Is religion disappearing entirely from Great Britain? A fresh look at religiosity trends

There is extensive literature mapping the decline of religiosity in the UK, yet this does not mean that religion is disappearing entirely. Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme explains that there is a substantial minority still actively involved with religion. The religiously committed also have more favourable views towards religious leaders influencing politics than they did previously, while the unaffiliated now have less favourable views towards public religion

Religion, Non-Belief, Spirituality and Social Behaviour among North American Millennials

This report stems from the SSHRC-funded research project Surveying Millennials’ Nonreligious Homophily and Social Distance, led by principal investigator Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. Collaborators on the project include Lori Beaman and Peter Beyer (University of Ottawa), Reginald Bibby (University of Lethbridge), Stephen LeDrew (Memorial University), Géraldine Mossière (Université de Montréal), Joel Thiessen (Ambrose University), and Steven Tomlins (Institute on Governance, Ottawa). Dr. Wilkins-Laflamme conducted statistical analyses with data collected in March 2019 from the Millennial Trends Survey. The results in this report from these statistical analyses address key topics of the research project, including current religious, spiritual and nonreligious identities and dynamics among young adults in Canada and the USA, friendship networks and homophily, as well as attitudes towards public religion and members of (non)religious and spiritual groups. Special thanks to the Survey Research Centre at the University of Waterloo (https://uwaterloo.ca/survey-research-centre/) for their key role in the survey data collection and cleaning.Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canad

The Religious, Spiritual, Secular And Social Landscapes of The Pacific Northwest – Part 1

This report stems from the SSHRC funded research project Religion, Spirituality, Secularity and Society in the Pacific Northwest, led by principal investigator Paul Bramadat in partnership with the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, Trinity Western University and the University of Waterloo. Dr. Wilkins-Laflamme conducted secondary statistical analyses with existing survey data from British Columbia as well as the US states of Washington and Oregon (and at times the entire US Pacific Census and West regions out of necessity) in order to begin addressing key topics of the research project. These topics include transformations of the religious and spiritual landscapes, secularity and non-religion, inclusivity for minorities and faith groups, as well as social issues such as environmentalism and civic engagement. All estimates have been weighted to be representative of adult populations.SSHR

Canadian Religion in Global Perspective

The goal of this report is to provide a concise high-quality descriptive portrait of key religiosity indicators in 81 countries from 2017-2020 European Values Survey (EVS) and World Values Survey (WVS) data, with a special focus on Canada. Between 2017-2020, the EVS and the WVS ran their 2017 and 7th waves respectively in 81 countries. Adults 18 years or older living in private residences in each country were selected using simple and multistage random sampling techniques (slight variation in sampling procedures between each country). These respondents were administered the master survey questionnaire face-to-face, over the phone or online. The survey questionnaire was administered in the language of choice of the respondent, for languages found among 5% or more of European national populations, and among 15% or more of other national populations. Table A.1 in Appendix A of this report contains the year of data collection, survey and sample size for each of the 81 countries included in the EVS 2017 and WVS7. For the EVS 2017 and WVS7, a series of questions were asked on religious beliefs, behaviours and belonging, notably on the following key indicators included in this report: salience of religion in life, frequency of religious service attendance and prayer, belief in God and life after death, and religious affiliation. Canada took part in the 2020 WVS: a rare occasion for data collection on key religiosity indicators in the country, and to compare the Canadian situation with many other countries in a large cross-national dataset. A special thank you to the Canadian WVS principal investigator Guy Lachapelle from Concordia University and Léger for the Canadian WVS 2020 data collection

Like Parent, Like Millennial: Inherited and Switched (Non)Religion Among Young Adults in the U.S. and Canada

Using novel quantitative data from the Millennial Trends Survey administered online in March 2019 with over 2,500 respondents between the ages of 18 and 35 in both Canada and the U.S., we examine in detail inherited (non)religion as well as intergenerational conversion and disaffiliation among young adult birth cohorts. Key results include approximately two thirds of Millennials in our sample belonging to the same (non)religious tradition of at least one of their parents. Among the remaining one third who did have a different religious (un)affiliation than their parents at the time of the survey, intergenerational disaffiliation was the most common change present: especially in Canada, but also in the U.S. Intergenerational retention of nonreligion among families where both parents are nonreligious are especially high among Millennials in both countries, a characteristic of this generation’s much more secular social milieu.SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Surveying Millennials’ Non-Religious Homophily and Social Distanc

Religiously unaffiliated youth in Europe: shifting remnants of belief and practice in contexts of diffused religion and cohort decline

This study investigates the remnants and dynamics of religious beliefs and practices among religiously unaffiliated youth in Europe, comparing them with the older unaffiliated as well as with the religiously affiliated. Using EVS 2017–2021 data to test contrasting hypotheses of diffused religion and cohort replacement, the study draws three main conclusions. First, youth believe more on average and older age groups believe less when it comes to eschatological beliefs among both the unaffiliated and the affiliated. Second, youth practice less and older age groups practice more on average among both the unaffiliated and the affiliated. Third, the gaps in levels of religious beliefs and practices remain between the religiously unaffiliated and the religiously affiliated among younger populations, but this gap is now narrower for religious practices. Results confirm both hypotheses (diffused religion and cohort replacement) depending on the dimensions of religiosity at study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Effects of Personal Religiosity and Spirituality on Informal Caregiving Activities

With data from the 2012 Canadian General Social Survey on Caregiving and Care Receiving, this study measures how religion and spirituality impact a respondent’s informal caregiving activities. Building on existing psychology and health research regarding the use of religion as a coping method as well as on sociological research concerning the ties between religion and civic engagement, we find that respondents with higher levels of religiosity are more likely to be informal caregivers, especially for health and disability needs. In turn, religious caregivers are more likely to provide care to non-family members, provide more hours of care a week, provide care to a greater number of care receivers, and are more likely to use religion and spirituality as coping methods. We also find that both the dimensions of group and private religiosity have a role to play in these relationships

Digital Religion Among U.S. and Canadian Millennial Adults

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Review of Religious Research. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-021-00463-0Background Although there is a growing body of research on the nature and content of digital religion, we still know little about the prevalence of digital religious and spiritual practices among different populations in North America. To what extent do digital technologies play a complementary role to in-person religious and spiritual activities only, or do they also reach out to and provide important spaces for new segments of the population removed from more conventional forms of organized religion? Purpose The goal is to answer this research question and to explore the prevalence of different types of digital religion practices specifically among young adult Millennials in both the U.S. and Canada. Three contrasting hypotheses are tested: that digital religion practices are prevalent among large segments of the Millennial population and are part of a wider turn towards individual spiritualization (H1); that digital religion practices are another set of religiosity indicators showing signs of a secular transition among Millennials (H2); or that both trends are occurring in tandem, in that some Millennials are practising digital religion, mostly but not exclusively tied to in-person religious activities and socialization (H3). Methods To test these hypotheses, we generate a series of descriptive and logit regression statistical analyses using novel and high-quality 2019 Millennial Trends Survey data from both Canada and the U.S. Results We find that 1) digital religion as measured in this study is a phenomenon present among many Millennials, although it is also not present among all or a vast majority of this demographic; 2) this is especially the case for more passive forms of digital religion, notably digital content consumption, compared with more active forms such as social media posting; 3) social environment does play an important role, with digital religion practices much more prevalent in the generally more religious U.S. context, compared with the generally more secular Canadian context; and 4) digital religion practices are often, but not always, tied to other in-person religious and spiritual activities among Millennials. Conclusions and Implications We find support especially for our third hypothesis (H3) with these results. Consequently, we argue that we should understand the individual spiritualization and secular transition frameworks as complementary, rather than in complete opposition, regarding the prevalence of digital religion among Millennials.SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Surveying Millennials’ Non-Religious Homophily and Social Distance

Connaissances et perceptions de la religion et du phénomène de la radicalisation chez les étudiant(e)s du collégial

Comprend des références bibliographiquesDiffusé avec l'aimable autorisation des auteurs. Le document original est également accessible en ligne : http://cefir.cegepmontpetit.ca/2018/05/16/connaissances-et-perceptions-de-la-religion-et-du-phenomene-de-la-radicalisation-chez-les-etudiantes-du-collegial-2018

Towards religious polarisation in post-industrial societies? Mutations and effects of religious commitment in North America, Europe and Oceania

For over a century, many have been predicting the demise of religion within Western societies. However, while individual religiosity has mutated since the Victorian era, many studies since the 1960s have shown that the contemporary social realities of religion are complex and varied. More recently, evidence has been pointing towards a new development: one of a growing divide between the religious and the secular, or in other words of religious polarisation. The present research explores the logistics of how, where, when and why this polarisation has been developing in post-industrialised countries. In so doing, we thoroughly test a hypothesis that has long been an afterthought to many a secularisation theory. Analysing repeated cross-sectional data from a variety of national and regional contexts, we find examples of non-Nordic, mainly Protestant areas with higher initial rates of non-affiliation being characterised by a form of religious polarisation. These areas have seen a shrinking of their middle-ground group of nominally affiliated individuals, their populations splitting more and more into two camps: a larger group severed from institutional religion contrasts a small but proportionally steady core of affiliated individuals frequently attending religious services. Additionally, in areas with more advanced secularisation, average differences between these unaffiliated and religiously committed individuals regarding many attitudes, beliefs and personal practices are greater. Yet, these polarisation configurations and trends are not universally found across post-industrialised nations. Even within polarised contexts, social distance between the religiously committed and the unaffiliated has not necessarily grown. For example, levels of intermarriage and intercohabitation have not changed beyond the constraints of the marriage market. With these findings, we begin to establish the degree to which religious polarisation is becoming a new reality, and to what extent policy makers will have to contend with a new social cleavage along secular/religious lines.</p