Interrelations of religion and state in Canada

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INTERRELATIONS OF RELIGION AND STATE IN CANADA

Linkova E.O.

Vladimirskiy State University named after the Stoletov brothers

Vladimir, Russia

The population of Canada is about 30.675.400 people, the average population density of about 3 people per square. Ethnic groups: British - 40%, French - 27%, Asians - 5%, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Italians, Greeks, Dutch, Ukrainians, American Indians - 4%, blacks - 2%.

Before the beginning of European settlement in Canada, there were several ethnic groups that inhabited this area. In the northern regions of Canada, the Inuit are the predominant ethnic group of the local population. To the southwest is the Athapaska ethnic group. In eastern Canada, most of the land was occupied by the Algonquian cultural group. A smaller group, the Beautoks, was located on the island of Newfoundland.

It should be noted a decisive shift in the composition of the population from predominantly rural to urban over the past 50 years. Moreover, only ј of rural residents live on farms. There is also an obvious process similar to the United States. Three-quarters of rural residents fell under the category of rural non-farm population according to the official census. Canada by official decree - a nation of two cultures. All government publications use English and French. However, the influence of the French element in the culture of the country is not as great as the English.

Canada has a large number of different religions, but none of them is official in the country, since the idea of religious pluralism is of great importance in Canadian political culture. However, most residents identify themselves as Christians, and this is reflected in many aspects of daily life.

The non-Christian religions of Canada are concentrated in large cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and to a much lesser extent in such medium-sized cities as Ottawa, Quebec, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax. The only exception is Judaism, which has long been a significant minority even in smaller communities. Most of the growth in the number of adherents of non-Christian religions comes from the immigration trends that have changed over the past 50 years. Increased immigration from Asia, from the Middle East and from Africa has led to the emergence of ever-growing Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu communities.

The lack of religion is more common on the west coast, especially in the Greater Vancouver area. Non-religious Canadians include atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other non-believers. Currently they make up 16.2%. Some unbelievers Canadians have created societies such as, for example, the Humanist Society of Canada. In 1991, some unbelievers Canadians filed a petition with Parliament, submitted by Svend Robinson, to remove the word «God» from the preamble of the Constitution of Canada. After that, Robinson was removed from the current work by the head of his party. According to sources, among those who declared themselves unbelievers, 18 605 clarified that they are «atheists», 17 815 - «agnostics», and 1 245 - «humanists».

Most Canadians who consider themselves Christians attend church only occasionally. In general, Canadian Christians are less zealous than Christians in the United States, but more obviously religious than European Christians. Naturally, there are important regional differences, as well as a marked division into city and rural areas. The figures are subject to disputes over the percentage of the population who regularly attend church, some estimates fall below 20%, others rise above 35%. In addition to the large Christian churches in Canada, there are also many small Christian groups, such as Orthodoxy and Mormonism. The concentration of these small groups varies greatly by region of the country. In the coastal provinces live a very large number of Lutherans, specially settled there by the British. There are many German immigrants living in southwestern Ontario, including a large number of Mennonites and Huterites. The numerous Ukrainian population of Manitoba and Saskatchewan includes many adherents of the Uniate and Ukrainian Orthodox churches. Alberta receives a significant number of immigrants from the American plains, which leads to the creation of a large Mormon community in this province.

Canada currently has no official religion, and the government officially supports religious pluralism. But the influence of Christianity is seen in some sectors. Holidays at the state level were established during the celebration of Christmas and Easter, and although Muslims, Jews and other groups have the right to take holidays during their religious holidays, the latter do not enjoy such official recognition. The Canadian national anthem O Canada contains the words «carry the cross», which is clearly associated with Christianity, while other verses of the anthem openly speak of divine superiority. In some areas of the country, the work of shops on Sunday remains prohibited, although this phenomenon is becoming less and less. A long struggle at the end of the 20th century was conducted in order to persuade Canadian society to accept religious clothing, especially Sikh turbans. At the same time, the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie, the Canadian Royal Legion and other groups allowed their members to wear turbans. Canada is the Kingdom of the Commonwealth, the head of which is one for 15 other countries, including the United Kingdom. The law of succession forbids Catholics and their spouses to occupy the throne, and the monarch is also the supreme ruler of the English Church. In Canada, the title of queen contains the words "God's mercy" and «Defender of the Faith». Although the official references of the Canadian government to Christianity are becoming less frequent, the first one openly admits the existence of God. Indeed, Gods mention the preamble of the Constitution of Canada and the national anthem in both languages. Also, the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, constantly hints at God, saying: God bless Canada - or in a slightly different way.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the indigenous peoples belonged to a very large number, mainly of animistic religions. The first Europeans who settled there in large numbers were French Catholics, including many Jesuits, whose goal was the baptism of the indigenous people, which was only a small success. The first significant Protestant communities were formed in the maritime provinces after their capture by the British. Unable to convince a sufficient number of British immigrants to adopt the religion they wanted, the government decided to settle this area with Protestants from Germany and Switzerland in order to balance the Catholics of Akadians. The Germans and the Swiss became known as «foreign Protestants». These measures were a real success, and now Lutheranism remains the dominant religion of the south of Nova Scotia.

This trend continued after the British conquest of the whole of New France in 1759. Initially, the plans included an attempt to convert most of the Catholics into Protestantism, but this was abandoned during the American coup. «The Quebec Act 1774» recognized the rights of the Catholic Church in Quebec to preserve the loyalty of the French Canadians to the British crown. The American coup drew a rapid stream of Protestants to Canada. a mixture of different Christian groups with a large number of Anglicans, as well as Presbyterians and Methodists. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Anglican Church had the same office in the coastal provinces and in Upper Canada. The social position that she had in Britain. This caused tensions among Englishspeaking settlers, since a large part of the population did not belong to Anglicanism. Increased immigration from Scotland formed a very large Presbyterian community, requiring equal rights, and other groups. Canada in 1837. With the advent of the responsible government, the Anglican monopoly came to an end.

In Lower Canada, the Catholic Church officially prevailed and was central to the culture and politics of the colony. In contrast to the English-speaking colonies, Franco-Canadian nationalism became closely associated with Catholicism. During this period, the Catholic Church in this area became one of the most reactionary in the world. Under the banner of the movement, known as ultramontanism, the Church adopted clauses condemning all forms of liberalism and even made very conservative at the time popes reproach her for extremism. In the politics of the supporters of the Catholic clergy in Quebec called blue. They formed a curious alliance with the pro-British Anglican monarchists (often members of the Orange Lodge) to form the basis of the Canadian Conservative Party. The reformist party, which later became the Liberal Party, consisted mainly of anticlerical Franco-Canadians, called the Reds, and non-Anglican Protestant groups. At the time, before the elections, parish priests gave instructions to their listeners, warning that the sky was blue and hell was red. By the end of the 19th century, Protestant pluralism had taken root in English Canada. Even if a significant part of high society remained Anglican, other groups also became important. Toronto had the largest Methodist community in the world, which gave it the nickname Methodist Rome. Schools and universities founded at the time reflected this pluralism when each religion established its own university. Queen's University, which later became the University of Toronto, was founded as a non-spiritual school. At the end of the 19th century, major changes in immigration trends in Canada began to occur. A large number of Irish and immigrants from the south of Europe formed new Catholic communities in English Canada. The settling of the West attracted many Orthodox immigrants from Eastern Europe and Mormons with Pentecostals from the USA. The predominance of Protestant and Catholic elements in Canadian society lasted the entire 20^th century.

Until the 1960s, most areas of Canada had laws about the «bottom of the Lord», which was what later became Sunday. The Anglo-Canadian high society was still Protestant, and Jews and Catholics were often excluded from it. The liberalization process began in English Canada after World War II. Clearly Christian laws, including those against homosexuality, were repealed. A policy favoring Christian immigration was also abolished.

The most important change occurred in Quebec. In 1950 this province was still one of the most Catholic areas in the world. The attendance rate of the mass remained very high, it was difficult to find books listed in the index, and the educational system was heavily controlled by the Church. After the Quiet coup in the 1960s, this situation has changed significantly. Although most Quebecers still consider themselves Catholics, church attendance is currently the lowest in North America. Common law relationships, abortion, and support for same-sex marriage are much more common in Quebec than in the rest of Canada and in almost any other region of the world. The rest of Canada experienced a similar transition, but much more moderate. The United Church of Canada, the country's most important Protestant church, is one of the most liberal Protestant churches in the world. She practices and stubbornly protects same-sex marriage and relationships. Bill Phipps, the former chairman of the Church, even claimed that the resurrection of Jesus was not a scientific phenomenon. However, this trend seems to have been restrained, and the United Church experienced a significant decline in attendance in the 1990s; other large churches experienced a similar decline even though the total church attendance increased in the 2000s.

In addition, outside Quebec there is a strong Protestant-Evangelical current. Its most important groups are in the Canadian West, particularly in rural areas of Alberta, in the south of Manitoba and in the area of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. A dense evangelical population is also located in the rural areas of southern and eastern Ontario outside the Toronto metropolitan area and in rural areas of the coastal provinces. Culture in these areas is more conservative compared to some areas of the United States, and phenomena such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and free unions are much less popular. This movement has greatly increased in recent years, although the total number of evangelical Christians remains far behind their number in the United States. There are very few supporters of the evangelical church in Quebec and in urban agglomerations - areas of highly secular.

According to the last census of the population of 2011, in Canada, 23.9% of the population did not consider themselves to be religious people, while in 1991 this figure was 12.3% of the population. In addition to atheists and agnostics in Canada, there is such a group as humanists, it was not created by religious people, they created the Secular Alliance in Toronto. The most nonreligious population lives in the Yukon - 37.4%, British Columbia 35.1%, Alberta 23.1%, but in Newfoundland and Labrador such can be found only 2.5%, in Quebec 5.6%, Nunavut 6%, Prince Edward Island 6.5%, New Brunswick 7.8%, Nova Scotia 11.6%.

Canada has so far experienced the history of the formation of its religious affiliation. Animistic religions, the baptism of indigenous people from French Catholics, Protestants from Germany who settled the country with the permission of the government, the American coup with the mass arrival of Protestants from the USA, the predominance of Catholicism and Protestantism during the 20th century. At the end of the Second World War, Christian laws were abolished and the immigration of Christian movements was promoted. In the 1960s, attendance at Catholic churches declined. Liberal-legal relations come to the fore with the support of same-sex marriage and other free worldviews, especially in Quebec.

Today, the Church of Canada is the most liberal of all Protestant churches in the world.

canada religions pluralism political culture

References:

1. Bibby Reginald. 2004. Restless Gods. Toronto: Novalis, 2004. ISBN 978-2895075554

2. Canada religious census 2001. URL:

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census01/Products/Analytic/companion/rel canada.cfm4.

3. Canadian Attitudes Towards Religion.

URL: http://www.thecanadaguide.com/culture/religion/

4. Miedema Gary R. 2006. For Canada's Sake: Public Religion, Centennial Celebrations, And the Re-making of Canada in the 1960s.McGillQueen's University Press. ISBN 978-0773528772.

5. Religion in Canada.

URL: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Religion_in_Canada

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