Who went to church yesterday? According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the number of Canadians who attend a religious service weekly is 15%. The generally accepted theory is that organized religion has been on the decline for some time. And that may be true for some sects such as United Church, Anglican Church, Presbyterians and Lutherans. However, the Catholic Church seems to be in good shape mostly thanks to immigration. Nearly 500,000 immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2011 identified as Roman Catholic. Islam is growing too as Muslims added almost 400,000 in the same time span. Overall, 1.6 million immigrants who came to Canada during that period embrace religion compared to 440,000 who identified as having no religion. Among people born outside Canada, around 40% are inclined to embrace religion compared to 29% of people who are Canadian born. Interesting to note that prior to 1981 the top four countries sending immigrants to Canada were the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the U.S. Then from 1981 to 2006 the top countries of origin were India, Pakistan, the Philippines and China. With a boost from China by the way, Christianity is on a global rise. 67% of Canada’s population growth comes from immigration, a number that is projected to reach 80% by 2031 because we’re just not having babies the way we were in the 20th century.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.