What will the future of religion look like in Canada?
What will the future of religion look like in Canada? In chapter nine (titled “The Comeback,” followed by the first heading, “Why it Can be Expected”), Bibby reasserts his longstanding commitment to the rational-choice position that there is an ongoing demand for the things that religion offers and that if religious groups adequately adjust their supply of religion to meet that demand, then we should anticipate sunnier days ahead. At a more specific level, however, Bibby deals with religious groups in their own right. Bibby infers that Roman Catholicism will continue to benefit from solid identification figures as people turn to the Church for rites of passage and as strong percentages of immigrants arrive as Catholics. Mainline Protestantism has a bleak future, according to Bibby, because, in contrast to the mid-twentieth century, few immigrants today identify with mainline denominations, mainline groups lack effective methods to retain children, they do not adopt a theology centered on evangelism, and they do not offer definitive ultimate answers to big questions of meaning or life after death. On the other hand, Bibby projects that conservative Protestantism will grow in the future as more immigrants identify with this tradition. He also credits conservative Protestants for the attention that they give to effective community, youth, and family ministries that help to keep their own children and to evangelize potential converts. Finally, Bibby expects non-Christian religious traditions (especially Islam) to grow in the years to come, because of immigration patterns, higher birth rates, successful religious socialization mechanisms, and stricter demands on their members. Religious leaders in any of these traditions will find this chapter the most useful in a practical sense, though it is not as elaborate or specific as some of his previous writings.
In many ways, this is Bibby’s best book on religion in Canada to date. This book is more comprehensive than his previous ones, not only because of his own longitudinal data, but also because Bibby, for the first time, includes global comparisons at the end of each chapter. Such data, though lacking rigorous sociological explanation, provide the reader with a descriptive understanding of Canada’s position in the current global religious landscape. This should make this book a worthwhile read not only for sociologists of religion or religious studies scholars in Canada, but also for sociologists of religion anywhere in the world who have an interest in religion in Canada, particularly those in the United Kingdom who tend to include Canada in their global analysis (especially in the secularization literature). An additional strength to this book is that, with the exception of the final chapter, Bibby, upon reflection on his earlier revitalization thesis, admits that “to speak of ‘a renaissance’ might have been to exaggerate developments a bit” (p. 2) – a subtle yet welcome and humble admission.
Beyond the Gods and Back is not without its weaknesses. In addition to the interpretation of polarization versus secularization advanced earlier, I raise three points for further consideration. First, the insistence that there is a strong desire for clarity on matters of the afterlife, thus securing a permanent place for religion in Canada, is dubious. An unwillingness to rule out the possibility of life after death differs from saying that people desire to resolve these issues or they wish to turn to religion in the process. Bibby’s interpretation seems to go beyond the available survey data at hand. Second, given the notable rise in the “no religion” category and the centrality of the irreligious to Bibby’s polarization thesis, a discussion of what the future looks like for this group would be appropriate. Will this group grow, shrink, or stabilize? Will people grow out of this irreligious phase? This is a pertinent question at the global level too, as places like the United States and various European nations experience historic growth in the “no religion” category. Third, and this is a minor quibble, the logical ordering of chapters five through seven is odd. Chapter six (“Polarization and Spirituality”) stands out given that chapters five and seven deal with similar topics of how consequential religion is for individual and social well-being. Perhaps chapter six should follow chapter three as a general discussion of current religious beliefs and practices in Canada, before one moves into the chapters that deal with the implications of these beliefs and practices. Overall, Beyond the Gods and Back is a useful, accessible, extensive, and empirically based book that will help scholars and religious leaders alike to think about the past, present, and possible future of religion in Canada – a book that is worth the read.