Canadian flag image courtesy Alex Indigo via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/4eDBug)

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Results from the 2011 National Household Survey show that more than two-thirds of Canadians, or some 22 million people, said they were affiliated with a Christian denomination.

At 12.7 million, Roman Catholics were the largest single Christian group, representing 38 percent of Canadians; the second largest was the United Church, representing about 6 percent; while Anglicans were third, representing about 5 percent of the population.

Observers noted that among the survey’s most striking findings is that one in four Canadians, or 7.8 million people, reported they had no religious affiliation at all. That was up sharply from 16.5 percent from the 2001 census, and 12 percent in 1991.

The Canadian trend seems to mirror but even exceed levels of non-affiliation in the United States. A 2012 survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life pegged the ratio of religiously unaffiliated Americans at just under 20 percent.

But Pew also has found that more than one-quarter of American adults (28 percent) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion — or no religion at all.

The Canadian study showed that just more than 7 percent of the country was Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist, an increase from 5 percent a decade earlier.

The Muslim population exceeded the 1 million mark, according to the survey, almost doubling in size for the third consecutive decade, and recording the biggest increase in growth of any religion, at 60 percent since 2001.

Muslims now represent 3.2 percent of Canada’s population, nudging up from the 2 percent recorded in 2001. Immigration has largely fueled the increase, with the largest share of Muslims coming from Pakistan over the past five years, according to Statistics Canada.

Hindus made up 1.5 percent of the population (up 51 percent); and Sikhs 1.4 percent (a rise of 54 percent).

Both Christians and Jews declined as a share of the population.

Officials in Ottawa stressed that the NHS results, which also examined trends in immigration and ethnic diversity, could be unreliable. Because it was a voluntary survey, it is “subject to potentially higher non-response error than those derived from the census long form,” Statistics Canada cautioned.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government abolished the long-form census in 2010 as too intrusive.

Reginald Bibby, a sociologist at the University of Lethbridge and one of Canada’s foremost trackers and interpreters of religious trends, said the NHS findings “do not point to the demise of religion in Canada. But the findings document the tendency of Canadians to reflect the pattern of people across the planet in variously embracing or rejecting religion.”

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Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz notes the ironies in his latest creation, “Jesus the Homeless,” a bronze sculpture depicting the Christian savior huddled beneath a blanket on an actual-size park bench. Only the feet are visible, and their gaping nail wounds reveal the subject.

Peter Larisey seated alongside the Jesus sculpture. Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz notes the ironies in his latest creation, “Jesus the Homeless,” a bronze sculpture depicting the Christian savior huddled beneath a blanket on an actual-size park bench. Only the feet are visible, and their gaping nail wounds reveal the subject. Photo courtesy Timothy Schmalz

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“If Jesus was watching the streets today,” Schmalz says from his home in St. Jacobs, Ontario, “I think he would want himself represented as one of the most marginalized. That’s what he said in the Gospel.”

Indeed, as Schmalz notes, Jesus calls on his followers to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and tend to the lame. Possibly referring to himself, Jesus says, in the book of Matthew, that “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

“I’m visually translating one of the most powerful aspects of the Gospels,” Schmalz said. “It’s a visual sermon.”

That’s why Schmalz is frustrated with the reception his homeless Jesus received from two prominent Catholic churches.

As an observant Roman Catholic, he was “heartbroken” when, last summer, Toronto’s St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York rejected “Homeless Jesus” after they had expressed interest.

Schmalz said the rector at St. Patrick’s “loved” the artwork and told him he would like to place it at the cathedral’s entrance: “My thought was, ‘Everyone would see this message.’”

Schmalz said the same thing happened at St. Michael’s in downtown Toronto.

But higher-ups in the New York and Toronto archdioceses nixed the plans, he said.

“Their rejection means they have a problem with the poor. It’s just absurd how some people come to those conclusions.”

The Toronto archdiocese said the decision may have had to do with renovations at the cathedral. The sculpture now stands outside Regis College at the University of Toronto, a Jesuit school of theology.

Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz notes the ironies in his latest creation, “Jesus the Homeless,” a bronze sculpture depicting the Christian savior huddled beneath a blanket on an actual-size park bench. Only the feet are visible, and their gaping nail wounds reveal the subject. Photo courtesy Timothy Schmalz

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Kate Monaghan, a spokeswoman for St. Patrick’s, said “we did love the statue but right now we just couldn’t really look at anything” because of ongoing restorations to the landmark cathedral. That could change once the $175 million project is complete.

“I’m sure we could take a look again if it was still offered,” she said.

Undaunted, Schmalz plans to create exact replicas of the sculpture, each weighing nearly 1,000 pounds, and hopes to interest churches in prominent locations across the U.S. and Canada. He’s seeking patrons to offset the cost of up to $25,000 per piece.

“To be a Christian sculptor, the analogy is preaching. If you have a great location for your sculpture, it’s like preaching to a large audience. If you have a bad location, it’s like preaching in a closet.”

The 7-foot-long artwork allows space for one person to sit near the feet of the Jesus figure.

“It’s a very uncomfortable seat,” Schmalz said.

(Kevin Eckstrom contributed to this report.)

KRE/AMB END CSILLAG

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“Prisoners do not lose their right to freely express their religious and spiritual beliefs by virtue of their incarceration,” said the lawsuit, which asks the court to declare the policy a violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and to reinstate minority faith chaplains in British Columbia.

Interior of a prison cell with light shining through a barred window. Photo courtesy Shutterstock (http://shutr.bz/104haw9)

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The suit was triggered by Ottawa’s announcement last October that it was canceling the contracts of all part-time prison chaplains to save an estimated $1.3 million. The non-Christian chaplains ministered to Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, and Buddhist inmates, and those who follow aboriginal spirituality.

The legal action, brought against Attorney General Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, charges that Christian prisoners continue to have access to Christian religious services, Bible study sessions and other faith-based activities.

The lawsuit was filed by seven prisoners in federal institutions in British Columbia; one inmate recently transferred from British Columbia to a prison in New Brunswick; and the West Coast Prison Justice Society.

Prison advocates said the cuts would hurt non-Christian prisoners, who would be expected to turn to full-time, overwhelmingly Christian chaplains for spiritual care and guidance. Of the 75 full-time chaplains at federal prisons, 37 are Roman Catholic, 36 are Protestant, and two are Muslim, according to the Correctional Service of Canada.

Ottawa has said volunteer chaplains are welcome at prisons.

“There are over 2,500 individuals who provide spiritual services to prisoners of many faiths on a voluntary basis,” Correctional Service spokeswoman Julie Carmichael said. “This approach supports the freedom of religion of prisoners while ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used wisely and appropriately.”

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Panorama of Quebec City from Levis. RNS photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons (http://bit.ly/X6Q33A)

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TORONTO (RNS) A new poll suggests Quebecers are no longer among the least religious residents of Canada.

The reason? Quebecers are now slightly more likely to feel an “attachment to religion” than they have in previous years, while other Canadians are less likely to feel attached to religion, according to the Leger Marketing poll for the Association for Canadian Studies.

While Quebecers have tended to be “more averse to organized religion,” the recent data suggest their “antipathy to religion may have bottomed,” concluded the survey.

“Parts of Canada, notably out West, have seen drops in attachment and favorable sentiment towards religion that have rendered the Quebec difference, when it comes to this expression of identity, near insignificant,” it added.

The poll suggested that 36 percent of Canadians said they are “very” or “somewhat” attached to religion, down from 39 percent two years ago. Religious attachment among Quebecers, meanwhile, rose from 26 percent to 34 percent over that time period. Older Canadians generally still feel attached to religion — 52 percent of those 65 and older said they were “very” or “somewhat” attached.

Once staunchly Catholic, with the Roman Catholic Church involved in virtually every aspect of the province’s social services, Quebec has become increasingly secular, and with one of the lowest birthrates in the world.

The online survey of 2,200 Canadians was conducted last November, well before news that Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the former archbishop of Quebec, was among the front-runners to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who will resign on Thursday (Feb. 28).

Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, speculated to Postmedia News that last October’s elevation of 17th-century aboriginal woman Kateri Tekakwitha to sainthood may have given Catholicism a slight boost in Quebec, where she spent the last days of her life.

The survey has an error margin of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

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At a mosque north of Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named Andrew Bennett to head the office.

“Around the world, violations of religious freedom are widespread and they are increasing,” Harper said in a speech at the Ahmadiyya Muslim community center and mosque in Vaughan, Ontario.

“Dr. Bennett is a man of principle and deep convictions and he will encourage the protection of religious minorities around the world so all can practice their faith without fear of violence and repression.”

Bennett, a Catholic, is dean of Augustine College, a Christian liberal arts college in Ottawa.

Harper first promised to create an Office of Religious Freedom during his 2011 campaign. It will be part of the Foreign Affairs ministry and have an annual budget of $5 million.

“This was a platform commitment, to create an office of religious freedom, to make the protection of religious freedom of vulnerable religious minorities a key pillar of Canadian foreign policy,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who attended the announcement, told reporters.

Creating and staffing the office has not been without controversy. Bennett was reportedly the third, possibly fourth, person to be offered the post.

And in 2011, a closed-door meeting organized by the government was criticized by some scholars because four of the six consultants were Christian, while the other two were Jewish and Baha’i.

Critics have said the office is a misguided attempt to inject religion into foreign policy, and some have expressed concern that it would be biased toward the persecution of Christians.

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The main chapel at Jesuit-run Regis College at the University of Toronto is adorned with stained glass windows, icons of Mary and Joseph, and the Stations of the Cross.

The eight-week course, which meets every Wednesday afternoon, is on atheism. Or more precisely, “Responding to 21st-Century Atheism.”

It’s an attempt, says the Rev. Scott Lewis, for people of faith to understand and come to terms with the increasingly muscular secularism and atheism that has arisen in Western societies over the past generation. RNS photo by Ron Csillag

It’s an attempt, says the Rev. Scott Lewis, for people of faith to understand and come to terms with the increasingly muscular secularism and atheism that has arisen in Western societies over the past generation.

Atheism “has become militant, aggressive and proselytizing,” said Lewis, a Jesuit scripture scholar, who teaches the class with three other scholars. “It’s made great in-roads and is now socially acceptable. If you’re young and educated and believe in God, you’re (seen as) a jerk.”

While the course examines the increasing polarization between non-believers and people of faith, it will not be about confronting secularists or engaging in polemics, Lewis stressed before the first class of about 155 students in the adult-education program.

Both sides need to lighten up, he said.

“One idea for atheists to leave behind is that people who believe are stupid or naive,” Lewis suggested. “And perhaps we should leave behind the idea that an atheist is someone who is not ethical or a good person.

“A person can be a believer and be quite intelligent. A person can be an atheist and be quite a morally upright person.”

It’s the first time in memory that a Catholic academic institution in Canada has formally explored non-belief, but it nonetheless reflects the times. Five universities in the U.S. have secular humanist chaplains, and the University of Toronto now has two.

“I think it’s very natural to offer this course,” said one of the two Toronto chaplains, Mary Beaty. “Universities are encountering more and more students asking these types of questions.”

A study last autumn by the Pew Research Center found the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace: One-fifth of the U.S. public, and a third of adults under 30, are religiously unaffiliated today, “the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.”

The study found that in the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent to just under 20 percent of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6 percent of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation.

Other polls have suggested that as many as one in 10 U.S. adults are atheists.

Canadian census data show that atheists, agnostics, humanists and those with no religious affiliation account for 16 percent of the population, up 4 percentage points over the previous decade. They now represent the second-largest religious group in the country.

A Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released in 2011 found 30 percent of respondents did not believe in a deity.

However one parses the numbers, nonbelievers are undoubtedly getting bolder and even celebrated, as evidenced by best-seller lists in recent years. Lewis and other instructors conceded they will find it hard to avoid mentioning “New Atheist” authors Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, but said they would not dwell on the trio.

Lewis said he’ll look at both sides of the debate. “What we will be focusing on is our response to individuals who have thrown down the gauntlet and say ‘To believe in God is not to be believe in science, and to believe in science is not to believe in God.’”

“There’s a little fundamentalism on both sides of the aisle.”

Central to the course will be the question of suffering — “the oldest religious question in the world,” Lewis said. “Why, if there’s a good God, do we have suffering, especially of the innocent?”

As for science and Darwinism, the biblical book of Genesis “is not a science book and should not be read as one. Our faith does not rise and fall on the age of the Earth.” And people of faith are at a threshold moment: “We cannot continue thinking of God in traditional ways and still accept Darwinian science.”

Lewis said it’s not uncommon for Catholic thinkers to believe in evolution. The course will include the work of the Rev. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest who was also trained as a paleontologist and geologist. Teilhard de Chardin accepted Darwinism as fact as early as the 1930s, but his writings were condemned by the Vatican.

The course comprises two lectures from Lewis; a look at psychology and atheism from Jesuit psychologist Rev. Joe Schner, who will examine whether the human brain is hard-wired for religion; an examination of suffering by Michael Stoeber, who told the introductory class that the “New Atheists” tend to overemphasize “the underbelly of the Catholic Church”; and a theological and philosophical perspective from Jesuit Gordon Rixon.

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