Saturday, June 28, 2008

It looks like I'll have lots of company in Hell...

...including almost 25% of my countryfolk:
Fewer than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god, suggests a new Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey.

"Religion in Canada today is not a particularly divisive subject and tolerance levels for different beliefs are high," said Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson. "This is evident in the fact that one in four people feel comfortable saying they do not believe in a god."

The poll found 72 per cent of respondents said they believed in a god, while 23 per cent said they did not believe in any god. Six per cent did not offer an opinion.

Results may not total 100 per cent because of rounding.

Polls have told a different story in the United States.

"Canada's secularism stands in clearer distinction, when compared to the cultural and political influences of religion in the United States," said Anderson. "In one Harris Interactive study in the United States, conducted in 2007, the number who said they were non-believers was only eight per cent."

From here, via babble. Other highlights:

- Women (76 per cent) were more likely than men (67 per cent) to say they believed in a god.

- Canadians over the age of 50 (82 per cent) were far more likely than those under the age of 25 (60 per cent) to say they believed in a god. More than one in three (36 per cent) of those under the age of 25 said they did not believe in any god.

- English Canadians (73 per cent) were more likely than French Canadians (67 per cent) to say they believed in a god.

- Belief in a god is higher in rural Canada (76 per cent) than in urban Canada (69 per cent).

None of these particularly surprise me, except maybe the fact that women are more likely to believe than men. Interesting that more than a third of under 25s are nonbelievers, though.

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