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cangeola OP t1_iy87zvz wrote

The size of religion in Canada is increasing, largely due to immigration (First generation). However browsing the StatsCan tables, I noticed when you break down by generation, religion seems to be dropping.

Second Generation Canadians are increasingly less religious. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism all have fewer followers, proportionally, amongst second generation Canadians.

Judaism has an overall increase, as well as Christianity. Though when you break down christianity by denomination, catholicism is effectively unchanged, but other denominations (numerous) have increased in affiliation.

Feedback is appreciated on the graph layout!

Source: Statistics Canada 2021 Census, Religion and Ethnicity results

Tools: Microsoft Excel

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CalgaryChris77 t1_iy8c510 wrote

Are you interpreting this data correctly?

I would suspect that more first generation Canadians who have immigrated recently have come from countries that are Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Buddhist, whereas more second generation Canadians came from Christian countries.

The demographics of the average Canadians immigrant has changed pretty dramatically in the last 30 years.

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atomofconsumption t1_iy8dqit wrote

Good point, you'd have to control for "among second generation Canadians whose parents were Muslim, x% were Muslim"

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cangeola OP t1_iy8e3qr wrote

Good point, although I'm not sure that level of granularity is available in the census.

When I saw that Christianity had an increase, I was a bit surprised considering the overall trend in Canada is toward secularity.

But another reason may be that Canada is a young country, and a lot of religions other than Christianity haven't had the time to grow beyond the 2nd generation

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atomofconsumption t1_iy8i0ac wrote

What you're mixing up is composition vs change.

Christianity is not increasing, it's falling. However, recent immigrants are less likely to be Christian.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221026/dq221026b-eng.htm

> The majority of the population is Christian, but their share is decreasing In 2021, more than 19.3 million people reported a Christian religion, or just over half of the Canadian population (53.3%). However, this percentage is down from 67.3% in 2011 and 77.1% in 2001.

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cangeola OP t1_iy8golw wrote

I think it is ‘factual’ to say that second generation Canadians are more likely to be non-religious.

But I do get your point. You’re asking whether the ‘pipeline’ for religions other than Christianity has been established in Canada long enough to make use of this data? And if it can be linked with parents in anyway?

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CalgaryChris77 t1_iy8hbls wrote

Yes, second generation Canadians are more likely to be non-religious.

> I noticed when you break down by generation, religion seems to be dropping.

But to me this implies that people are losing their religion by their second generation, which I don't know if you can prove or disprove from this data.

>You’re asking whether the ‘pipeline’ for religions other than Christianity has been established in Canada long enough to make use of this data?

There have been people from other religions immigrating to Canada for many years, but what used to be a tiny minority is growing much faster now.

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PajeetLvsBobsNVegane t1_iya0xzy wrote

Yh I think the data has been misinterpreted. What it is actually saying is that Christians and non-religious (and Jews) are less likely to be immigrants to Canada. And I didn't even study statistics past the age of 16.

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cangeola OP t1_iyarfx5 wrote

The data is correct, since it’s it’s just raw numbers from statscan tables. The other poster is right that this is composition not changes.

A better title, I think, would be that Second Generation Canadians compose of secular perspectives more often than First Generation.

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ricardo9505 t1_iy8btwb wrote

Good, not liking the text tho, maybe play with fonts. Basic. I see that trend. I was born and raised in NYC, many immigrants. Many of us kinda left religion behind. Among my cousins and friends I'd say 75% at the least.

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NorthImpossible8906 t1_iy8fu5c wrote

less likely THAN?

you forgot to finish your statement. When you use a word like 'less' or 'more' it always needs a 'than'.

I'd suggest putting a total in there, like another bar graph with the total religious people (in 1st gen and 2nd gen).

I'd suggest putting the non-religious in a different color, and separated out from the list. That particular piece is showing a very different result (ie. the opposite0, but it has the same colors and is placed in the same list.

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ploki122 t1_iy8ryf6 wrote

>you forgot to finish your statement. When you use a word like 'less' or 'more' it always needs a 'than'.

You can always assume that it's "less than the opposite" therefore, Immigrant children born in Canada are less likely to follow religion than not.

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NorthImpossible8906 t1_iy8totn wrote

> Immigrant children born in Canada are less likely to follow religion than not.

That is actually the wrong conclusion, so you inadvertently proved my point.

In fact, I don't understand your statement. Immigrant children are less likely to follow religion than not follow religion? ? ? ?

Here, if you decode all the graphics, the conclusion is that the 2nd generation children are less likely to follow religion than 1st generation children. That's what the graphics show with their labels, but I suspect that isn't what OP meant. Maybe it is that 1st generation of children born in canada of immigrant parents are less religion than their parents (the immigrants born abroad).

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dolphinater t1_iy9mb50 wrote

pretty sure first generation is the actual immigrants born abroad and not first generation of children born to immigrants

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Cityplanner1 t1_iyb059o wrote

If they are born in canada, are they still immigrants? Or do you mean “children of immigrants who are born in Canada”

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CorneredSponge t1_iy94s3z wrote

That’s actually pretty interesting, I expected every religion to experience a decline, especially Christianity

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stanglemeir t1_iy9a455 wrote

Remember that a not insignificant number of people from Muslim countries that move to USA/Canada convert to Christianity. It’s still an Abrahamic religion, so it’s not that different. But it fits more in with the wider society and has less strict rules. Add in intermarriage which can often result in a conversion at least on paper.

Good example being a friend of mine’s brother. Parents are Hindu from India. Kids are mostly kind of vaguely Hindu/agnostic. Brother married a Christian and converted.

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ChiefTea t1_iy99jzu wrote

Do we know how Canada is conducting this Census? Is it individual surveys? Church membership numbers (how would they pull these)?

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strawberries6 t1_iy9ubxf wrote

Every household gets the basic Census, and 1 in 5 households gets the long-form Census (which asks many additional questions, including about religion).

Religious affiliation is simply answered by the respondents - we self-identify which religion we believe in or indicate if we have no religion.

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ChiefTea t1_iya7zfg wrote

Got it, thanks! Curious to know if the sampled data can be biased. Would religious people be more likely to fill out the census? Questions like that

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WritPositWrit t1_iy9m12y wrote

Is this really a first/second generation trend, or is this a generational trend across all citizens? I’m not sure if this data is really showing the story. Break it down by age group instead of immigration.

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garry4321 t1_iya8lee wrote

I wonder if christian kids stick with it because youre pretty much allowed to sin without repercussions and get to cherry-pick whatever you want to while ignoring the rest.

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AdministrationNo6377 t1_iyacu1x wrote

How do they measure religious affiliations ? How does statistics canada collect this data , basically, if a family in a town doesnot show on a sunday morning to a church- are you saying that the data is shared with statistics canada ? How does statistics canada know that a person adheres to a religious group ? No wayyyyyy - this is a highly questionable analysis

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cangeola OP t1_iyaryp7 wrote

It’s a census?

A form is delivered to all household by Statistics Canada, and by law you must fill out that form.

If you don’t they essentially pester you until you do, and eventually escalate to fines and other measures.

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Hascus t1_iyakrjs wrote

Good. I don’t want any religious nuts in my country

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kulpushu t1_iybtw4y wrote

I’ve always wound it interesting how religiosity decreases as a result of having lesser religious people of your own kind around.

From my empirical observations, Hindu immigrants in the us were almost universally irreligious, and the muslim ones from the Indian subcontinent were FAR less than what you’d expect back home. I don’t know if there’s also a bias since most people I knew had a science or engineering background and were less likely to be religious anyway. But what was interesting was the Christians showed a marked increase, interestingly from the Koreans and Chinese, and a couple of Indians that i knew there. Maybe it was the proliferation of churches that strengthened social networks and increased attendance? Food for thought.

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Agent101g t1_iycoyzf wrote

Wow look at all the Jewish converts! Interesting.

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Quirky_Ad_8732 t1_iy92rso wrote

Now do likely hood of joining a gang. I would actually like to see this data.

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Cheva_De_Kurumi t1_iyc3fmm wrote

This pretty much depends on the surrounded area it's better for Canada to separate immigrants and place them (1st generation) with far more white controlled areas(English not my first language) that will prevent them from gathering and making small communities and end up like Europe

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