious” in general, and even more respondents — 73 per cent — expressed trust in “people who are not religious.”


[...]


Just 42% of those polled agreed with the statement “religion is an important part of my life,” with women (46%) more likely to value religious activity than men (37%) by a clear margin.


[...]


Only 30% of those aged 18 to 24 agreed that religion is important to their life, while respondents aged 65 and older were most likely (56%) to consider religion a force in their life.

Likewise, an expressed belief in God was lowest (56%) among the youngest group of respondents and highest (79%) among the oldest."

Nationalpost.com, Apr 6, 2012

H/T to Friendly Atheist

Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says

"A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation.

[...]

The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

[...]

"The idea is pretty simple," said Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, and the University of Arizona.

"It posits that social groups that have more members are going to be more attractive to join, and it posits that social groups have a social status or utility.

[...]

Dr Wiener continued: "In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40%, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60%."

[...]

And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction."

BBC News, 22 March 2011

Even in Ireland!

Canadian Muslims condemn UN “defamation of religion” decision

"The Muslim Canadian Congress has expressed shock and disappointment at the move by Islamic countries to bulldoze the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) into approving a resolution curtailing freedom of speech under the guise of protecting religion.

The resolution approved at the UNHRC and initiated by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is disingenuously titled "Combating Defamation of Religion." However, the fact is that the OIC resolution is nothing more than a cover to silence opponents of Islamist oppression inside Muslim countries, as well as in the West."

Muslim Canadian Congress, April 7, 2008

This is good news!

Have a look at their charter. They should get more coverage.

Quebec secularizes religious education

"As of next September, parents in Quebec will have no choice but to send their children to a secularized “one-size-fits-all” course on moral education, the National Post reported.
Even private religious schools will be required to offer the course. Called Ethics and Religious Culture, it which will give equal emphasis to Christianity, Judaism, aboriginal spirituality, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

[...]

Many observers are worried that the course’s relativistic approach will make it even harder for parents with orthodox beliefs and teachers in faith-based schools to communicate their values to the next generation."

Today's Family News, November 7, 2007

Yes, it will make it harder for fanatics to brainwash their children. Not bad at all. Take a look at a summary of the program here. (PDF) Alternative and longer story here, from Canada.com

Tory drops contentious religious schools issue

"TORONTO - The contentious issue of funding religious schools that many believe cost the Progressive Conservatives the Oct. 10 election was declared "dead as a doornail" Wednesday after party Leader John Tory abandoned the policy and suggested he will stay on to fight the 2011 election.

[...]

"When they ultimately indicate as decisively as they did that they reject the point that I put forward . . . then you have to respect their will. This is an issue where people have rendered their verdict. They have said 'No."'
That was what many caucus members wanted to hear after what some felt was a disastrous and poorly run election campaign. Tory now has the "unanimous" support of his caucus going forward to the 2011 election, members said.
"It's dead as a door nail," said party veteran Norm Sterling, adding he is happy with the shift in policy. "The people have spoken and we've listened."

Across Canada, 24. October 2007

So Much for Another Stereotype

"According to this survey, 59 percent of the 1,088 Canadians surveyed think the evolutionary model is the right one, 22 percent think the creation model is right and 19 percent said they are not sure.

[...]

The perplexing part comes when one looks at a provincial breakdown of the numbers. Particularly striking are the Ontario and Québec numbers. Ontario pretty much reflects the national average in percentages of its population who are believers (84 percent) while this survey indicates that 51 percent of Ontarions think evolution is the correct answer.

In Québec, the percentage of believers is much higher (94.7 percent), but the percentage of Québécois who opt for evolution is 71 percent, the highest in Canada. The numbers for British Columbia make more sense because 65 percent of its surveyed citizens agree with evolution and 21 percent with creation and British Columbia also has the second-highest percentage of non-believers (35.9 percent) in the country."

HumanistNetworkNews.org, July 3, 2007

Most Canadians say God created them

The Canadian Press-Decima Research survey suggests 60 per cent of Canadians believe God had either a direct or indirect role in creating mankind, shattering the myth that Canadians had long ago put their faith strictly behind the scientific explanation for creation.
The poll suggests Canadians divide in roughly three groups on the issue of creation: 34 per cent of those polled said humans developed over millions of years under a process guided by God; 26 per cent said God created humans alone within the last 10,000 years or so; and 29 per cent said they believe evolution occurred with no help from God.
"These results reflect an essential Canadian tendency," said pollster Bruce Anderson. "We are pretty secular, but pretty hesitant to embrace atheism."

hfxnews.ca 04/07/07

[Science] Prayer Study Author Charged With Plagiarism

"A controversial study claiming that anonymous prayers from people in the United States, Canada, and Australia doubled the success rate of in vitro fertilization treatments performed on patients in Korea is making international news again. Once again, the news is not good.

[...]

In summary, the man who designed and supposedly conducted the prayer study resides in federal prison, and the man originally listed as lead author admits he knows nothing about the alleged research. The only remaining author has now been charged with plagiarism.

This may be the first time in history that all three authors of a randomized, controlled study have been found guilty of fraud, deception, and/or plagiarism."

ObGynNews.com, 15 March 2007