Changing Patterns of Attendance at Religious Services in Canada, 1986-2008

According to the General Social Survey, the combined rate of weekly and monthly attendance at religious services in Canada has declined by about 20 points from 1986 to 2008. Approximately half of this decline stems from the increase in the proportion of people reporting no religion, who, for the mos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal for the scientific study of religion Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 187 - 200
Main Author Eagle, David E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.03.2011
Wiley Subscription Services
Wiley
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Attendance
Canada
Catholicism
Catholics
Censuses
Christianity
Church attendance
Church membership
Contemporary period
General subjects
History and sciences of religions
Islam
Judaism
Measurement
Methodology (Data Collection)
Polls & surveys
Protestantism
Protestants
Quebec
Religion
Religions
religious attendance
Religious behaviour
Religious identity
Religious participation
Religious practice
Response rates
secularization
Services
Social change
Social surveys
Sociological studies
Term weighting
trends
Weighting
Canada
Quebec Canada
Religious alienation
Participation
Sociology of religion
Secularization
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01559.x

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Summary:According to the General Social Survey, the combined rate of weekly and monthly attendance at religious services in Canada has declined by about 20 points from 1986 to 2008. Approximately half of this decline stems from the increase in the proportion of people reporting no religion, who, for the most part, do not attend religious services. The other portion of this decline is attributable to eroding attendance rates among Catholics, particularly older Catholics, and Protestants in Québec. Attendance rates for Protestants outside of Québec show signs of increase. The reported increase in weekly attendance in Canada by the Project Canada surveys and cited by Bibby as a possible indicator of a religious renaissance is revealed as an artifact in the data due to an oversample of Protestants. I find another weighting problem in the Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating that leads to underestimates of aggregate religious attendance rates.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-00XH33WM-4
ArticleID:JSSR1559
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ISSN:0021-8294
1468-5906
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01559.x