The second argument is somewhat different. It does not argue that we are legally or constitutionally a Christian country, but rather that since the majority of Canadians are Christians, we have the power to direct the laws and the direction of the nation through the political and democratic processes.

Case in point, the 2021 national census showed 53 percent of Canadians identified as Christian. This, it is argued, demonstrates that all we need to do to shift the nation is mobilize Christians and then we will win every public policy debate and overwhelm the minority at the ballot box. “The church is a sleeping giant”, they say. “We just need to wake up, get involved, and take back our country.” 

In my book, “To Shift a Nation”, I argue that even if this were true and Christians did comprise the demographic majority in Canada, using this majority to impose Christianity on others would be the wrong approach. 

“Christians who want to change the country by imposing change upon the rest of the population fail to understand that what they’re proposing is neither desirable nor possible. It’s misguided and dangerous to the stability of civil society and to the health of the church. It will not yield the kind of fruit we want to see.

“Change can be promoted at the political level and the public policy level. But we must understand that this kind of change must always be preceded by change at the grassroots level. Only then will the change be constructive and sustainable. Organic and incremental change is the key to shifting the nation.”

But the fact that imposing change on the nation is the wrong approach is only one reason why I disagree with the argument. The other is that contrary to what the 2021 census said, the majority of Canadians are not Christians.

The 2021 census told us that 53 percent of Canadians identified as belonging to the Christian faith. In 2011 that number was 67 percent and ten years before that it was 77 percent. It’s clear that whatever the number represents, it is in freefall. 

However, to get a clearer picture of what the 53 percent actually represents, we should consider the findings of a 2024 Cardus research paper entitled, “Still Christian (?)”. Cardus, in collaboration with the Angus Reid Institute, conducted a survey in February 2024 to find out what Canadians who identify as Evangelical, Catholic, and mainline Protestant believe – basically all those who fall under the umbrella of “Christian”. The survey found that only 36 percent of those who identified as Christian were either privately faithful or religiously committed. The rest were either “spiritually uncertain” or “non-religious”.

This suggests that only 19 percent of Canadians are active Christians, either privately or publicly. And if we just consider those who fall in the category of “religiously committed”, the total number of Christians drops to 9 percent. 

But it gets worse. Out of that 9 percent, one quarter agreed with the statement, “All religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, are equally true” and only two-thirds agreed that Jesus was God. This means of all those who claimed to be Christian on their 2021 census form, only about 6 percent of them are truly biblically Christian in their beliefs.

These numbers tell us the real story. As I write in my book: 

“Canada has shifted. We can no longer consider ourselves a Christian nation. The truth is, we never were a Christian nation, but it may have seemed like we were because Christianity had state preference in Canada. Now we are just another minority voice. We no longer have the voice or the influence we once did.”

There is a popular narrative in Christian circles that we have the power to force political or societal change simply because of our numbers when the fact is, we don’t have the numbers. And as I already said, even if we did, this would be the wrong approach. 

It is time for the church in Canada to acknowledge that we live in a post-Christian society. We may have scriptures on the Parliament buildings and God mentioned in our Constitution, but these do not make us a Christian nation nor supply us with what we need to shift the nation. 

“The idea that Christians must compel society to conform to our standards and moral obligations is contrary to the heart of the gospel. And if we bring this attitude into the public square, we do more harm than good.

“God is deeply invested in freedom of choice. His primary strategy for change is that which happens from the bottom up and from the heart out. While he could impose righteousness on a nation in a heartbeat, he does not. He’s after the hearts of men and women.” And our engagement in the public square should reflect this priority.”

Being involved in the public square is an imperative for Christians. We have been given an opportunity to be salt and light and make our nation a better place for everyone. But if we are going to be effective, we need to understand that our influence is bottom up, not top down. 

If you have not purchased a copy of my book, “To Shift a Nation: How the Body of Christ can effectively promote change in Canada”, I encourage you to do so. If can be ordered off of my website at www.toshiftanation.ca or directly from Amazon at https://www.amazon.ca/Shift-Nation-Christ-Effectively-Promote/dp/1486624901/. 

If you know someone who might benefit from a copy, consider sending them to the website to check it out, or gifting them one off of Amazon.

If you have read the book and have not yet left a review, they are very valuable and can be left here (even if you didn’t buy your copy off of Amazon): https://www.amazon.ca/review/create-review/?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=1486624901 

I purchased [your] book recently, and am reading. Thank you for keeping it under 200 pages for those whose time is precious.

I find on page xii of the Introduction that I must take issue with the statement “The truth is, we never were a Christian nation….”

This is a lie from the devil. Our Foundational Documents clearly point this out. Magna Carta. Coronation Oath. Bill of Rights.

According to the last living signer of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, former Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Brian Peckford, the FACT that we were established as a Christian Nation was clear to all the signers of that document.

Because we are, like the United States, founded and established as Christian Nations, does not equivocate that every person living or bearing citizenship MUST be Christian, but only that our fundamental rights, freedoms and responsibility are Biblically-based. God’s laws are just and right, and to take away this heritage from our children has ever been the desire of godless and self-worshiping heathen and communists.

We must stop believing the lies sold us by Fabian Socialism in our Public Indoctrination Centres (ie public schools) and correct this false information if ever we are to live again in a just and reasonable society.

– A reader (left unnamed to protect their identity)

The understanding and perspective of this reader is understandable and not uncommon. I have heard this and similar arguments many times and there is some truth to it. However, it also embodies a significant error because it fails to distinguish between history and legality. Historically, it is true that Canada was a “Christian” nation. An 1861 census showed that 97 percent of Canadians considered themselves Christian. Furthermore, it is also true that this widespread Christian faith was reflected in some of our founding documents.

But here’s the problem: Too many Christians believe that this fact somehow gives us the “right” to claim that there is some kind of legal or constitutional obligation on the country to return to those roots. This is simply wrong and fosters a militant approach to “taking back” what Christians mistakenly feel has been taken from them.

So what is the correct answer to the question: Is Canada a Christian nation? Here’s how I responded to the reader who emailed me:

Thank you for purchasing the book and taking the time to send me your feedback. I understand the point you are making and completely agree with you that Canada was founded on Christian principles and that many of our founding documents reflect this reality. Many of the Fathers of Confederation were Christian, and the vast majority of Canadians identified as Christians. This is a significant part of our heritage which must be acknowledged and preserved.

However, the distinction I am making in the book is that despite the fact that Christian influences were undeniably strong in Canada’s founding and early history, and some of our national documents do reference the supremacy of God, this doesn’t equate to Canada being founded as an officially Christian nation in the sense of having Christianity as a state religion.

This may seem like a nuanced distinction, but it is important. The influence that Christianity had on Canada at its founding was not due to the imposition of Christianity on Canadian citizens, but rather it was the result of the broad-based acceptance of Christianity and recognition of the supremacy of God by the vast majority of Canada’s citizenry and leaders. In other words, because the majority of people believed in God and identified as Christians, the constitution, laws, judicial system and societal norms reflected this fact. It was not the other way around.

This is the very heart of the message of my book, “To Shift a Nation”. Canada did not demonstrate Christian values because the laws and the leaders imposed these values, but rather the laws reflected these values because the values were already held by society. Today, those values are no longer held by the majority of Canadians and as a result our laws and societal norms are shifting to align with peoples’ beliefs.

It is a mistake on the part of Christians to believe that because Christian values were reflected in the founding documents and words of the early leaders of our nation that this poses some kind of legal or constitutional obligation on the nation today. It does not. It was a reflection of the beliefs of the day and our task is to once again turn the nation back to those beliefs. Only by doing so will we see our laws and societal norms begin to reflect Christian values once again.

In fact, even if there was some kind of legal or constitutional obligation on the part of Canadian society to maintain laws which reflect Christian values, this would not be sufficient to save our nation. Even under this scenario, those laws would simply be changed and the constitution amended. There is no “lever” or “hammer” that Christians hold in order to force the nation to return to its Christian heritage. This will only happen when the people themselves first return to God willingly and individually. It is organic and incremental change which will shift our nation, not radical and directed change which comes from the top down.

I believe that the need for bottom-up change is not only the reality for Canada, but that it is also the Biblical model for societal shifts. This is unpacked in some detail in my book, and I would be more than happy to dialogue further if you have additional questions or concerns after finishing reading it.

Kudos to the reader for reaching out and expressing their concerns. This is the kind of open and honest dialogue that Christians need to have about the state of the nation and the role that Christians play in shifting it.

If you have comments or questions about the book, don’t hesitate to email them to me at contact@toshiftanation.ca or use the contact form on the website www.toshiftanation.ca. I’d be happy to respond.

If you have not purchased a copy of my book, “To Shift a Nation: How the Body of Christ can effectively promote change in Canada”, I encourage you to do so. If can be ordered off of my website at www.toshiftanation.ca or directly from Amazon at https://www.amazon.ca/Shift-Nation-Christ-Effectively-Promote/dp/1486624901/.

If you know someone who might benefit from a copy, consider sending them to the website to check it out, or gifting them one off of Amazon.

If you have read the book and have not yet left a review, they are very valuable and can be left here (even if you didn’t buy your copy off of Amazon): https://www.amazon.ca/review/create-review/?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=1486624901