B.C. breaks records when it comes to religion and the lack thereof
The West Coast is a place of extremes in regards to Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated, according to a major 2011 survey by Statistics Canada.
New data released Wednesday suggests pluralistic B.C. is travelling in several religious directions at once. Many residents are becoming more devout following a great variety of world faiths. But other residents are endorsing secular world views and drifting into private spirituality.
This region of 2.3 million people now has the fewest inhabitants of any major Canadian metropolitan area who call themselves Christian, according to the National Household Survey, which is Statistics Canada’s first major measurement of national religiosity since 2001.
Only 41 per cent of Metro residents are Christian, compared to a national average of 67 per cent. B.C. has the fewest Christians on average of any province or territory.