The belief that Canada is a Christian nation is usually supported by two arguments. The first, is that Canada’s founding population was overwhelmingly Christian – 97 percent Christian, to be exact. This argument suggests that since these beliefs and values were reflected in our founding documents, this translates into a legal or constitutional obligation that Christians can rely on to compel Canada to continue to reflect Christian values. But as we noted in Part One of this series, this conclusion is misguided.

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 out of the 53 percent of census-identified Christians in Canada, only 19 percent of them 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 that regardless of which box Canadians tick on the census form, only about 6 percent 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