TORONTO, Canada, May 7, 2002 — The religious beliefs and habits of teenagers have been undergoing dramatic changes in this country, according to data compiled and interpreted by Dr. Reginald W. Bibby, a Canadian sociologist and expert on religious trends.
While the overall percentage of teens that identify with Roman Catholic or Protestant religious groups has decreased, Bibby sees indications of revival among those teens who still identify.
Dr. Bibby holds the Board of Governors Research Chair of the Sociology Department at the University of Lethbridge. In his new book, Restless Gods -- The Renaissance of Religion in Canada, he analyzes and compares the results of the Project Teen Canada surveys - a series of national surveys of teenagers, carried out in 1984, 1992 and 2000. The surveys, he writes, "made use of highly representative samples of 3,600 young people across the country." Some of his findings came as a surprise, he says, even to him.
|
Religious Identification of Teens, 1984 - 2000 (%)
|
| Denomination |
1984 |
1992 |
2000 |
| Roman Catholic |
51% |
41% |
39% |
| Outside Québec |
40 |
33 |
31 |
| Québec |
11 |
8 |
8 |
| Protestant |
35% |
28% |
22% |
| United |
10 |
4 |
3 |
| Anglican |
8 |
5 |
3 |
| Baptist |
3 |
2 |
2 |
| Lutheran |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Pentecostal |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Presbyterian |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Other/Unspecified |
8 |
13 |
11 |
| Other Faiths |
3% |
10% |
14% |
| No Religion |
12% |
21% |
25% |
| Source: Bibby, Project Teen Canada survey series. |
"I'd say the most important and surprising findings were that we really were anticipating onward declines in participation in organized religion. But in the past decade, there has been a levelling off of (those who identify with the) Mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics outside of Quebec. Looking at the national youth data -- I had fully anticipated those levels were going to be continuing to come down. That was the first hint that there was something going on here that was pretty surprising -- there were indications that there is a resurgence of interest among (teens)."
The indications became even clearer when Bibby evaluated the statistics on the teens' service attendance habits.
"Apart from group identification, there has also been an increase in (weekly) service attendance among teenagers over the last decade. The current national level of 22% represents a return to the level of the early 1980s, following a slight dip in the early 1990s.
If you'd asked me last year, I would have said (we would expect to see levels of) about 13%."
|
Service Attendance of Teens by Group, 1984 - 2000 (%)
|
| Denomination |
1984 |
1992 |
2000 |
| NATIONALLY |
23% |
18% |
22% |
| Protestant |
26% |
30% |
48% |
| Conservative |
51 |
61 |
70 |
| • Baptist |
30 |
55 |
54 |
| • Pentecostal |
64 |
59 |
75 |
| Mainline |
17 |
16 |
23 |
| • Anglican |
13 |
14 |
16 |
| • United |
17 |
13 |
17 |
| • Lutheran |
25 |
17 |
* |
| • Presbyterian |
17 |
34 |
40 |
| Roman Catholic |
28% |
21% |
21% |
| Outside Québec |
37 |
27 |
31 |
| Québec |
16 |
11 |
7 |
| Other Faiths |
13% |
15% |
21% |
| No Religion |
3% |
2% |
3% |
| * Numbers insufficient to permit stable percentaging
Source: Bibby, Project Teen Canada survey series. |
With the exception of Quebec, which Bibby says is a "problem spot, where rejuvenation is still limited", and where levels of service attendance continue their downward trend of the past few decades, these indicators would seem to bode very well for Canada's churches in the future.
The sociologist says his findings suggest some important changes must be taking place in the churches and among young people.
"My assumption is that if people are responding to the churches, it's in large part because of new developments on the supply side. To varying degrees, Canada's well-established groups show signs of slowing, halting, and even beginning to reverse the downward numerical trends of the second half of the 20th century. As well-established groups in particular continue to make changes and to re-emerge, such patterns can be expected to become even more pronounced over the next few decades."
Written by: Patricia L. Paddey, Bible Network News
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