"Keeping the Faith in Canada" - Which churches are growing? Which declining? - Angus Poll

Religion in Canada - dramatic changes: music, worship, society 

The Angus Reid poll on 'faith in Canada' shows interesting trends.

The Anglican Church relied  on immigration from England and the Presbyterian Church was boosted by new comers from Scotland. The same for the Lutheran Church as German speaking folk swelled the membership rolls.

No more. "(Their growth was) being fed with these wonderful immigration pipelines for an awfully long time with people coming from Europe." This seems to be the trend with groups known for their "organized religion".

The largest growth, over the last 40 years, has been the number of people who claim no religion. This group now numbers about 25%.

Evangelical churches, according to Sociologist Reginald Bibby are holding their own at about 12% of the population.

Read more from the CBC.

The United Church is closing down church buildings more quickly than ever. Funerals now outnumber both baptisms and births combined.

The Roman Catholic Church is bucking the trend with immigration from Central and South America and from the Philippines. Many RC Churches are once again full, or overflowing.

Immigration is bringing growth to Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, whose growth seems dramatic in percentage, but who are still a small portion of the total Canadian population.