Kelowna one of the most godless places in the world

[Hmmm]

Where is Think Tank when you need him?

[OREZ]

In a poll, I wonder how many people who believe and have faith in God and maybe even study some sort of spiritual text would answer "no" to the question, "are you a religious person?" or, "do you belong to a religious organization?"

My answer would be no.

[Glacier]

In a poll, I wonder how many people who believe and have faith in God and maybe even study some sort of spiritual text would answer "no" to the question, "are you a religious person?" or, "do you belong to a religious organization?"

My answer would be no.

The data basically shows trends (Canada is becoming less religious over time), but it does not differentiate between say cultural Christians and spiritual Christians. Even though Quebec is considered quite secular and non-religious, the data shows that Quebec is far more Christian than any province west of there. This is because the Census does not differentiate between "nominal" Catholics and "practicing" Catholics.

Here is a graph showing all the ridings in Canada with party support on the vertical axis and "no religious affiliation" on the horizontal axis. Bearing in mind that correlation does not imply causation, the graph shows that "less religious" ridings have stronger Conservative support. This is is in part because the two least religious provinces (BC and Alberta) are much more friendly toward the Conservatives than the more Christian Atlantic provinces.

ETA: I've labelled Kelowna - Lake Country on the map.

[WeatherWoman]

you left out a few...Wiccan, Taoism, Shintoism....

[Glacier]

you left out a few...Wiccan, Taoism, Shintoism....

That would fall under "other." The statscan data doesn't list those, so I skipped them too.

[WeatherWoman]

If stats Canada jumped off a bridge would you?

[Glacier]

If stats Canada jumped off a bridge would you?

Hell ya!

[cliffy1]

Just because someone does not have a religious affiliation, doesn't mean they do not believe in some form of divine entity or some form of higher intelligence. God is a religious concept. If some higher consciousness did create the Universe, and we live on a tiny, insignificant planet in the middle of nowhere, why would such an entity care about us, what we think or what we believe? It is a massive ego trip to even think that is possible. Anyway, religion has nothing to do with god, gods/goddesses. Religion is there to allow insecure people think they have some significance.

"And Man created God in his own image" - Mark Twain.

[JayByrd]

The childish and the affluent have no need of God. No shortage of those here.

[Rosieodonell]

I personally am not a fan of the term cultural Christian and spiritual Christian. If you don't keep the holy day sabath I think for the most parts you can't call yourself a Christian. Non-religious just means not following a religion... buhdist, a diedist, anti-theist atheist, agnostic atheist, etc.....

Christianity stole/borrowed a lot of good things/traditions/rules from pagan societies and other religions. I was raised Catholic and I am an Atheist. But I still celebrate Christmas (tree, gift, Santa, family getting together, big turkey).

I personally hope that Christianity drops the actual belief that a supreme being created the universe and keep following the good rules from the ancient text. Especially the Christians that need it because they feel they would have no morals without it. I think the biggest hurdle for most religions is the access of information and the ability of people with like minds to talk to each others.

In the past you would have someone that didn't believe in a god and was unable to meet up with others that felt the same way. The internet and a more global world connection has dropped that hurdle and it is showing that a non-religious affiliation is growing.

[OREZ]

The way in which the poll from this thread compares to the stascan poll illustrates the problem with polls in general. So many things can skew poll results. The origin of the source data, wording of questions, etc.

However, what I find interesting about it is not so much what it says about Kelowna as what is tells me about the Castanet forum, specifically the Religion and Spirituality Forum. When I joined the Castanet forum it was said to be a kind of "online town hall meeting" of sorts and I assumed that it would in fact be a fairly reasonable cross section of the community in which I lived. I liked the idea of being able to gauge local interests and opinions and engage in conversation in that context. I can see from my own observations over the years and by the poll results here that the make-up of the forum is not really representative of the population - which no longer surprises me btw. We all know that Kelowna has more than 0% Catholics for instance.

Even though your post (based on statscan data) says that Kelowna is one of the most godless places in the world, we can see by the results of the Castanet poll that it's not nearly as "godless" as the forum seems to be.

Having lived here since the 60's and been a forum member since 2006 my observation is that Kelowna isn't as right-wing politically, nor as atheist spiritually, nor as redneck socially as one might assume from reading the Castanet forum. Granted, it may be more so than many other cities in Canada, but not as extreme as this forum would suggest.

[Glacier]

You make some interesting observations, and I agree. I've looked at other forums bigger than Castanet in the States, and surprisingly, the vast majority of people in the "religion" section are atheists, When you look at the "politics" section you see a right-wing bias, though not as biased as the "religion" section is against "religion." Interestingly, there is very little overlap between these two sections because the "anti-religion" crowd has no interest in politics, and the "political" crowd has no interest in religion. There are of course exceptions to the rule, but I think the same trends exist on Castanet. You are probably one of the few posters who engages both spheres in any sort of earnesty.

You are right on the money about polling a forum section on Castanet doesn't reflect the general audience, which is why polling firms don't like doing online polls.

[Rosieodonell]

I like to think I dabble in all the areas, politics and religion alike.

I think you find a lot of "anti-religious" people in the spiritual area because they are always seeking more info. I love learning about all the different religions and myths. I will admit the right wings are the loudest on the politics side. non-religous people for the most part are always seeking answers. They just don't blindly follow what they were told when they were a child.

I have always said if someone can show me demonstrative, quantitative results then I would change my mind in a heart beat and jump on the religious band wagon.

Also I saw other stats in the states and Catholism is actually the only religious group that is gaining new members (but that's the states).

[JayByrd]

I will admit the right wings are the loudest on the politics side. non-religous people for the most part are always seeking answers. They just don't blindly follow what they were told when they were a child.

I have always said if someone can show me demonstrative, quantitative results then I would change my mind in a heart beat and jump on the religious band wagon.

Also I saw other stats in the states and Catholism is actually the only religious group that is gaining new members (but that's the states).

Not every person of faith was taught about God and the Bible as a child, and not all are following blindly. Beliefs and relationships with one's Higher Power evolve, ebb, and flow. There are many different faith journeys. And most certainly, faith and religion are often not the same thing. Though one can have both, of course.

The fact that you are waiting for quantitative proof of God's existence is understandable. I would ask though, do you believe in love? And if you do, did that come about from proof that was demonstrated to you? Or is it something you just feel, and know is within you? I'm sure you can see the point I'm trying to make here.

Immigration is the primary reason that numbers in the Catholic church, in North America, are steady. That's what I've heard, anyways.

[Glacier]

There are two reasons why people frequent a topic:
1) Because they are genuinely curious about exploring another perspective.
2) Because they want to tell others how stupid and brainwashed they are for believing what they do.

#2 is far more common on Castanet. For example, I once did a graph showing who had the most posts in the Conspiracy Theories section, and wouldn't you know it, the likes of Nebula and AlanH had the most posts.These people had no interest in converting, and neither did I for that matter. It goes both ways because the Conspiracy Theorists have no interest in de-converting, and this is irrespective of whether or not they have the truth on their side. Sometimes the antagonistic side has the truth on their side, and sometimes it does not. But I digress...

It is interesting how Canada becomes more "Christian" as you move east while the USA becomes more "Christian" as you move to the centre and south. Atlantic Canada is far more Christian than the Northeast USA. Anyway, here are some very interesting stats. Take in mind that this is the change in just 10 years.

The growth and decline of religious numbers Religions by percentage increase:

Muslim: 72.53
Hindu: 67.68
No religion: 63.68
Sikh: 63.43
Buddhist: 22.14
Christian Orthodox: 14.82
Jewish: -0.15
Roman Catholic: -0.5
Anglican: -19.83
United: -29.29

Religions by median age:

United Church: 52.3
Anglican: 51.1
Roman Catholic: 42.9
Hindu: 34.2
Sikh: 32.8
No religion: 32.7
Muslim: 28.9

Secular Canada

Key numbers:

23.9: Percentage of Canadian population declaring no religious affiliation.
16.5: Percentage of Canadian population declaring no religious affiliation in 2001.
48,675: Atheists in Canada
36,285: Agnostics in Canada
About one-fifth of all immigrants in the last decade had no religious affiliation, according to Statistics Canada. The top source? China.
So is religion on the decline in Canada? Experts say no.

This one is for WeatherWoman...

The smallest of the religions in Canada

Mission de l’Esprit Saint: 515
Grace Communion International: 605
Swedenborgian: 830
Satanist: 1,050
Rastafarian: 1,055
Scientologist: 1,745
Jain: 3,320
Humanist: 3,455
Spiritualist: 4,315

How Statistics Canada defined religion

"Religion refers to the person’s self-identification as having a connection or affiliation with any religious denomination group body sect cult or other religiously defined community or system of belief. Religion is not limited to formal membership in a religious organization or group. Persons without a religious connection or affiliation can self-identify as atheist agnostic or humanist or can provide another applicable response."