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(Angelina Joseph) Liberals, Tories defeat Bloc motion to replace the daily House of Commons prayer -Amanda Connolly  Global News 

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(Angelina Joseph) Liberals, Tories defeat Bloc motion to replace the daily House of Commons prayer -Amanda Connolly  Global News 

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The Canadian MPs are continuing to start their days off with a prayer, after a disagreement with the Bloc Quebecois and NDP members to replace prayer with a moment of silence instead. As most Liberals and Conservatives voted against this change, Bloc MP, Martin Champoux stated, “The House of Commons should adapt to reflect a country that is more diverse and less religious than it was in 1877.” Champoux explained how a moment of silence would respect the beliefs of everyone in the nation as the country became more diverse than it was in the 1870s. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned that the nation of Canada had other priorities that were more serious to Canadians.

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Liberals, Tories defeat Bloc motion to replace the daily House of Commons prayer | Globalnews.ca

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The Bloc MP behind the motion had suggested replacing the prayer with a moment of reflection would show respect for “the beliefs and non-beliefs” of all MPs and Canadians.

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As conservatives put religion in schools, Satanists want in, too- Ruzanna

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As conservatives put religion in schools, Satanists want in, too- Ruzanna

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Conservative lawmakers in Florida and Texas have legalized the presence of religious priests in public schools, unwittingly allowing groups like the Temple of Satan to participate. Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the Temple, emphasizes that while they prefer that there be no priests, they use the law to achieve equal representation of all faiths, challenging Christianity's preference. Their belief system emphasizes reason and empathy rather than Satan worship. The movement has grown significantly, inspired by the rise of Christian nationalism, and reflects growing hostility to the Temple of Satan, including hate crimes. Florida and Texas have passed laws requiring school boards to vote on the appointment of chaplains, and proposals are circulating in 13 other states. Supporters of the law argue that chaplains will help students with their problems, while opponents, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, say the Temple of Satan will not be recognized.

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The Temple believes in reason, empathy and the pursuit of knowledge, its website FAQ helpfully explains. And it doesn't worship Satan. "Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority," it states. But it's not just a joke, supporters say. And opponents seem to agree.

One man was charged in January with a hate crime for vandalizing the temple's altar at the Iowa State Capitol. Another was arrested and accused of throwing a pipe bomb at the group's headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, leaving a note that urged the group to "REPENT" and "TURN FROM SIN." And a third was arrested this month and accused of plotting to blow up the headquarters.

"It definitely started with a kind of humorous or satirical element to it, but this is a movement with hundreds of people that's been going for 10 years now - they're quite serious about it," said Joseph Laycock, a religious studies professor at Texas State University who wrote a book-length study about the group. "They're willing to put up with death threats. They're willing to wear bulletproof vests because Neo-Nazis have threatened to kill them if they give a public speech. People don't normally take those kinds of risks for a joke."

Interest in joining the Satanic Temple shot up in recent years, Greaves said, and the number of congregations more than doubled since 2021. That coincides with a decrease in the number of self-identified Christians in the U.S. and a growing movement among right-wing activists to insert conservative Christian doctrines into public policy and schools.

"The real fear of Christian nationalism is driving people into the arms of groups like the Satanic Temple," Laycock said. "And then the fact that there are now Satanists taking to the streets of America is causing the Christian nationalists to double down, too, and making them even more determined to cling to power for as long as they can."

The laws in Florida and Texas require school boards to vote on whether to appoint chaplains in their districts. Similar bills have been proposed in 13 other states this year. The proposals, which vary slightly, would have chaplains of various denominations serve in similar capacities as school counselors, in some cases with on-campus offices or salaries paid for by the districts.

"They are able to help the child work through their issues, work through their feelings, and also encourage them to work with their parents, in accordance with their family's underlying religious foundations," said Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative advocacy group that testified in favor of the Texas bill.

Proponents of chaplains in schools have gone on the offensive, vowing that the Satanic Temple won't infiltrate their schools. "There will be no Satanists in Oklahoma Schools. Period," Ryan Walters, the state's right-wing superintendent of public instruction, recently tweeted. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared at a bill signing for the new law last month that the Temple wouldn't qualify to provide chaplains. "That is not a religion," he said.

But legal experts warn that conservatives disregard the Satanic Temple at their own peril, because the group's strategy of stepping into spaces intended for other religions is often effective. In 2016, the Temple began running After School Satan Clubs, seeking to start them in schools that already had Christian-based groups on campus. A federal court sided with the Temple in a legal challenge last year, and there are currently seven clubs nationwide, where children make arts and crafts, learn about animals and do science experiments.

"The Constitution is unambiguous about this," Greaves said. "You just cannot take a religious identity and cut it out from a public accommodation. It's against the law, the school districts will lose, they'll have to pay the attorneys fees, and frankly, they shouldn't be pulling their budget into this culture war grandstanding B.S."

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As conservatives put religion in schools, Satanists want in, too

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The Satanic Temple is known for trolling conservatives. Now it's challenging the push to place chaplains in schools by vowing to send its own ministers.

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Eliminating religion as a hate speech defence an idea worth exploring, says antisemitism envoy- Ruzanna

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Eliminating religion as a hate speech defence an idea worth exploring, says antisemitism envoy- Ruzanna

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Due to the well-known worldwide conflict between Palestine and Israel, anti-Semitism has become widespread in Canada. Canada's Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism, Deborah Lyons, expressed interest in the idea of eliminating religion as a possible defense against accusations of hatred. She also noted that equality and inclusion strategies don't mention anti-Semitism enough, which lets Jews down. However, Lyons said she was not ready to offer a definitive opinion on the issue and was still discussing it with Justice Department officials.

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Canada's special envoy for combating antisemitism says she's "very interested" in exploring the idea of eliminating religion as a possible defence against hate speech charges.

Deborah Lyons, whose mandate also includes preserving Holocaust remembrance, appeared Thursday before a parliamentary committee that is studying antisemitism on university campuses.

Jewish leaders, students and faculty have been voicing concerns about an increase in hate speech and violence since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war last fall.

Lyons said she believes universities' equity, diversity and inclusion strategies are "failing Jews in this country" because they don't make much mention of antisemitism specifically.

She said her office is working to develop better training to counter anti-Jewish discrimination, which she hopes institutions, including governments, will use.

Members of Parliament also asked Lyons about the role police and prosecutors play in laying hate speech related charges, and whether Criminal Code changes are needed.

They pointed to a recent decision by Quebec prosecutors not to charge Montreal imam Adil Charkaoui over comments said during a prayer - a scenario Lyons said she is discussing with the government.

The comments were delivered at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Montreal, and led to a complaint alleging threats and incitement of violence, which was investigated by the RCMP.

Leading a prayer in Arabic, Charkaoui had called on God to "take care of aggressor Zionists," adding "O God, don't leave any of them."

Last week the province's director of public prosecutions announced that a committee of three Crown attorneys found the evidence insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the words amounted to an incitement of hatred toward an identifiable group, as defined in the Criminal Code.

Using the case as an example, Bloc Quebecois MP Rheal Fortin asked Lyons whether she supports his party's proposal to eliminate a section of the Criminal Code that allows the use of religious beliefs or a religious text as a defence against charges of promoting hatred and antisemitism.

Fortin said his party wants to ban "exceptions" to hate speech based on religion.

"I am very interested in exploring (it) as an option because I think, frankly, we are seeing it used in this country and in other places as a defence that frankly does not stand the ground in these very difficult times," Lyons testified Thursday.

Still, Lyons said she is not ready to offer a final opinion on the matter and is still discussing it with Justice Department officials.

Justice Minister Arif Virani's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Marco Mendicino, a Liberal MP on the committee, said that as a former prosecutor he found the decision by Quebec's Crown not to press charges against Charkaoui "incomprehensible and deeply problematic."

The imam's comments were "perhaps one of the most egregious offences that I have seen," he told Thursday's committee.

Mendicino, who previously served as public safety minister, also cited other examples of demonstrators chanting offensive language and glorifying Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks.

He said he believes "Zionists" fit the Criminal Code's definition of an identifiable group, which refers to "any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability."

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Eliminating religion as a hate speech defence an idea worth exploring, says antisemitism envoy | CBC News

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Canada's special envoy for combating antisemitism says she's "very interested" in exploring the idea of eliminating religion as a possible defence against hate speech charges.

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“Excellence, respect, friendship”: Why hijab bans in French sports defy Olympic values and human rights- Jana El Zuway

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“Excellence, respect, friendship”: Why hijab bans in French sports defy Olympic values and human rights- Jana El Zuway

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France prohibited Muslim women from wearing hijabs or any other kind of religious headgear when competing for France at all levels (including young and amateur) during the 2024 Olympic Games, resulting in discrimination and exclusion from competitions.  This prohibition reduces efforts to make sports more inclusive for Muslim athletes. The host country, France, ddi not maintain its principles of excellence, respect, friendship, and treating all players equally when they didn't allow them to participate.

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“Excellence, respect, friendship”: Why hijab bans in French sports defy Olympic values and human rights Why hijab bans in French sports defy Olympic values and human rights

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The three values of Olympism are excellence, respect and friendship. To honour these, the host country France must lift bans on wearing hijabs in sports.

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Article 1: ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever

By Ashleigh Stewart

https://globalnews.ca/news/8471086/religion-decline-canada/

Through the rapid decrease in religions, this article goes over the different struggles religions in Canada experience and how they move forward to grow and learn from their testimonies.

Certain religions such as Christianity, and Islam have gone through mind provoking experiences that challenges their faith in their belief in God and Allah.

Such as the decrease in Christianity dropping from 67.3 percent to 63.2 percent. This forced Christian communities like the United Church of Canada to move forward with their faith and what they firmly believe in. Despite the shortage of decline in Christianity.

The idea of tragedies occurring within religious communities circulates again when the article highlights the London attack, where a Muslim family was  tragically murdered. Putting many Muslim’s in a place of query, a place of question.

Yet, despite these unfortunate cases they still believe their religion is worth fighting for due to the benefits they gain from it. Spiritually, mentally, and physically.

This is evident as the Muslim association of Canada has even noted themselves that there aren’t enough mosques in Canada due to the population continuously growing.

The overall message of this article is that although many people struggle within a religion, it can force you to either leave or remain in the religion and continue to remain faithful.

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In groundbreaking move, Poilievre campaigns among evangelical Christians -Fionn Aneesh

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In groundbreaking move, Poilievre campaigns among evangelical Christians -Fionn Aneesh

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Pierre Poilievre the leader of Conservative Party had visited a few evangelical churches in Toronto which are in areas run by the Liberal MPs and have many ethnic minority members. This move is unusual for Canadian politicians, who often avoid such visits to avoid being seen as extremist.

Stephen Harper, a former Conservative leader who was himself evangelical, avoided public connections with evangelical groups to steer clear of controversy.

Poilievre's visits almost seemed staged at getting  support from these communities without having to make controversial promises. His speeches focused on general political issues like taxes and housing rather than hot-button topics such as abortion or same-sex marriage. This strategy suggests he’s confident in managing his message to appeal to both conservative and broader voter bases.

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In groundbreaking move, Poilievre campaigns among evangelical Christians - National | Globalnews.ca

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In three recent appearances at evangelical Christian churches, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre received blessings and made pitches for votes.

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Woman accused of trying to drown a 3 year old Muslim child 

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Woman accused of trying to drown a 3 year old Muslim child 

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Witnesses told police that “a woman who was very intoxicated had tried to drown a kid”. The officers approached Elizabeth Wolf as she tried to flee the scene. The child’s mother told the police that Wolf was asking questions like, where they're from, and if the 2 children were hers. The mother wore a hijab and a modest swimsuit. The family is Muslim and Palestinian. Elizabeth also made statements about the mother not being American and said racist things. Wolf tried to grab the 6 year old son but he pulled away, which caused him to get a scratch on his finger. The mother was helping her son when Wolf grabbed her 3 year old daughter and forced her underwater. The mother pulled her daughter from the water but she was yelling for help as her daughter was coughing up water. 42 year old Elizabeth Wolf was arrested later that day.

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Woman accused of trying to drown 3-year-old Muslim child is rearrested after bond increased to $1M | CNN

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A woman accused of trying to drown a 3-year-old Muslim and Palestinian child in an apartment complex pool in Texas has been rearrested, inmate records show.

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Article 1: ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever  

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Article 1: ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever  

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By Ashleigh Stewart

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When Ushpreet Singh arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, in late 2020, he was dismayed to find that the town of 33,000 people did not have a gurdwara - a place of worship for Sikhs like him.

At the time, there were about a dozen Sikh families in Whitehorse and a makeshift Sikh committee, but no meeting place.

So Singh set about trying to establish one himself.

"I asked where all the paperwork was and when I saw it, the total donation was $6,000 in 20 years," the 23-year-old tells Global News.

"It was not enough to establish a temple, it was not enough for anything. I was really upset; this money couldn't help us. And no one wanted to help."

One year and one monumental fundraising campaign later, Whitehorse is now home to a gurdwara for a Sikh community that now numbers between 300 and 400 people.

Singh is one of many new immigrants fuelling religious growth among minority groups in Canada.

As Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented levels (just 68 per cent reported a religious affiliation in Canada in 2019, according to new StatCan data), minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.
In response, Global News has spent the past two months speaking to members of religious communities across the country and looking at historical data to determine why this is happening. This is the part two of that series.
Sikhism, which is both an ethnic group and religion, now represents 1.4 per cent of all Canadians. That number is up from 0.9 per cent in 2001 and 0.7 per cent in 1996. According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, there are now approximately 500,000 Sikhs living in the country.

The religion, founded in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century, is built on three core tenets: devotion to God, truthful living and service to humanity. Men are identifiable by their turban, or dastar, worn to keep their hair, which should be unshaven, clean.

It is a "way of life," Singh says. So when he moved to Whitehorse for work from Toronto due to spiralling living costs, not having a gurdwara was unthinkable.

Singh, helped by a workmate, set about talking to Punjabi news channels across the country to appeal for donations.

Eventually, with money raised from various communities across the country, the group had enough to rent a warehouse for $3,500 per month.

Singh flew to Vancouver to escort the Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of Sikhism, on its 34-hour drive to its new home, and became the gurdwara's new preacher.

By November 2021, the Whitehorse Sikh community had raised enough money to buy a permanent space for their gurdwara. Singh estimates they've spent close to $1 million on purchasing and renovating the building. It underlines the importance the community puts on maintaining their faith, despite being far from home.

"You cannot make a temple with just money, you need dedication. And without love or without dedication, religion is useless," Singh says.

The Sikh community in Whitehorse is now growing "day by day," he says. The gurdwara has become central to the community, where homeless people, of any religion, can come for a meal or for shelter. A Sikh service culminates in a shared meal.

The gurdwara is considered much more than just a place of worship, which is why COVID-19 hit the Sikh community hard.

On a Sunday afternoon in early December 2021, the Gursikh Sabha Canada in Scarborough, Toronto, is bustling. People move from room to room, listening to music performed by preachers flown in from India, while downstairs in the kitchen, small groups eat from metal plates on the floor.

"Whenever you have a crisis, it brings people together, it brings people back home," says Gobinder Randhawa, a Sikh immigrant from India and former Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council president.

Randhawa arrived in Toronto in 1972, when men wearing turbans were an uncommon sight. He applied for a job with the TTC, Toronto's public transit agency, and was met with confusion over its dress code.

"They asked me, 'Well, what will you do with your turban?' I said, 'Well, I have kept it on for this long, I will keep it on,'" he recalls.

"I told them, 'Listen, do you want to hire someone who you can trust?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'This is my religion. This is what I believe in. If I give up my religion, I give up my principles just to have a job. Would you trust me?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Then, what's your problem?"

Randhawa says the TTC changed the uniform code to accommodate him. He worked there for 31 years.

All the while, the gurdwara was his place of "strength" in a community where "people look at us like, 'This guy looks different.'"

But Randhawa says it was important to understand that Sikhs were important contributors to society - and thus, their religion plays an important role in 2022. For instance, Sikhism dictates that 10 per cent of earnings should be given to philanthropy.

"Our community is like one family. But it also doesn't matter what religion you are. We'll burn our house to give heat to our neighbour," Randhawa says.

Balpreet Singh Boparai, of the World Sikh Organization, says the community in Canada is being bolstered by a steady influx of young international students. For Sikhs, he says, Canada is the "top choice" for immigration.

"And the first thing people do once they arrive in a community is go and find their nearest gurdwara," he says.

Between 1971 and 2011, immigration exploded in Canada, after the revising of the Immigration Act in 1976.

According to historic StatsCan data, in those four decades, 711,400 Muslims moved to Canada, as did 243,740 Buddhists, 340,875 Hindus, 71,448 Jews and 274,955 Sikhs. At the same time, most Christian denominations were in a state of steady decline after peaking in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nowadays, these minority religions are at the point of surpassing once major religions in Canada (Muslims account for 3.7 per cent of Canadians, while the United and Anglican churches account for 3.8 per cent). And they're predominantly made up of immigrants.

Those born outside Canada were more likely than those born in Canada to report being Muslim (12 per cent versus one per cent), Hindu (six per cent versus 0.3 per cent), Sikh (four per cent versus 0.6 per cent), according to StatsCan.

They were also more likely to participate in a group religious activity at least once a month (36 per cent versus 19 per cent) or on their own at least once a week (42 per cent versus 28 per cent).

Younger immigrants were also more likely to be religious. People born outside Canada between 1980 and 1999 were more likely (71 per cent) than those born in Canada (59 per cent) to report having a religious affiliation. Among people born between 1940 and 1959, there was little difference.

But that hasn't meant that safeguarding the future is easy.

Boparai says while affiliation may be high in younger generations, the second generation does not have the same interest in managing the gurdwaras.

"There hasn't been a passing of the reins to the second generation as there has been in the past. They don't have the same interest.

"One gurdwara tried to hand over to a younger youth group and that lasted a little while and that failed and they were asked to hand over control again."

According to StatCan projections for Canada, by the year 2036, the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double, to make up between 13 per cent and 16 per cent of Canada's population, compared with nine per cent in 2011.

The Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths, in particular, "would see the number of their followers grow more quickly," due to being "over-represented among immigrants compared to their demographic weight in the population as a whole."

Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, says the numbers reflect the fact that immigrants to Canada are coming from less developed, more religious countries. New immigrants then seek out places of worship as a way to connect with others.

"A lot of immigrants have gone to these religious communities in search of those lost connections that they had back in their countries of origin. And what is interesting here is that some of these, not very many, but some of these people are people that are not necessarily religious themselves," Kazemipur says.

"Most of the studies that have been done recently, on Christianity even, show that most of the vitality in terms of religion is coming from the immigrant community, not necessarily the native-born population."

He says this was particularly true for the Muslim community, who also had to deal with rising levels of Islamophobia and a "misperception" that Muslims have a stronger attachment to their faith.

"That perception has created an intellectual environment in which every time that someone wants to encounter a Muslim or wants to learn something, they think that they have to start from religion.

"All these other socio-demographic, socio-economic factors that are so powerfully present in everybody else's lives, it seems in this perception that they are not relevant for Muslims."

Because Muslim people were so frequently being asked about their faith, it also meant that those who were more loosely associated with it were more likely to go and learn about it, which also boosted religiosity, Kazemipur says.

Islam is now the largest non-Christian religious group and the fastest-growing religion in Canada, accounting for 3.7 per cent of Canadians. That's up from 1.5 per cent in 2001 and 1.1 per cent in 1996.

Unlike churches nearby that sit nearly empty during weekend services, on a Friday at noon in mid-December 2021, Masjid Toronto is overflowing with people. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, people now have to book online for a space - which is especially important for Friday's Jumah prayer, the most important of the week and the one men are required to attend.

Men in thobes and women in hijabs jostle for space in their respective rooms as the call to prayer sounds. The imam reiterates how important it is to book online, saying he's turning people away when the mosque reaches capacity.

Afterwards, Rania Lawendy, national director of the Muslim Association of Canada, tells Global News there simply aren't enough mosques to accommodate the city's growing Muslim population. Religion "plays a huge role" in everyday life for Muslims, she says, and that hasn't changed in the face of modern life.

"Islam is a way of life. And that's not just a statement, it really does encompass everything. It encompasses our resilience, our understanding of justice and our understanding of really being of benefit to others. It's not just worship, but it's your dealings, so your dealings with your neighbours and how you are at work," Lawendy says.

"Religiosity doesn't just encompass going to the mosque and praying, but how are you in your everyday life? How are you with other people? What is your integrity? What do you feel your purpose is and are you a benefit, not only to Muslims, but to all of Canadian society."

Tragedies such as the London attack, when a Muslim family was killed, have hit the community hard, she says. But faith has "kept us resilient."

"When something bad happens, it's perceived as a test and people are rewarded for it. So our viewpoint of things like the pandemic are very different," she says.

"It's almost like if you didn't have your faith, what a miserable life you would have."

Lawendy herself is a testament to that. She says her faith helped her through the toughest period of her life: when she was 25 and she lost her second child, her father and had a miscarriage all within six months.

"They brought me like a psychiatrist. And I'm like, 'What is this for? And they're looking at my record saying, 'You can't be OK. You're 25 years old.' And I was like, 'No, I'm OK.' And I really was OK."

That resilience, and the mosque community, helps new immigrants find their way in a new country, she says.

Syrian immigrant Asmaa Ghadban, who moved to Vancouver Island from Jordan in late 2019 as a refugee, says when she and her family first arrived, their Christian sponsors accompanied them to the mosque and continued to do so for several weeks.

Her eldest daughter, who wears a hijab, was worried about attending school. But the school was accommodating.

"When I registered my kids, I told the principal and the office there my girls will pray. They told me, 'OK, don't worry, we will make them a special place or we will get them a room,'" Ghadban says.

Her three children now go to the mosque three times per week and learn Arabic.

"Religion is the curriculum of our life," she says.

"I started growing those seeds in the heart of my kids, because maybe in the future, they will remember that."

Kazemipur says because Islam provides a framework for how life should be lived, there's "more room for religion" in Muslims' everyday lives.

The community had also become more tight-knit than perhaps they would have been in their home countries due to a rise in Islamophobia after 9/11.

"(Muslims) have become more alert to the fact that religion is playing such a big role in their lives, and in the minds of people who are viewing them," he says.

Tina Aseffa, from Ethiopia, converted to Islam while at university in Hamilton studying for a bachelor of science. She'd been raised Catholic, courtesy of her half-Italian mother, but her sister had grown interested in the key tenets of Islam and while initially against it, Aseffa then found herself identifying with it too.

"There came a time when I felt like I'd be living a lie. And you can lie to people, but how could you lie to yourself?"

The conversion caused ructions in her family and left her not speaking to her mother or father for two years. But the Muslim community stepped in to fill the void, teaching her Arabic, introducing her to friends and even helping to pay her rent.

While she admits that she's experienced plenty of Islamophobia - she's been insulted on the street, yelled at to "go back to where you came from," targeted for searches at airports, even insulted by a store worker while buying her very first skirt the weekend she converted - she says she's never looked back.

"Is there discrimination? Yes. Is there Islamophobia? Yes. Do I feel targeted at times? Yes. But at the same time, there's the halal storage, there's the schools, there's the mosques.

"Canada has allowed me to live my Islamic life."

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Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: 'It's the curriculum of our life' - National | Globalnews.ca

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When Ushpreet Singh arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, in late 2020, he was dismayed to find that the town of 33,000 people did not have a gurdwara - a place of worship for Sikhs like him. At the time, there were about a dozen Sikh families in Whitehorse and a makeshift Sikh committee, but no meeting place.

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Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters orders schools to teach the Bible-Oliver

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Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters orders schools to teach the Bible-Oliver

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In Oklahoma schools are now required to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments along with having a Bible in every classroom. This came after the Supreme Court rejected government funding for religious schools. This teaching will be for students from grades 5 to 12.

Many people are upset about this because they believe he is imposing his faith on people and violating laws.

Ryan Walters has been trying to bring religion in schools by adding time for prayer and incorporating religious beliefs into teachings.

He believes that the decision to not fund religious schools in Christian discrimination. State attorney generals disagree and believe that it is against the US Constitution and their freedom of religion.

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Oklahoma’s top education official orders schools to teach the Bible

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Walters issued his edict days after the state Supreme Court ruled against a publicly funded religious charter school.

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Louisiana becomes 1st state to require Ten Commandments displays in classrooms - Ali. H

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Louisiana becomes 1st state to require Ten Commandments displays in classrooms - Ali. H

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Louisiana has passed a law that now requires the 10 commandments to be in every single public school classroom. This was signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry

Proponents said that this isn't only religious, but that the 10 commandments were a important part of american education for nearly 3 centuries.

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Louisiana becomes 1st state to require Ten Commandments displays in classrooms - National | Globalnews.ca

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The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font" be required in all public classrooms.

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Louisiana governor tells parents against Ten Commandments in classrooms: 'Tell your child not to look' - Dhanvi Patel 

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Louisiana governor tells parents against Ten Commandments in classrooms: 'Tell your child not to look' - Dhanvi Patel 

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has a suggestion for parents who don't believe the Ten Commandments should be displayed in public school classrooms throughout the state, "Tell your child not to look at them." The law requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments by January. Parents were very upset because the poster is about one religion and it shows that their own beliefs are not recognized.

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Louisiana governor tells parents against Ten Commandments in classrooms: ‘Tell your child not to look’

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The state became the first to require public schools to display the religious text, but several families are suing over its constitutionality.

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Religious composition of the worlds migrants -Lorenzo Dell'Isola

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Religious composition of the worlds migrants -Lorenzo Dell'Isola

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There are 280 million international migrants (3.6% of global population)

Christians are 47% of migrants

Muslims are 29% of migrants

Hindus are 5% of migrants

Buddhists are 4% of migrants

Jews make up 1% of migrants

atheists: are 13% of migrants

Migration has increased by 83% over past three decades

Top Christians migrate to the U.S

Muslims migrate to the Middle East-North Africa

Hindu's go to India

Buddhists migrate to Myanmar and Thailand

Jewish people often migrate to Israel

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The Religious Composition of the World’s Migrants

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The globe’s 280 million immigrants shape countries’ religious composition. Christians make up the largest share, but Jews are most likely to have migrated.

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Canada considers certain religions damaging to society - Billy 

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Canada considers certain religions damaging to society - Billy 

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Recently, many Canadians are turning their backs against their religion and are losing their faith. An Angus Reid survey showed that in Canada religion is at an all time low and people have lost faith. All religious groups have been viewed differently and some more negative than others. Christianity and islam are perceived negatively, while they say that they feel Canada has no room for including other religious groups. Data shows that one fifth of Canadians or 19% are non-believers. The largest group of Canadians are spiritually uncertain at 46%. While one third of Canadians definitely believed in God. The Survey showed that non-believers took the majority.

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Many Canadians now believe Catholicism, evangelical Christianity and Islam are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to turn their backs on religion.

A new Angus Reid survey, released Monday, has shone a light on perceptions of certain religions in post-pandemic Canada, at a time when religiosity in the country is already at an all-time low.

"Broader society still is not fully comfortable and fully clear about what to do with religion, and therefore they show some signs of discomfort," Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, explains.

"It's not intolerance at the moment, it is discomfort."

The survey reveals that all religious groups surveyed viewed evangelical Chistianity as more damaging to society than beneficial, while Islam was also perceived in a largely negative light. Respondents from both religions were also more likely to feel that Canada doesn't make room for their beliefs in society.

Rania Lawendy, CEO of Action for Humanity and former Muslim Association of Canada spokesperson, says that's because Islamophobia remains rife in Canada and Muslims are still made to feel that their religion is "not conducive to the universal values of Canada."

"You only feel 'othered' when others make you feel like 'the others'," Lawendy says.

"How can I not feel othered when Bill 21 exists?"

The survey comes after data released by Statistics Canada in late 2021 showed only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It's the first time that number has dipped below 70 per cent since StatCan began tracking the data in 1985.

The new Angus Reid data is a culmination of two 2022 surveys - one conducted between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3 and including a group of 1,290 Canadians from the four largest non-Christian faith groups (Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jewish) and another conducted from April 5 to 7, involving 1,708 participants from the general population.

The data shows that one-fifth of Canadians (19 per cent) now classify themselves as "non-believers."

The largest group of Canadians are the "spiritually uncertain," representing 46 per cent of the population. One-third (34 per cent) definitely believe in God or a higher power, while 31 per cent think a higher power exists but are less certain.

More than half of those who identify as Roman Catholics (52 per cent) and mainstream Protestants (56 per cent) fall into the spiritually uncertain category.

Just 16 per cent of Canadians consider themselves "religiously committed," with high levels of worship and belief in God, while 19 per cent are "privately faithful."

In terms of religions themselves, three-quarters of evangelical Christians (74 per cent) and 46 per cent of Muslims are considered religiously committed, while those raised in the Sikh or Hindu faiths tend to be considered "privately faithful" - those who do not necessarily gather as formally and frequently, but continue to profess a strong personal connection to their religion.

It is, in turn, the two most committed religions - evangelical Christianity and Islam - which have been reported as more damaging than beneficial to society, according to the new research.

However, these assessments varied widely depending on what religion the respondent identified as.

Survey results showed that atheists, in particular, were overwhelmingly critical of the influence of evangelical Christians on society, but are largely positive about the perceived impacts of Sikhs and Hindus.

Canada's largest religious group - Roman Catholics - are more likely to perceive evangelical Christians, Muslims and Sikhs as doing more harm than benefit to the social fabric of the country but view other faiths positively.

"There are different dynamics behind the kinds of sentiments that are expressed for these different groups," Kazempiur explains.

"In the case of Muslims, to some extent, and Sikhs, it is their visibility plus the global debates. In the case of evangelicals, I think it is more that sort of persistence and that aggressiveness in their approach that worries people... that sort of discipline and that sort of insistence worries people because they feel that there must be a strong agenda behind this, beyond religion."

Kazemipur says the "visibility" of Sikhism and Islam is due to the wearing of religious symbols, such as hijabs or turbans.

Lawendy says Canadians have a misperception of what Islam is, often believing it to be a violent religion founded on extremism, due to "how it's portrayed in the media."

"If Canadians actually knew what it meant to be Muslim, they'd be encouraging Muslim immigration," she says.

But, according to the survey, for those who reported no religious affiliation, only the presence of Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism are more likely to be seen as positive than negative for Canada.

Evangelical Christianity - which encompasses dozens of denominations such as Baptist, Pentecostal and Mennonite and characterized by its piety - was the only religion seen as more damaging than beneficial by every other self-identified religious group.

Rick Hiemstra, director of research at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says the religion now makes up about seven per cent of the Canadian population, down from about 12 per cent in 2003. However, he says it's hard to gauge accurate numbers as, in the past two decades, many churches have sought to distance themselves from evangelicalism due to its negative connotations.

"People sort of shun the labels and you see this in a lot of churches, who are distancing themselves from the denominational tradition, becoming community churches and taking Baptists or Pentecostal out and becoming, say, the Community Church of Ottawa," Hiemstra says.

That's because, he says, devout religions such as theirs are often portrayed negatively in the media or popular culture - with associations to "pedophilia or people behaving badly," as well as more extreme forms of evangelicalism found in the U.S.

More broadly, he also believes that while once there was a "social benefit" of being considered religious, there is now a "social cost" to it.

"I watch Netflix just like everybody else. And really when you see the perceptions of evangelicals or Christians or religious people, generally... devout religious people are usually presented as deviants," he says.

"This is really, I think, where people are getting a lot of their ideas about religious people generally and forming those opinions, not based on firsthand experience or knowledge, but based on what they're presented with."

When it comes to self-reflection, the survey showed that those who identify as religious are, naturally, more likely to believe religion makes positive contributions to Canadian society than negative ones. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of evangelical Christians believe they play a positive role in society, compared to 29 per cent of Roman Catholics.

Hiemstra says this is because evangelical Christians tend to be more generous with donations and volunteering.

On the whole, however, 31 per cent of respondents say the good religion plays in society outweighs the bad, while 22 per cent say the opposite. Almost half of Canadians (47 per cent) say religion contributes good and bad to society in equal amounts.

This has perhaps contributed to perceptions from certain religious groups that their beliefs are not welcome in society. More than half (56 per cent) of evangelical Christians say they feel shut out of society for their beliefs, with Muslims being second most likely, at 26 per cent.

More on Lifestyle More videos

Hiemstra says several factors have contributed to this - more recently because places of worship were considered non-essential services during the pandemic and were closed.

"[It] was sort of an unfortunate language that was adopted," Hiemstra says.

"So I think a lot of evangelicals and people in religious communities generally sort of reacted to this implicit judgment about their place in society."

He says Islam and evangelist denominations share a perception of being "strange" to outsiders, and " some of the tension is just the strangeness of of being unfamiliar."

Lawendy believes the number of Muslims who feel shut out of society is likely "much higher" than 26 per cent.

"I deal with microaggressions all the time around my masjid, my intelligence, my education and these stereotypical views from mainly the media, partly from political discourse, partly from white national supremacist groups and partly from polarized politicians. And this was pre-Trump, too," she says.

"I'm aware of any danger when I go into a masjid, that's a problem."

She says systemic racism must be dealt with in Canada before Muslims can feel totally accepted by society. This is part of the work she's working on to encourage integration and inter-faith dialogue.

"The vision is to be integrated into society but still have your distinct identity. We want to be part of the fabric of Canadian society."

However, these negative feelings towards religious groups don't necessarily translate to religious intolerance, Kazemipur says, but more of a "nervousness" or "discomfort" from a modern-day society that does not know how to include religion anymore.

This discomfort can wane with time and integration of religious groups - however, if that doesn't happen, anti-religious views often become anti-immigration views, Kazemipur says. He points to France 's controversial immigration laws for asylum seekers as an example of this.

Canadians born elsewhere are less likely to report no religious affiliation than those born in the country (18 per cent compared to 27 per cent), the survey shows. At least half of those who identify as Muslim, Hindu or Sikh were born outside of Canada.

A similar trend was reported by StatCan data, because as Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented lows, minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.

One stand-out aspect of the perceptions portion of the survey concerned Judaism and Islam - which have had a tense and tumultuous history. For Jews in Canada, the only religion they view as more beneficial to society than harmful, other than their own, is Islam. The feeling was reciprocal for Muslims.

In terms of domestic geography, the Prairies continue to be Canada's most religious provinces, with about one-quarter of respondents in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba categorized as "religiously committed" - meaning people report high levels of attendance of worship, active prayer and a deep belief in God.

Quebec residents are most likely to eschew religion.

Kazemipur says this is largely down to residents of Quebec living in "homogenous towns or neighbourhoods," without "a lot of interaction between different groups."

The survey also found that first generation Canadians are much more likely to identify as religious, and being raised in religion remains common in Canada.

Seventy-two per cent of respondents said they grew up with religious teachings, including just over half (54 per cent) of those who currently have no religious affiliation.

Being raised in a religious tradition is more common for those who identify as Muslim (86 per cent) or Roman Catholic (82 per cent) than other religions.

Younger Canadians are more likely to be non-believers. One-quarter of men (26 per cent) and 22 per cent of women aged 18 to 34 years old fall into that category. Women over the age of 55 are the most likely of any group to be more religious, and the least likely to be in the non-believer category.

Hiemstra says this decline in religiosity has been accelerated by the pandemic, with many of their churches losing 20 per cent of their participants.

The survey data supports this. In April 2020, just after the onset of the pandemic, there was a slight increase in those reporting as non-believers or spiritually uncertain, whereas there was a slight decline in those who were considered religiously committed or privately faithful.

As to whether or not freedom of conscience and religion is becoming stronger or weaker, Canadians are split. About one-third of respondents believe that freedom is deteriorating in the country, but nearly as many (28 per cent) say it has remained consistent. One-quarter believe freedom of religion and conscience is becoming stronger.

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Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society: survey - National | Globalnews.ca

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Some Canadians now believe certain religions are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to eschew religion.

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Trudeau government announces 'halal mortgages.' Here's what they are- Jana El Zuway

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Trudeau government announces 'halal mortgages.' Here's what they are- Jana El Zuway

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The federal budget announced the plan to introduce halal mortgages so that Musim Canadians, and other diverse groups can purchase a home using alternative financing products such as halal mortgages. This was created as Muslims are prohibited from dealing with interest as they are seen as not moral. So, instead Islamic Banks use different forms of payment to avoid dealing with interest.

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The federal budget mentions the creation of halal mortgages as a means to 'enable Muslim Canadians, and other diverse communities, to further participate in the housing market'

The 2024 federal budget says the Liberal government plans to introduce "halal mortgages" as a way to increase access to home ownership.

Here's what "halal mortgage" means and what that effort might look like.

What does Canada's 2024 budget say?

The plan mentions the creation of "alternative financing products, including halal mortgages" as a means to "enable Muslim Canadians, and other diverse communities, to further participate in the housing market."

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Ottawa is "exploring" measures that could change "the tax treatment of these products" or provide a "new regulatory sandbox for financial service providers," it says.

1. Canada's budget 2024: The government wants to help you get Taylor Swift tickets and avoid your boss

2. CBC says $42M federal budget boost means no more 'significant' job cuts for now

The government began consultations in March 2024 with financial services providers and "diverse communities" as it sets out to expand mortgage policies to include alternative financing, the budget adds. The Liberal government says it will make an announcement detailing what such a plan would look like this fall.

Why are regular mortgages not considered halal?

Islamic law, or Sharia, prohibits Muslims from charging or receiving interest because they are seen as exploitative and immoral. Instead of giving loans, Islamic banks use different payment structures to avoid charging interest.

What are halal mortgages?

Sharia-compliant mortgages include payment structures that take interest out of the equation. There are three common types of halal mortgages: ijara, Musharaka and Murabaha.

Ijara is a rent-to-own model in which a bank buys the asset and leases it back to the customer over a set period. The payments go toward the capital and provide a profit for the financial institution.

Musharaka, a form of partnership with the financier, involves both parties owning the property until the equity is gradually transferred and the partnership dissolves.

Murabaha is a credit system in which the ownership is immediately sold to the customer, with profits included in the final offer. The buyer's credit history, deposit and terms of the agreement are factored in.

Because these structures are considered more risky, they are often more expensive than a traditional interest loan. Canada's big banks do not currently provide halal mortgages, which the Liberal government hopes to change. According to The Canadian Press, lack of halal financial options has left many Muslims waiting for smaller firms to allow them to make investments and buy homes.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

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Trudeau government announces 'halal mortgages.' Here's what they are

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In a bid to increase access to homeownership, Canada's federal budget mentioned 'halal mortgages'. Here's what that means

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Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society- Arielle

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Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society- Arielle

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A survey was taken on Canadians opinions on religion post-Covid, and the results seem people have some discomfort around religions and are seen as more harmful. Specifically, Christianity and Islam are viewed in negative light by Canadians. There is a decline in the number of people who are affiliate with religions and people are now more spiritually uncertain. Some people think the major religions are closed minded and not tolerant to other ideas.

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Many Canadians now believe Catholicism, evangelical Christianity and Islam are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to turn their backs on religion.

A new Angus Reid survey, released Monday, has shone a light on perceptions of certain religions in post-pandemic Canada, at a time when religiosity in the country is already at an all-time low.

"Broader society still is not fully comfortable and fully clear about what to do with religion, and therefore they show some signs of discomfort," Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, explains.

"It's not intolerance at the moment, it is discomfort."

The survey reveals that all religious groups surveyed viewed evangelical Chistianity as more damaging to society than beneficial, while Islam was also perceived in a largely negative light. Respondents from both religions were also more likely to feel that Canada doesn't make room for their beliefs in society.

Rania Lawendy, CEO of Action for Humanity and former Muslim Association of Canada spokesperson, says that's because Islamophobia remains rife in Canada and Muslims are still made to feel that their religion is "not conducive to the universal values of Canada."

"You only feel 'othered' when others make you feel like 'the others'," Lawendy says.

"How can I not feel othered when Bill 21 exists?"

The survey comes after data released by Statistics Canada in late 2021 showed only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It's the first time that number has dipped below 70 per cent since StatCan began tracking the data in 1985.

The new Angus Reid data is a culmination of two 2022 surveys - one conducted between Jan. 21 and Feb. 3 and including a group of 1,290 Canadians from the four largest non-Christian faith groups (Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jewish) and another conducted from April 5 to 7, involving 1,708 participants from the general population.

The data shows that one-fifth of Canadians (19 per cent) now classify themselves as "non-believers."

The largest group of Canadians are the "spiritually uncertain," representing 46 per cent of the population. One-third (34 per cent) definitely believe in God or a higher power, while 31 per cent think a higher power exists but are less certain.

More than half of those who identify as Roman Catholics (52 per cent) and mainstream Protestants (56 per cent) fall into the spiritually uncertain category.

Just 16 per cent of Canadians consider themselves "religiously committed," with high levels of worship and belief in God, while 19 per cent are "privately faithful."

In terms of religions themselves, three-quarters of evangelical Christians (74 per cent) and 46 per cent of Muslims are considered religiously committed, while those raised in the Sikh or Hindu faiths tend to be considered "privately faithful" - those who do not necessarily gather as formally and frequently, but continue to profess a strong personal connection to their religion.

It is, in turn, the two most committed religions - evangelical Christianity and Islam - which have been reported as more damaging than beneficial to society, according to the new research.

However, these assessments varied widely depending on what religion the respondent identified as.

Survey results showed that atheists, in particular, were overwhelmingly critical of the influence of evangelical Christians on society, but are largely positive about the perceived impacts of Sikhs and Hindus.

Canada's largest religious group - Roman Catholics - are more likely to perceive evangelical Christians, Muslims and Sikhs as doing more harm than benefit to the social fabric of the country but view other faiths positively.

"There are different dynamics behind the kinds of sentiments that are expressed for these different groups," Kazempiur explains.

"In the case of Muslims, to some extent, and Sikhs, it is their visibility plus the global debates. In the case of evangelicals, I think it is more that sort of persistence and that aggressiveness in their approach that worries people... that sort of discipline and that sort of insistence worries people because they feel that there must be a strong agenda behind this, beyond religion."

Kazemipur says the "visibility" of Sikhism and Islam is due to the wearing of religious symbols, such as hijabs or turbans.

Lawendy says Canadians have a misperception of what Islam is, often believing it to be a violent religion founded on extremism, due to "how it's portrayed in the media."

"If Canadians actually knew what it meant to be Muslim, they'd be encouraging Muslim immigration," she says.

But, according to the survey, for those who reported no religious affiliation, only the presence of Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism are more likely to be seen as positive than negative for Canada.

Evangelical Christianity - which encompasses dozens of denominations such as Baptist, Pentecostal and Mennonite and characterized by its piety - was the only religion seen as more damaging than beneficial by every other self-identified religious group.

Rick Hiemstra, director of research at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says the religion now makes up about seven per cent of the Canadian population, down from about 12 per cent in 2003. However, he says it's hard to gauge accurate numbers as, in the past two decades, many churches have sought to distance themselves from evangelicalism due to its negative connotations.

"People sort of shun the labels and you see this in a lot of churches, who are distancing themselves from the denominational tradition, becoming community churches and taking Baptists or Pentecostal out and becoming, say, the Community Church of Ottawa," Hiemstra says.

That's because, he says, devout religions such as theirs are often portrayed negatively in the media or popular culture - with associations to "pedophilia or people behaving badly," as well as more extreme forms of evangelicalism found in the U.S.

More broadly, he also believes that while once there was a "social benefit" of being considered religious, there is now a "social cost" to it.

"I watch Netflix just like everybody else. And really when you see the perceptions of evangelicals or Christians or religious people, generally... devout religious people are usually presented as deviants," he says.

"This is really, I think, where people are getting a lot of their ideas about religious people generally and forming those opinions, not based on firsthand experience or knowledge, but based on what they're presented with."

When it comes to self-reflection, the survey showed that those who identify as religious are, naturally, more likely to believe religion makes positive contributions to Canadian society than negative ones. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of evangelical Christians believe they play a positive role in society, compared to 29 per cent of Roman Catholics.

Hiemstra says this is because evangelical Christians tend to be more generous with donations and volunteering.

On the whole, however, 31 per cent of respondents say the good religion plays in society outweighs the bad, while 22 per cent say the opposite. Almost half of Canadians (47 per cent) say religion contributes good and bad to society in equal amounts.

This has perhaps contributed to perceptions from certain religious groups that their beliefs are not welcome in society. More than half (56 per cent) of evangelical Christians say they feel shut out of society for their beliefs, with Muslims being second most likely, at 26 per cent.

More on Lifestyle More videos

Hiemstra says several factors have contributed to this - more recently because places of worship were considered non-essential services during the pandemic and were closed.

"[It] was sort of an unfortunate language that was adopted," Hiemstra says.

"So I think a lot of evangelicals and people in religious communities generally sort of reacted to this implicit judgment about their place in society."

He says Islam and evangelist denominations share a perception of being "strange" to outsiders, and " some of the tension is just the strangeness of of being unfamiliar."

Lawendy believes the number of Muslims who feel shut out of society is likely "much higher" than 26 per cent.

"I deal with microaggressions all the time around my masjid, my intelligence, my education and these stereotypical views from mainly the media, partly from political discourse, partly from white national supremacist groups and partly from polarized politicians. And this was pre-Trump, too," she says.

"I'm aware of any danger when I go into a masjid, that's a problem."

She says systemic racism must be dealt with in Canada before Muslims can feel totally accepted by society. This is part of the work she's working on to encourage integration and inter-faith dialogue.

"The vision is to be integrated into society but still have your distinct identity. We want to be part of the fabric of Canadian society."

However, these negative feelings towards religious groups don't necessarily translate to religious intolerance, Kazemipur says, but more of a "nervousness" or "discomfort" from a modern-day society that does not know how to include religion anymore.

This discomfort can wane with time and integration of religious groups - however, if that doesn't happen, anti-religious views often become anti-immigration views, Kazemipur says. He points to France 's controversial immigration laws for asylum seekers as an example of this.

Canadians born elsewhere are less likely to report no religious affiliation than those born in the country (18 per cent compared to 27 per cent), the survey shows. At least half of those who identify as Muslim, Hindu or Sikh were born outside of Canada.

A similar trend was reported by StatCan data, because as Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented lows, minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.

One stand-out aspect of the perceptions portion of the survey concerned Judaism and Islam - which have had a tense and tumultuous history. For Jews in Canada, the only religion they view as more beneficial to society than harmful, other than their own, is Islam. The feeling was reciprocal for Muslims.

In terms of domestic geography, the Prairies continue to be Canada's most religious provinces, with about one-quarter of respondents in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba categorized as "religiously committed" - meaning people report high levels of attendance of worship, active prayer and a deep belief in God.

Quebec residents are most likely to eschew religion.

Kazemipur says this is largely down to residents of Quebec living in "homogenous towns or neighbourhoods," without "a lot of interaction between different groups."

The survey also found that first generation Canadians are much more likely to identify as religious, and being raised in religion remains common in Canada.

Seventy-two per cent of respondents said they grew up with religious teachings, including just over half (54 per cent) of those who currently have no religious affiliation.

Being raised in a religious tradition is more common for those who identify as Muslim (86 per cent) or Roman Catholic (82 per cent) than other religions.

Younger Canadians are more likely to be non-believers. One-quarter of men (26 per cent) and 22 per cent of women aged 18 to 34 years old fall into that category. Women over the age of 55 are the most likely of any group to be more religious, and the least likely to be in the non-believer category.

Hiemstra says this decline in religiosity has been accelerated by the pandemic, with many of their churches losing 20 per cent of their participants.

The survey data supports this. In April 2020, just after the onset of the pandemic, there was a slight increase in those reporting as non-believers or spiritually uncertain, whereas there was a slight decline in those who were considered religiously committed or privately faithful.

As to whether or not freedom of conscience and religion is becoming stronger or weaker, Canadians are split. About one-third of respondents believe that freedom is deteriorating in the country, but nearly as many (28 per cent) say it has remained consistent. One-quarter believe freedom of religion and conscience is becoming stronger.

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Canadians consider certain religions damaging to society: survey - National | Globalnews.ca

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Some Canadians now believe certain religions are more damaging to society than beneficial, a new survey shows, as people across the country continue to eschew religion.

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation- Oliver 

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation- Oliver 

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The population of people in Canada who have no religious beliefs has increased to 34.6%. With this, the amount of Christian people across the county is also down 20%.

People who have left their religions say that they have lost their guiding philosophy and their community. These people try to find their community through jobs which doesn't always work.

The population of non-religious people is much larger in younger people than it is in people over 65. only 19% of people 65 and older don't follow a religion compared to 42.5% of people who are under 14. Researchers say it is due to parents believing in a religion, but not attending events in the community, which makes their children not value religion like their parents do.

The decrease in Christian population is not all bad. It is partly due to the increase in many other religions in Canada. With increased immigration to Canada, many religions are also growing throughout the country.

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation, census shows | CBC News

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The latest data from the 2021 census shows the proportion of non-religious Canadians has more than doubled in the past 20 years. One University of Waterloo researcher says shift away from religion is largely a generational one.

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'Shocking' abuse in Ireland's religious schools- Kaylee Peterson (GLOBAL) 

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'Shocking' abuse in Ireland's religious schools- Kaylee Peterson (GLOBAL) 

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A recent Irish government report revealed nearly 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse in over 300 schools run by religious orders. Education Minister Norma Foley described the findings as “truly shocking.” The report identified 884 alleged abusers across 42 religious orders, with more than half of the accused now deceased. The report also noted a high number of allegations in special schools, with 590 cases involving 190 alleged abusers. Victims reported severe abuse often accompanied by violence, occurring in various school settings from the 1960s to the 1990s. Many survivors experienced lasting mental health issues and addiction.

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‘Shocking’ abuse by members of religious orders

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The Irish government orders an inquiry after an initial report uncovers almost 2,400 allegations.

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During 2022 in Canada, devoutness had hit a record low. Data from Statistics Canada showed that from ages 15 and up only 68% of Canadians had a connection to religion. However, other religions are increasing in frequency in Canada. Some of these religions include Sikhs, Buddhists, and Hindus. Christianity, however, is going through a decline, data shows that the percent of people who are affiliated with the Christian faith has decreased from 67% in 2011 to 63% in 2019.

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It's Advent Sunday and snow is falling thick and fast outside the front doors of the soaring, neo-Gothic bell tower of the Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto.

A tiny crowd huddles around a black Weber grill, emitting brief puffs of smoke as a crackling fire battles the elements.

"Come, gather around the holy barbecue," Reverend Jason Meyers jokes.

It's a modern scene amid very modern challenges facing religious institutions in Canada.

Religiosity in Canada is at an all-time low, with recently released data from Statistics Canada showing only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It's the first time that number has dipped below 70 per cent since StatCan began tracking the data in 1985.
In response, Global News has spent the past two months speaking to members of religious communities across the country and looking at historical data to determine why this is happening. This is part one of that series.
It's important to note that this decline is not across the board; the number of Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus is increasing, and StatCan predicts the number of Canadians reporting a non-Christian religious affiliation could double by the year 2036.

Christianity, however, is in sharp decline. In 2011, 67.3 per cent (about 22.1 million people) of Canadians said they were affiliated with a Christian religion. In 2019, that number had dropped to 63.2 per cent. Catholicism, Canada's largest denomination, now accounts for 32 per cent of Canadians over 15, down from 46.9 per cent in 1996.

The decline is even more precarious for Canada's United and Anglican churches.

In 2021, the first Sunday in Advent - the season that commemorates Christmas, or the birth of Jesus Christ - has fallen on Toronto's first snow day, Nov. 28.

Just six people have come to congregate around the Weber grill, for Metropolitan's Taddle Creek Wild Church, a more modern and nature-based service than the traditional Sunday service.

Being experimental, it tends to attract smaller numbers than the standard Sunday service held an hour earlier. But that one too had barely 50 people in attendance; two to three people per pew scattered across a cavernous church.

But membership in the United Church of Canada (UCC) has been decreasing for decades, far before a snowstorm and a global pandemic.

Th UCC is the country's second-largest Canadian Christian denomination. It accounted for 14.6 per cent of Canadian Christians in 1985. In 1996, that number declined to 9.7 per cent and to just 3.8 per cent in 2019. Islam, considered a minority religion, now sits at 3.7 per cent.

Nowadays, Meyers says, on average, the United Church loses one church per week across Canada and he expects that to accelerate.

He acknowledges that many people brought up religious lose interest, but says some come back of their own volition later in life. Meyers did so himself, turning to the church in his 30s after the breakdown of his marriage.

It's for these reasons, he says, that despite the membership decline, he's optimistic the United Church will not die out completely.

"There will be fewer churches and yet the ones that are able to build belonging across lines of difference - whether that is racial or economic, or like literal space, or somewhere here, somewhere online - they're the ones that are going to stay and grow."

It seems optimistic after a service of 50 people in a church built to house 2,000. But Meyers believes the pandemic has strengthened many Christians' resolve.

"The deep desire for connection has not gone away. It has accelerated, I would say, and in a traditional church like this, or small group gatherings, we are hardwired for community. We're hardwired for spirituality," Meyers says.

"There's more of a yearning, and people are looking for hope."

But it's hard to ignore the demographics of the congregation - the vast majority of whom have grey hair.

Statistics Canada data confirms the generational gap, finding that religious affiliation was at 85 per cent among older Canadians born between 1940 and 1959, compared with 32 per cent for those born between 1980 and 1999.

Gunn Wongsuwan, 28, knows, at his age, he's in the minority as a regular Metropolitan churchgoer. The Toronto resident was brought up Roman Catholic but stopped attending church as a teenager. When he returned, in his late teens while living in Scotland, his friends thought he was "crazy."

"I went back into church looking for structure, and then just realized there was a lot more to it than that. There's a whole side of wanting to be still for a bit, to think on the eternal, to appreciate the art and the music and to contemplate the whole narrative," Wongsuwan says. He joined Metropolitan upon moving back to Canada.

When asked his views on the role religion plays in 2021, given the changing times, Wongsuwan says perhaps now it is more important than ever.

"Aristotle said that man is a political animal. I think we're also religious animals. A lot of us try to see meaning, to have a sense of spirituality. We want order, we want knowledge, and I think we have this sort of longing to be something that's bigger than ourselves."

Statistics Canada, however, also found that religion was becoming less important for Canadians on the whole. Those who reported religious or spiritual beliefs were "somewhat important" or "very important" to their lives was 54 per cent in 2019. In the mid-2000s, it was around 70 per cent.

Anglicanism shares a similarly bleak outlook. StatCan data shows that in 1986, 10.4 per cent of all Canadians were Anglican. That dropped to 7.0 per cent in 1996 and to 3.8 per cent in 2019.

That year, Neil Elliot, the Anglican Church of Canada's statistics and research officer, produced a report intended to show church elders what this would mean for its future.

After a membership decline between 1961 and 2001 of 50 per cent, and a similar decline between 1991 and 2015, Elliot projected the Anglican Church would run out of members completely by 2040.

Baptisms and confirmations had showed churches were "not drawing in substantial quantities of new members" and figures for funerals showed "we are not just losing members, we are losing the opportunities to draw in members, we are losing contacts with our communities."

"These figures are therefore arguments for an increasing rate of decline in the next decade," the report said, also stating that it was "unlikely that we are going to turn it around in the next 20 years."

Two years later, Elliot's outlook has changed somewhat. The pandemic had brought about an impetus for change, he says, but it remains to be seen if that will result in an influx of new members.

He says modern culture has been "pushing people away from the church" for decades.

"The idea of modernity, which is based on science, is somehow intrinsically against religion. There is a view that is out there, not one that I agree with, that science and religion can't mix," he says.

Elliot says the Anglican Church must adapt to survive. He says that his role is to try to drill this into the minds of clergy across Canada.

"I think of it very much like climate change, and people's responses to climate change," Elliot says.

"There's three main responses to climate change: there's denial ... then there's people who say we can stop it. And then there's people who say, we can adapt...that's what I'm trying to get us to do within the Anglican Church, it's how do we adapt to it?"

Pivoting to more modern ways of delivering church services was crucial for future survival, he says, and to ensure active engagement. He'd done so for his own parish, St Andrew and St George in Kootenay. He now builds bulletin-style services, complete with YouTube videos.

Not only is there a decline in those who consider themselves religious in Canada, but participation in religious activities is also on the decline.

The number of people who answered "not at all" to the question of frequency of attending group religious activities in the StatCan survey, was an overwhelming 53 per cent. Only 23 per cent of Canadians said they attend group activities at least once a month. Between 2000 and 2009, that figure was around 30 per cent.

However, some denominations were well above this average - mostly more evangelical groups. Jehovah's Witnesses (86 per cent) reported the highest participation rates.

Canadian Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman James Dumeignil says the number of Jehovah's Witnesses is increasing year-over-year - with 3,000 more members in 2021 than in 2020. StatCan data, however, shows a decline in Canadian membership to 137,775 from 168,370 in 1991.

Dumeignil says participation rates are so high because their religion - which differentiates itself in its belief in only one God, Jehovah, rather than the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) of Christianity - underpins their entire lives.

That, and for the religion's well-known, often relentless, advocacy of itself, through door-knocking and outreach programmes. But Dumeignil says that only plays a small role in persuading people to attend meetings, and people are more likely to be drawn in by its optimistic outlook and a mantra that "it's inevitable that things will improve."

Some Christian congregations say they are also bucking these trends. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Toronto, home to Catholics in the GTA, says while city locations were suffering, churches in smaller towns and communities continued to pull in big numbers.

Father Liborio Amaral, pastor of St. Mary's in Brampton, a Catholic church, says it is rare for his 800-capacity church to be less than 75 per cent full on a Sunday. Amaral thinks, anecdotally, that attendance is increasing - especially in younger people.

"Normally now, when you see a line-up of people going to confession, they're younger people - in their teens or early 20s. Within the last 10 years or so, something is happening and the youth are realizing that they need God. I think it's about the shallowness and emptiness in sometimes what people think will bring them joy - the job, the career, the house, the car. So they're looking at the spiritual part of their life," he says.

"When you're younger, you are carrying your parents' faith. But they get to a certain age and they say, 'It's no longer my parents' faith. It has to be mine.'"

The United and Anglican churches and Judaism report the lowest numbers of those who engage in religious activity at least once per month - at 19 per cent, 19 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

Judaism has unique challenges. For example, Shabbat (Judaism's day of rest, observed from sunset on Friday to nightfall Saturday) is when many school sports are played, prompting a choice between religion and extracurricular activities from a young age.

"The society we live in discourages adherence to religious precepts," says Stan Grossman, chair of the ritual committee for the Beth Sholom synagogue in Toronto.

The proportion of Jews in Canada has fallen steadily over the years. In 1985, 1.6 per cent of Canadians were Jewish, according to StatsCan. That number fell to 1.1 per cent in 1996 and in 2019 is about 0.8 per cent.

For the non-Orthodox community, participation in weekly and daily services pre-COVID had been "somewhat disappearing," Grossman says.

"We've been impacted just across the board as this whole generation has grown. And religion has not become a way of life for this generation."

Five years ago, a Shabbat service would have pulled in 150 to 200 people, Grossman says. At a service in early December, during Chanukah, about 80 well-dressed people are scattered around the expansive Beth Sholom synagogue. But about half of them are not members - they're friends and family of a young girl celebrating her Bat Mitzvah.

Cantor Eric Moses addresses the congregation as he would a full congregation - tearfully recounting his own journey as the only Jew at his school in Sudbury, desperately trying to fit in.

"I was the boy who knew all the Christmas songs by heart, who left milk and cookies out for Santa, but Santa never came."

Speaking after the service, Grossman says Moses' story is typical of many. But these days, young Jewish children were given a choice about going to the synagogue, when that choice didn't exist for previous generations.

"As a next generation, I'm guilty, because I didn't do to my children the same thing that my parents did to me," Grossman says.

Beth Sholom had been working on youth outreach programmes to get their attendance up. But Grossman accepts that declining membership and attendance shouldn't directly translate to a decline in Jews in Canada.

"You don't have to be religious to be Jewish," he says.

Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, who teaches sociology at the University of Waterloo, has been tracking changes to Canada's religious landscape for years. However, she subverts the question of decline: "I say, 'Why were so many people involved with Christianity?' rather than saying, 'Why are so few involved now?'"

Wilkins-Laflamme says Western Christianity in Canada was not receiving an influx of new immigrants to boost their rolls, unlike Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

A societal shift was also propelling Canada toward secularization, in a world where daily life no longer "revolves around the church."

"There's a series of factors at play. We're just not in the same kind of society we were at the end of the 19th century, or start of the 20th century, when a Christian church went with a set of other social factors. So you think back to the 19th century, the hub of social life was the village and in the centre of the village was a church or multiple churches," she says.

"We've shifted to a different society where there are alternatives. There's alternatives in terms of who's providing the social services, schools, health, education and entertainment."

The past few decades had been about "consolidating" an "unsustainable number of churches" across the country, she says.

"There were a lot of churches in downtown Toronto. A lot of those have sold and become condos or high-end restaurants. It tells you something about our society, what these places are becoming. We're desperate for housing and we're not desperate for places of worship."

The lack of affiliation had been most pronounced in younger age groups, due to how people are being brought up, Wilkins-Laflamme says.

However, the religions that have remained are "so much more diverse," she says. Questions around exclusivity to one religion will now need to be addressed, where people can report being part of more than one, "like a multi-choice answer," she says.

"We're currently in a society that highly values things like personal choice ... where you're finding your own way rather than relying on a religious leader or an institution," she says.

"So will the United/Anglican Church completely die out? Probably not. There'll be some form leftover but it'll be quite small. They're going to be a small minority."

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'Gone by 2040': Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever - National | Globalnews.ca

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Religiosity in Canada is at an all-time low, with recently released data from Statistics Canada showing only 68 per cent of Canadians say they have a religious affiliation.

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Prayer rooms banned in Quebec schools - Dhanvi Patel

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Prayer rooms banned in Quebec schools - Dhanvi Patel

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The Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville, promised to ban prayer rooms and other religious practices in public schools. He states " Schools are places of learning and not places of worship", the province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, prohibits many public servants, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols on the job. The directive notes that the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms recognizes freedom of religion but also the fundamental importance of secularism, Drainville has said that he can’t ban prayer altogether and that students who want to pray should do so discreetly and silently. The ban has been denounced by Muslim groups, which have said they would keep a close eye on how it’s implemented to ensure rights aren’t violated.

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Quebec's education minister has formalized a promise to ban prayer rooms and other religious practices in the province's public schools.

Bernard Drainville issued a directive late Wednesday saying schools must ensure that none of their spaces are used "in fact and in appearance, for the purposes of religious practices such as open prayers or other similar practices."

"Schools are places of learning and not places of worship," Drainville wrote on his Twitter account, where he published a copy of his order.

No requests for accommodation will be heard, the government added.

The directive came after Drainville said earlier this month that he had learned of at least two Montreal-area schools permitting students to gather for prayer. He said the concept of prayer rooms runs counter to Quebec's policy of official secularism. The province's secularism law, known as Bill 21, already prohibits many public servants, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The directive notes that the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms recognizes freedom of religion but also the fundamental importance of secularism.

It also notes that "according to the principle of freedom of conscience, a student has a right to be protected from all direct or indirect pressure aimed at exposing him or influencing him so that he conforms to a religious practice."

Drainville has said that he can't ban prayer altogether and that students who want to pray should do so discreetly and silently.

The directive applies to public schools, vocational schools and adult education centres, but not to private schools or Indigenous school boards.

It will be up to school service centres - which replaced school boards - to ensure "appropriate corrective measures" are taken in cases of non-compliance.

The ban has been denounced by Muslim groups, which have said they would keep a close eye on how it's implemented to ensure rights aren't violated.

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Prayer rooms banned in Quebec schools | Globalnews.ca

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The order comes after Bernard Drainville said earlier this month that he had learned of at least two Montreal-area schools permitting students to gather for prayer.

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Canadian Religious News: Antisemitism - Cision

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Canadian Religious News: Antisemitism - Cision

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Justin Trudeau comes forward to announce that Anthony Housefather, Member of Parliament for Mount Royal has been named Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism and speaks on the recent crisis of Antisemitism in Canada. Justin Trudeau acknowledges the recent uprising against Jewish Canadians and he feels they should have the right to self-determination without repercussions and demands Canada to respect Jewish places of worship and the people as well. Trudeau would like to use this as an opportunity to create new ties with Jewish corporations and reconcile with the Jewish about marginalization from the past and present.

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Prime Minister announces new Special Advisor on Jewish Community Relations and Antisemitism

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/CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that Anthony Housefather, Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, has been named Special Advisor on…

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Self proclaimed 'son of God' arrested on human trafficking charges- Jonus Caswell

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Self proclaimed 'son of God' arrested on human trafficking charges- Jonus Caswell

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Sex Trafficking Charges: Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed "appointed son of God" and founder of the church called the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), was arrested in the Philippines over alleged sex trafficking, including that of children. There was similarly an arrest warrant issued by the US for similar charges.

Two-Week Manhunt: The arrest came after a 16-day manhunt at his sprawling 30-hectare compound with underground tunnels and a string of buildings.

Quiboloy, an ally of the former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, has tremendous political influence due to the reported millions of members in his church.

Domestic and International Charges: Quiboloy faces both domestic and international charges. In the Philippines, he is accused of human trafficking, child abuse, and sexual abuse. Charges against him in the US have to do with sex trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, and visa fraud.

Surrender and Detention Quiboloy surrendered to the police after a 24-hour ultimatum lapsed. He is presently detained in a maximum-security detention facility in Manila.

Extradition Issues The Philippines has not been served with a formal request for extradition from the US, so far. Quiboloy has made it a point to demand from the government an assurance that he will not be extradited to the US.

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Celebrity ‘son of God’ pastor surrenders in Philippines after two-week manhunt

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Apollo Quiboloy, who is also wanted in US on child trafficking charges, surrenders to police after ultimatum

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Quebec’s education minister has promised to ban prayer rooms and other religious practices in the province’s public schools. Bernard Drainville stated that schools must ensure no space is used for religious purposes or appearances.

“Schools are places of learning and not places of worship,” Drainville wrote on his Twitter account, where it had been published.

There are no requests for changes and zero exemptions, the government added.

They say the concept of prayer rooms runs counter to Quebec’s policy. The province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21, already prohibits many public servants including teachers from wearing religious symbols on the job.

According to the principle of freedom of conscience, students have the right to be protected from all direct or indirect pressure aimed at exposing them or influencing them so that they conform to a religious practice.”

Drainville says that he can’t ban prayer altogether and that students who want to pray should do so discreetly and silently.

This applies to public schools, vocational schools and adult education centers, but not to private schools or Indigenous school boards.

The ban has been denounced by Muslim groups, which have said they would keep a close eye on how it’s implemented to ensure rights aren’t violated.

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Quebec's education minister has formalized a promise to ban prayer rooms and other religious practices in the province's public schools.

Bernard Drainville issued a directive late Wednesday saying schools must ensure that none of their spaces are used "in fact and in appearance, for the purposes of religious practices such as open prayers or other similar practices."

"Schools are places of learning and not places of worship," Drainville wrote on his Twitter account, where he published a copy of his order.

No requests for accommodation will be heard, the government added.

The directive came after Drainville said earlier this month that he had learned of at least two Montreal-area schools permitting students to gather for prayer. He said the concept of prayer rooms runs counter to Quebec's policy of official secularism. The province's secularism law, known as Bill 21, already prohibits many public servants, including teachers, from wearing religious symbols on the job.

The directive notes that the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms recognizes freedom of religion but also the fundamental importance of secularism.

It also notes that "according to the principle of freedom of conscience, a student has a right to be protected from all direct or indirect pressure aimed at exposing him or influencing him so that he conforms to a religious practice."

Drainville has said that he can't ban prayer altogether and that students who want to pray should do so discreetly and silently.

The directive applies to public schools, vocational schools and adult education centres, but not to private schools or Indigenous school boards.

It will be up to school service centres - which replaced school boards - to ensure "appropriate corrective measures" are taken in cases of non-compliance.

The ban has been denounced by Muslim groups, which have said they would keep a close eye on how it's implemented to ensure rights aren't violated.

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Prayer rooms banned in Quebec schools | Globalnews.ca

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The order comes after Bernard Drainville said earlier this month that he had learned of at least two Montreal-area schools permitting students to gather for prayer.

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In England, the Church wants to stop the use of the word "church" in hopes of bringing in new people. Instead of using "church", they used communities, congregations, places of worship, and so on. In their study, they showed that many of the new churches around England didn't use the word "church" as part of their name. They believe that using different words will bring people together, instead of scaring them away from the church. Throughout the article, we learn about how the world is adapting to what each religion needs.

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Church of England appears to stop using the word ‘church’ to sound more ‘relevant’: study

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A new study conducted in the UK shows that new “church plants” for the Church of England have avoided the word “church” for the past 10 years or more.

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Global Christianity surges beyond projections in 2024 - Christian Punzalan

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Global Christianity surges beyond projections in 2024 - Christian Punzalan

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The growth in Christianity in Africa and Asia are remarkably higher. The Christianity population has grown from over 2.52 billion up to 2.63 billion and is still expected to grow to 3 billion by 2050. Most of the growth are happening in Africa and Asia. Before in Africa there were under 10 million Christians, but at the turn of the 20th century it has a growing rate of 2.64 percent and has around 734 million Christians. It is said that the population is going to increase significantly by 2050.

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The Refuge Cities Network Team • 08 Sep, 2024

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Global Christianity surges beyond projections in 2024

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The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary recently reported that global Christianity is experiencing remarkable growth, defying expectations and surpassing population rates. Contrary to the anticipated slowdown, the Christian population is projected to climb from over 2.52 billion to 2.63 billion, representing a 1.08 percent growth, and is expected to surpass 3 billion by 2050.

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Appeal Court upholds Quebec law that bars teachers, police from wearing religious symbols - Ali. H

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Appeal Court upholds Quebec law that bars teachers, police from wearing religious symbols - Ali. H

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This article entails a court appeal, launched by a civil liberty group. The court ruled that the bill, Bill 21, will remain in place.

Bill 21 is a racist law that states no one in Quebec is allowed to wear religious apparel while working in the public sector.

“This Quebec law bans people from working as teachers, lawyers, police officers, and more from wearing religious symbols such as crosses, hijabs, turbans and yarmulkes.” (https://ccla.org/major-cases-and-reports/bill-21/).

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Appeal Court upholds Quebec law that bars teachers, police from wearing religious symbols | CBC News

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The law, which has been in place for five years, prevents a number of civil servants — including teachers and police officers — from wearing religious symbols while on the job.

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New Canadians more religious than their natural-born counterparts: study - Ethan Westlake 

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New Canadians more religious than their natural-born counterparts: study - Ethan Westlake 

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New immigrants tend to participate in more religious events then those that have been born in Canada. Those coming to Canada tend to come from Countries where religion is practiced heavily.

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New Canadians more religious than their natural-born counterparts: study

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Many new immigrants to Canada hold deeper religious beliefs than those born in this country, suggests a study by think tank Cardus

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The Mormon Church this week has issued new restrictions on the members of the transgender community such as not allowing transgender people to work with children,becoming priest and becoming teachers. This is very controversial and alot of people are protesting these new rules along with older ones from the past.

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Mormon church issues new restrictions on transgender members

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The new policies include a measure to annotate trans members’ records, grouping them with members who have committed sexual violence or child abuse.

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence-Mya-Rose Walsh

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence-Mya-Rose Walsh

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Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighbouring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps. More than 750,000 Royhingya fled Maynmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

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7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

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(The Conversation) — Hundreds of thousands of minority Muslims fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a government crackdown. Seven years on, they remain in refugee camps.

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I think this citizen is very interesting, but he seems to have forgotten that this is a legal country, and everything is governed by the law. He should not use his religious beliefs to question the law. He believes that God in his heart is not wrong, but he tried to Use this to question the law. The law can tolerate your religious beliefs, but it cannot change the laws of a country.

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I think this citizen is very interesting, but he seems to have forgotten that this is a legal country, and everything is governed by the law. He should not use his religious beliefs to question the law. He believes that God in his heart is not wrong, but he tried to Use this to question the law. The law can tolerate your religious beliefs, but it cannot change the laws of a country.

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Alberta court rejects challenge from law student to Oath of Allegiance to monarchy | Globalnews.ca

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The Edmonton law student, who is an Amritkhari Sikh, said he is only allowed to pledge allegiance to a divine being in the Sikh tradition and not Canada’s monarch.

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The church makes a 2 million dollar donation to daily bread food bank-Ava Boniferro

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The church makes a 2 million dollar donation to daily bread food bank-Ava Boniferro

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In the city of Toronto, they have hit crisis levels which means 1 in 10 people are relying on food banks. The Church of Toronto makes a generous 2 million dollar donation to daily bread food bank.

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THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST MAKES IMPACTFUL $2 MILLION DONATION TO DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK

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/CNW/ - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is stepping forward to help thousands of families facing food insecurity in Toronto, through a generous…

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Immigration is changing the face of religion in Nova Scotia -Kaylee Peterson (CANADA)

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Immigration is changing the face of religion in Nova Scotia -Kaylee Peterson (CANADA)

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In Nova Scotia, immigrant numbers are rising, which has led to growth in religious multiple communities. The number of Muslims has almost doubled recently, and there are now more mosques and community centers to serve them. Sikh and Hindu communities are also growing, with more people attending their places of worship. Traditional Christian churches, including Catholic ones, have seen fewer attendees over time, but the increase in immigrants has helped boost their numbers a bit. Some churches, like Fort Massey United in Halifax, now host services for different religions, such as Muslim prayers.

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Immigration is changing the face of religion in Nova Scotia | CBC News

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The growing number of immigrants coming to Nova Scotia has led to a a dramatic growth in some religious communities.

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A group of Louisiana families filed a federal lawsuit against their state's education department as they believed that the new law of displaying and the requirement of the Ten Commandments in public schools was a radical and unecessary new law. Parents stated that the new law conflicts with their First Amendment right to raise their kids however they want. Overall, parents were upset due to the fact that this new law shows favouritism to one religion and disregarded their own personal beliefs.

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Louisiana parents sue over placing Ten Commandments in schools

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The parents, backed by civil rights groups, contend the new law violates the Establishment Clause, which forbids government from taking any action to establish a state religion.

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation - Lorenzo Dell'Isola

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation - Lorenzo Dell'Isola

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New Census shows atheism is on the rise in Canada. Compared to the 16.5% non-religious in 2001 now around 34.6% of Canadians aren't theist in any way. Christianity declined by from 77.1% to 53.3% of the population. The lack of religious affiliation is found to correlate to age as young people are found to have a much higher chance of being atheist than older people. Contrary to all this decline however Islam and Hinduism are growing numbers.

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More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation, census shows | CBC News

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The latest data from the 2021 census shows the proportion of non-religious Canadians has more than doubled in the past 20 years. One University of Waterloo researcher says shift away from religion is largely a generational one.

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Although there is a wide range of cultures and religions in Canada, Christianity has traditionally been the most common religion. The percentage of Canadians who identify as Christians has decreased from 77% in 2001 to 53.3% in 2021. Though there have been changes in other Christian groups as well, Catholicism continues to be the major denomination. There are noticeable regional differences: British Columbia has the lowest Christian percentage while Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest. The census data is consistent with a larger trend of declining overall Christian identification and rising religious heterogeneity.

Christianity arrived in Canada in the late 1400!

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Canada is a country known for its cultural and religious diversity. It has been and continues to be a chosen destination for millions of immigrants who have their own cultural traditions and religious beliefs.

Since colonial times, Canada has been a predominantly Christian country. Today, Christianity is still the biggest single religion in Canada but fewer people now identify as Christian. That is hardly surprising considering that no less than one hundred religious options were included in the last Canadian census in 2021.

In this article, we explore Christianity in Canada through statistics, including the number of Canadians who identify as Christians, which provinces and territories have the most Christians, and what are the biggest Christian denominations in Canada.

Christianity Statistics for Canadians

Christianity arrived in Canada in the late 1400s.

Over half of the Canadian population identifies as Christian according to the 2021 census.

In the 2001 census, over ¾ of Canadians identified as Christian.

Almost 30% of Canadians identify as Catholic which is the biggest Christian denomination in Canada.

Religious affiliation in Canada has decreased in almost all Christian denominations.

Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest portion of Christians, while British Columbia has the lowest.

Over ¾ of Canadian Christians come from the European ethnic group.

Christianity in Canada

Christianity arrived in Canada in the 1400s. It was first brought to Canada in 1497 when John Cabot, a catholic, landed on Newfoundland and claimed the land for the King of England Henry VII. However, the first Catholic colony in Canada was not founded until over a hundred years later when Samuel de Champlain founded a Catholic colony in Quebec City in 1608.

A few years after the founding of the first Catholic colony, both Catholic and Protestant missionaries began to convert the Indigenous population of Canada to Christianity. By the 1800s, colonial governments were working to establish Indian day schools and residential schools and some Indigenous religious practices were forbidden by the Indian Act. The results of this work are still visible in today's Canada. For example in Nunavut where 73% of the population are Christians and 86% are Indigenous People.

Main Christian Denominations in Canada

Roman Catholicism: largest denomination largely due to the historical French and Irish influences in Canada.

United Church of Canada: a union of Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches in 1925 and the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, known for its liberal theological stance.

Anglican Church of Canada: historically one of the leading denominations of Christianity, largely due to the British heritage, especially in the Atlantic provinces and Ontario.

Baptist: this denomination is made up of the Canadian Baptist Ministries and smaller independent Baptist churches.

Presbyterian Church in Canada: Even though many Presbyterian churches joined the United Church of Canada in 1925, many did not and the Presbyterian Church is still a notable Christian denomination in Canada.

Lutheran: mostly reported as their Christian affiliation by Canadians with German and Scandinavian roots. It has two main branches that are the Lutheran Church-Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

Pentecostal: the Pentecostal Church is known for charismatic worship practices and has seen increasing numbers of affiliated Canadians, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Over Half of Canadians Identify as Christian

The Canadian census has been measuring the religious beliefs of Canadians since 1871. Since then this information has been collected every ten years. The data is used by researchers, governments, and religious organisations to plan programs and to decide where to build churches and other religious buildings. The data also helps to understand the experiences of different religious groups.

The last time the census included questions on religion was in 2021. According to the census results, 19,373,330 Canadians identify as Christians. 10,242,010 of these Canadians were women and 9,131,320 were men.

19.3 million represents 53.3% of the population in Canada. While this means Christianity is still significantly bigger than any other religion in Canada, the portion of Christians is decreasing. In 2011, the proportion of Christians in the Canadian population was 67.3% and in 2001 it was 77.1%.

In contrast, the number of Canadians who have no religious affiliation is growing faster than any religion. Having increased from 16.5% in 2001 to 34.6% in 2021, the proportion of this group has more than doubled in the last 20 years. The proportion of people who identify as Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh has also more than doubled at the same time. In 2021, 4,29% of the population were Muslims (up from 2%), 2,3% were Hindus (up from 1%), and 2.1% were Sikhs (up from 0.9%).

Catholicism is the Largest Christian Denomination in Canada

The biggest Christian denomination in Canada is Catholicism. In 2021, 10.9 million Canadians reported they were Roman Catholic. This represents 29.9% of the Canadian population. The next biggest denomination is Protestants with 4,781,700 Canadians and representing 13.2% of the total population.

Protestants can be divided into several subcategories. The biggest denominations are the United Church of Canada with 1,214,185 people (3.3% of the population), Anglican with 1,134,310 people (3.1% of the population), and Baptist with 436,940 people (1.2% of the population). Just under 2.8 million Canadians reported being Christian but had no specific denomination. The number of Canadians who identify as non-specified Christians has doubled since 2011 and represents 7.6% of the population.

Religious Affiliation Decreased in Most Denominations

Between 2001 and 2021, religious affiliation has decreased in almost all Christian denominations. Other than those who reported being Christian without further specification, all main denominations saw their number decrease between the two censuses. For example, the number of Catholics in the population has dropped from 43.2% in 2001 to 29.9% in 2021. However, between 2011 and 2021, it only fell by 0.1%.

The number of Protestants has more than halved from 27.8% in 2001 to 13.2% in 2021. Out of the Protestant denominations, the bigger denominations saw the biggest decreases. The number of Canadians affiliated with the United Church of Canada fell by almost a third from 9.6% to 3.3%, while Anglican numbers fell from 6.9% to 3.1%.

Pentecostals and Mennonites saw the smallest decreases. In 2001, 1.2% of Canadians were Pentecostal compared to 1.1% in 2021. The portion of Mennonites decreased from 0.6% of the population to 0.4%.

Christianity Across Canada

The proportion of Canadians who report as Christian varies greatly from over 80% to less than 40%. The highest representation of Christians can be found in Newfoundland and Labrador where 82.44% report being Christian. It is followed by Nunavut with 73.53%. The least Christian areas are British Columbia with 34.27% and Yukon with 35.01% of the population. Below are the percentages for all Canadian provinces and territories.

Newfoundland and Labrador - 82.44%

Nunavut 73.53%

Prince Edward Island 67.62%

New Brunswick 67.52%

Quebec 64.82%

Nova Scotia 58.18%

Saskatchewan 56.31%

Manitoba 54.23%

Northwest Territories 55.16%

Ontario 52.14%

Alberta 48.11

Yukon 35.01%

British Columbia 34.27%

Catholicism is the Most Often Reported Religious Affiliation in Most Provinces and Territories

Unsurprisingly, since Catholicism is the most popular Christian denomination in Canada, it is also the most common Christian denomination in all provinces and territories except for Nunavut. Quebec has the largest Catholic representation with 53.8% of the population identified as Catholic. However, the percentage has fallen since 2011 when it was 74.7% of the population in Quebec.

The Atlantic provinces are more likely than average to have people affiliated with the United Church. 12.1% of the population in Newfoundland and Labrador, 9.7% in Prince Edward Island, and 7.5% in Nova Scotia report an affiliation with the United Church compared to 3.3% nationally. Saskatchewan also has a higher-than-average proportion at 7.4%.

Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador have significantly higher portions of people affiliated with the Anglican religion than the Canadian average of 3.1%. In Nunavut, 39.1% of the population reported as Anglican, while in Newfoundland and Labrador it was 21.5%.

Ontario and British Columbia Have the Highest Portions of People With Non-Christian Religious Affiliations

Ontario and British Columbia, with the most diverse populations, have the largest proportions of people who report other religious affiliations than Christianity. In Ontario, 16.3% of the population reported a non-Christian religious affiliation, the highest in the country. Ontario had a higher-than-average representation of Muslims and Hindus at 6.7% and 4.1%.

In British Columbia, 13.7% of the population reported different religious affiliation. In particular, British Columbia had the highest proportion of Sikhs at 5.9% of the population.

Canadians living in large urban centres were more likely to report a non-Christian religion than those living in small towns or rural areas. In urban centres, 15.4% of people had another religious affiliation compared to just 3.2% in small urban centres of 2.2% in rural areas.

Canadians with European Heritage Are the Most Likely Ethnic Group to Be Christian

The vast majority of Canadians who identify as Christian have European roots. 14,908,365 Canadian Christians have European roots. This is 76.95% of the total number of Canadians who are Christians. The next biggest groups are Africans with 5.52%, Filipinos with 4.64%, and Indigenous People with 4.39%.

In the last 20 years, the number of Christians with European roots has fallen from over 20 million to just under 15 million. In 2001, this group represented 88.87% of all Christians, which means their portion has fallen by over 10 percentage points.

In contrast, most other ethnic groups have increased in numbers. Some of the biggest increases have been seen among African Christians where numbers increased from 523,715 to 1,068,800, Filipino Christians from 300,025 to 898,050, Latin American Christians from 193,440 to 427, 065, and multiracial Christians from 39,395 to 147,375.

Conclusion

The religious landscape of Canada is continuously evolving and while Christianity remains the most common religion in Canada, its portion of the population has decreased, while the portions of non-religious Canadians and some other religions have grown.

The fact that the portion of Canadians who identify as Christians has decreased reflects the diverse range of people the Canadian population is made of. It is a testament to Canadians' freedom to practice any religion they choose or none at all.

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Christianity Statistics in Canada | Made in CA

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Canada is a country known for its cultural and religious diversity. It has been and continues to be a chosen destination for millions of immigrants who have their own cultural traditions and religious beliefs. Since colonial times, Canada has been a predominantly Christian country. Today, Christianity is still the biggest single religion in Canada but [...]

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World Religious News: "Texas woman accused of attempting to drown Muslim children"- NBC

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World Religious News: "Texas woman accused of attempting to drown Muslim children"- NBC

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This is a global news video about a woman in Texas who walked up to a Muslim family and then proceeded to try and drown the children of the family. Afterwards, she was seen and heard making Islamophobic comments and remarks to the general public. The Muslim community of Texas has requested that this be investigated as a hate crime, also acknowledging that Texas’ growing muslim population is now in fear.

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Texas woman accused of attempting to drown Muslim children

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Activists are calling for a federal hate crime investigation of a Texas woman already charged with attempted murder after allegedly attempting to drown two Muslim children. KXAS’ Keenan Willard reports.

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Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: ‘It’s the curriculum of our life’ - Christian Punzalan

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Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: ‘It’s the curriculum of our life’ - Christian Punzalan

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Ushpreet Singh arrived in Canada in 2020, and when he came he found that they didn't have a place of worship for Sikhs (gurdwara). Singh tried to make one himself for all Sikh families. After 20 years, they raised 6,000 dollars which wasn't enough for a gurdwara. After another year, there is now a gurdwara home to 300-400 Sikhs. Now in Canada, Sikhism is 1.4 percent of Canada which is a 0.6 percent increase from 2001. Singh quotes "It's a way of life" which is why once he arrived to Canada, having a gurdwara was unthinkable. Eventually, the group was able to rent a warehouse for 3,500 per month.

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When Ushpreet Singh arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, in late 2020, he was dismayed to find that the town of 33,000 people did not have a gurdwara - a place of worship for Sikhs like him.

At the time, there were about a dozen Sikh families in Whitehorse and a makeshift Sikh committee, but no meeting place.

So Singh set about trying to establish one himself.

"I asked where all the paperwork was and when I saw it, the total donation was $6,000 in 20 years," the 23-year-old tells Global News.

"It was not enough to establish a temple, it was not enough for anything. I was really upset; this money couldn't help us. And no one wanted to help."

One year and one monumental fundraising campaign later, Whitehorse is now home to a gurdwara for a Sikh community that now numbers between 300 and 400 people.

Singh is one of many new immigrants fuelling religious growth among minority groups in Canada.

As Christian religiosity falls to unprecedented levels (just 68 per cent reported a religious affiliation in Canada in 2019, according to new StatCan data), minority religions such as Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism continue to thrive, fuelled by immigration.

In fact, by 2036, StatCan predicts that the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double.
In response, Global News has spent the past two months speaking to members of religious communities across the country and looking at historical data to determine why this is happening. This is the part two of that series.
Sikhism, which is both an ethnic group and religion, now represents 1.4 per cent of all Canadians. That number is up from 0.9 per cent in 2001 and 0.7 per cent in 1996. According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, there are now approximately 500,000 Sikhs living in the country.

The religion, founded in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century, is built on three core tenets: devotion to God, truthful living and service to humanity. Men are identifiable by their turban, or dastar, worn to keep their hair, which should be unshaven, clean.

It is a "way of life," Singh says. So when he moved to Whitehorse for work from Toronto due to spiralling living costs, not having a gurdwara was unthinkable.

Singh, helped by a workmate, set about talking to Punjabi news channels across the country to appeal for donations.

Eventually, with money raised from various communities across the country, the group had enough to rent a warehouse for $3,500 per month.

Singh flew to Vancouver to escort the Granth Sahib, the sacred scripture of Sikhism, on its 34-hour drive to its new home, and became the gurdwara's new preacher.

By November 2021, the Whitehorse Sikh community had raised enough money to buy a permanent space for their gurdwara. Singh estimates they've spent close to $1 million on purchasing and renovating the building. It underlines the importance the community puts on maintaining their faith, despite being far from home.

"You cannot make a temple with just money, you need dedication. And without love or without dedication, religion is useless," Singh says.

The Sikh community in Whitehorse is now growing "day by day," he says. The gurdwara has become central to the community, where homeless people, of any religion, can come for a meal or for shelter. A Sikh service culminates in a shared meal.

The gurdwara is considered much more than just a place of worship, which is why COVID-19 hit the Sikh community hard.

On a Sunday afternoon in early December 2021, the Gursikh Sabha Canada in Scarborough, Toronto, is bustling. People move from room to room, listening to music performed by preachers flown in from India, while downstairs in the kitchen, small groups eat from metal plates on the floor.

"Whenever you have a crisis, it brings people together, it brings people back home," says Gobinder Randhawa, a Sikh immigrant from India and former Ontario Sikhs and Gurdwara Council president.

Randhawa arrived in Toronto in 1972, when men wearing turbans were an uncommon sight. He applied for a job with the TTC, Toronto's public transit agency, and was met with confusion over its dress code.

"They asked me, 'Well, what will you do with your turban?' I said, 'Well, I have kept it on for this long, I will keep it on,'" he recalls.

"I told them, 'Listen, do you want to hire someone who you can trust?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'This is my religion. This is what I believe in. If I give up my religion, I give up my principles just to have a job. Would you trust me?' He said, 'No.' I said, 'Then, what's your problem?"

Randhawa says the TTC changed the uniform code to accommodate him. He worked there for 31 years.

All the while, the gurdwara was his place of "strength" in a community where "people look at us like, 'This guy looks different.'"

But Randhawa says it was important to understand that Sikhs were important contributors to society - and thus, their religion plays an important role in 2022. For instance, Sikhism dictates that 10 per cent of earnings should be given to philanthropy.

"Our community is like one family. But it also doesn't matter what religion you are. We'll burn our house to give heat to our neighbour," Randhawa says.

Balpreet Singh Boparai, of the World Sikh Organization, says the community in Canada is being bolstered by a steady influx of young international students. For Sikhs, he says, Canada is the "top choice" for immigration.

"And the first thing people do once they arrive in a community is go and find their nearest gurdwara," he says.

Between 1971 and 2011, immigration exploded in Canada, after the revising of the Immigration Act in 1976.

According to historic StatsCan data, in those four decades, 711,400 Muslims moved to Canada, as did 243,740 Buddhists, 340,875 Hindus, 71,448 Jews and 274,955 Sikhs. At the same time, most Christian denominations were in a state of steady decline after peaking in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nowadays, these minority religions are at the point of surpassing once major religions in Canada (Muslims account for 3.7 per cent of Canadians, while the United and Anglican churches account for 3.8 per cent). And they're predominantly made up of immigrants.

Those born outside Canada were more likely than those born in Canada to report being Muslim (12 per cent versus one per cent), Hindu (six per cent versus 0.3 per cent), Sikh (four per cent versus 0.6 per cent), according to StatsCan.

They were also more likely to participate in a group religious activity at least once a month (36 per cent versus 19 per cent) or on their own at least once a week (42 per cent versus 28 per cent).

Younger immigrants were also more likely to be religious. People born outside Canada between 1980 and 1999 were more likely (71 per cent) than those born in Canada (59 per cent) to report having a religious affiliation. Among people born between 1940 and 1959, there was little difference.

But that hasn't meant that safeguarding the future is easy.

Boparai says while affiliation may be high in younger generations, the second generation does not have the same interest in managing the gurdwaras.

"There hasn't been a passing of the reins to the second generation as there has been in the past. They don't have the same interest.

"One gurdwara tried to hand over to a younger youth group and that lasted a little while and that failed and they were asked to hand over control again."

According to StatCan projections for Canada, by the year 2036, the number of people affiliated with non-Christian religions could almost double, to make up between 13 per cent and 16 per cent of Canada's population, compared with nine per cent in 2011.

The Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths, in particular, "would see the number of their followers grow more quickly," due to being "over-represented among immigrants compared to their demographic weight in the population as a whole."

Abdie Kazemipur, a University of Calgary sociologist and the chair in ethnic studies, says the numbers reflect the fact that immigrants to Canada are coming from less developed, more religious countries. New immigrants then seek out places of worship as a way to connect with others.

"A lot of immigrants have gone to these religious communities in search of those lost connections that they had back in their countries of origin. And what is interesting here is that some of these, not very many, but some of these people are people that are not necessarily religious themselves," Kazemipur says.

"Most of the studies that have been done recently, on Christianity even, show that most of the vitality in terms of religion is coming from the immigrant community, not necessarily the native-born population."

He says this was particularly true for the Muslim community, who also had to deal with rising levels of Islamophobia and a "misperception" that Muslims have a stronger attachment to their faith.

"That perception has created an intellectual environment in which every time that someone wants to encounter a Muslim or wants to learn something, they think that they have to start from religion.

"All these other socio-demographic, socio-economic factors that are so powerfully present in everybody else's lives, it seems in this perception that they are not relevant for Muslims."

Because Muslim people were so frequently being asked about their faith, it also meant that those who were more loosely associated with it were more likely to go and learn about it, which also boosted religiosity, Kazemipur says.

Islam is now the largest non-Christian religious group and the fastest-growing religion in Canada, accounting for 3.7 per cent of Canadians. That's up from 1.5 per cent in 2001 and 1.1 per cent in 1996.

Unlike churches nearby that sit nearly empty during weekend services, on a Friday at noon in mid-December 2021, Masjid Toronto is overflowing with people. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, people now have to book online for a space - which is especially important for Friday's Jumah prayer, the most important of the week and the one men are required to attend.

Men in thobes and women in hijabs jostle for space in their respective rooms as the call to prayer sounds. The imam reiterates how important it is to book online, saying he's turning people away when the mosque reaches capacity.

Afterwards, Rania Lawendy, national director of the Muslim Association of Canada, tells Global News there simply aren't enough mosques to accommodate the city's growing Muslim population. Religion "plays a huge role" in everyday life for Muslims, she says, and that hasn't changed in the face of modern life.

"Islam is a way of life. And that's not just a statement, it really does encompass everything. It encompasses our resilience, our understanding of justice and our understanding of really being of benefit to others. It's not just worship, but it's your dealings, so your dealings with your neighbours and how you are at work," Lawendy says.

"Religiosity doesn't just encompass going to the mosque and praying, but how are you in your everyday life? How are you with other people? What is your integrity? What do you feel your purpose is and are you a benefit, not only to Muslims, but to all of Canadian society."

Tragedies such as the London attack, when a Muslim family was killed, have hit the community hard, she says. But faith has "kept us resilient."

"When something bad happens, it's perceived as a test and people are rewarded for it. So our viewpoint of things like the pandemic are very different," she says.

"It's almost like if you didn't have your faith, what a miserable life you would have."

Lawendy herself is a testament to that. She says her faith helped her through the toughest period of her life: when she was 25 and she lost her second child, her father and had a miscarriage all within six months.

"They brought me like a psychiatrist. And I'm like, 'What is this for? And they're looking at my record saying, 'You can't be OK. You're 25 years old.' And I was like, 'No, I'm OK.' And I really was OK."

That resilience, and the mosque community, helps new immigrants find their way in a new country, she says.

Syrian immigrant Asmaa Ghadban, who moved to Vancouver Island from Jordan in late 2019 as a refugee, says when she and her family first arrived, their Christian sponsors accompanied them to the mosque and continued to do so for several weeks.

Her eldest daughter, who wears a hijab, was worried about attending school. But the school was accommodating.

"When I registered my kids, I told the principal and the office there my girls will pray. They told me, 'OK, don't worry, we will make them a special place or we will get them a room,'" Ghadban says.

Her three children now go to the mosque three times per week and learn Arabic.

"Religion is the curriculum of our life," she says.

"I started growing those seeds in the heart of my kids, because maybe in the future, they will remember that."

Kazemipur says because Islam provides a framework for how life should be lived, there's "more room for religion" in Muslims' everyday lives.

The community had also become more tight-knit than perhaps they would have been in their home countries due to a rise in Islamophobia after 9/11.

"(Muslims) have become more alert to the fact that religion is playing such a big role in their lives, and in the minds of people who are viewing them," he says.

Tina Aseffa, from Ethiopia, converted to Islam while at university in Hamilton studying for a bachelor of science. She'd been raised Catholic, courtesy of her half-Italian mother, but her sister had grown interested in the key tenets of Islam and while initially against it, Aseffa then found herself identifying with it too.

"There came a time when I felt like I'd be living a lie. And you can lie to people, but how could you lie to yourself?"

The conversion caused ructions in her family and left her not speaking to her mother or father for two years. But the Muslim community stepped in to fill the void, teaching her Arabic, introducing her to friends and even helping to pay her rent.

While she admits that she's experienced plenty of Islamophobia - she's been insulted on the street, yelled at to "go back to where you came from," targeted for searches at airports, even insulted by a store worker while buying her very first skirt the weekend she converted - she says she's never looked back.

"Is there discrimination? Yes. Is there Islamophobia? Yes. Do I feel targeted at times? Yes. But at the same time, there's the halal storage, there's the schools, there's the mosques.

"Canada has allowed me to live my Islamic life."

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Islam, Sikhism and why immigration drives religion in Canada: 'It's the curriculum of our life' - National | Globalnews.ca

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When Ushpreet Singh arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, in late 2020, he was dismayed to find that the town of 33,000 people did not have a gurdwara - a place of worship for Sikhs like him. At the time, there were about a dozen Sikh families in Whitehorse and a makeshift Sikh committee, but no meeting place.

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This is a change in the church's treatment of transgender people. They classify transgender people as (so-called heterogeneous people). I feel that transgender people do disrespect religious traditions in certain situations.But as long as they are not harming others, I think they can still be treated equally.

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This is a change in the church's treatment of transgender people. They classify transgender people as (so-called heterogeneous people). I feel that transgender people do disrespect religious traditions in certain situations.But as long as they are not harming others, I think they can still be treated equally.

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Mormon church issues new restrictions on transgender members

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The new policies include a measure to annotate trans members’ records, grouping them with members who have committed sexual violence or child abuse.

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Pope Francis’ Mass in East Timor draws 600,000 people, nearly half the population - Ethan Westlake

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Pope Francis’ Mass in East Timor draws 600,000 people, nearly half the population - Ethan Westlake

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Pope Francis is the second pope to visit the people of Timor. Since Pope John Paul II prayed in East Timor over 35 years ago during Timor fight for independence from Indonesia. Pope Francis' mass brought in over 600,000 people which was half the population.

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NINIEK KARMINI, HELENA ALVES and NICOLE WINFIELD

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Pope Francis’ Mass in East Timor draws 600,000 people, nearly half the population

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The Vatican says some 600,000 people have attended Pope Francis’ Mass in East Timor, or nearly half the country’s population.

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Before everyone gathers in the House of Commons, they say a prayer. Now, party leaders want to replace the prayer with a moment of silent reflection. This is due to not everyone believing in a higher power, and wanting to respect their beliefs. When the prayer was made many years ago, it was believed that all Canadians were christian. Studies have shown that just under 30% of Canadian participate in religious activities. This article was written in 2022, but it is still very relevant to our recent religious demands.

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Is it time to replace the House of Commons opening prayer? Yes, says new Bloc motion | Globalnews.ca

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‘All Canadians are Christians,’ the Bloc MP quoted Sir John A. Macdonald as saying when the latter first proposed an opening prayer in 1877.

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Louisiana becomes first state to require Ten Commandments display in classrooms- Arielle

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Louisiana becomes first state to require Ten Commandments display in classrooms- Arielle

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Louisiana has passed a bill for every classroom to have a readable, poster sized Ten Commandments by 2025. Every public school from kindergarten to state funded university's now legally have to have them up. People are fighting back saying the Government should not be affiliating with a certain religion and it is not there place to enforce this. It is said that there will be legal action taken against this bill, like a lawsuit. This article was posted on June 19, 2024 by Sara Cline.

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Louisiana becomes 1st state to require Ten Commandments displays in classrooms - National | Globalnews.ca

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The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font" be required in all public classrooms.

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cricketers aim to hit religious difference for six -muahamd 

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cricketers aim to hit religious difference for six -muahamd 

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2n8n0m309o

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statement by minister khera on imamat day - muhamad 

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statement by minister khera on imamat day - muhamad 

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https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/statement-by-minister-khera-on-imamat-day-890456421.html