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Religion In Canada

January 2, 2012 by · Comments Off on Religion In Canada 

Religion In Canada

    n In Canada.pngReligion In Canada, Religion in Canada encompasses a wide range of groups. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms references “God”, and the monarch carries the title of “Defender of the Faith”.

However, Canada has no official religion, and support for religious pluralism (Freedom of religion in Canada) is an important part of Canada’s political culture. The 2001 Canadian census reported that 77% of Canadians claim adherence to Christianity, followed by no religion at 16%.

Though the Canadian population is overwhelmingly Christian, the role of religion in public life has waned in recent decades. French settlement beginning in the 17th century established a Roman Catholic francophone population in Lower Canada, now Quebec, followed by English settlement that brought Anglicans and other Protestants to Upper Canada, now Ontario. The religious, cultural, and political antagonism between Canadian Protestants and Catholics remains a central theme of Canadian history.

With Christianity having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life, it has been recently suggested that Canada has come to enter a post-Christian or secular state, where practice of the religion has “moved to the margins of public life”, and irreligion is on the rise.

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