Elina, an undergrad student at the IRCSF, writes about last week's IRCSF event: Dr. Horgan discussed how the sacred is not confined to religious institutions: it persists (in altered forms) in secular realms, moral imaginaries, public rituals, and everyday encounters.

Check out the CSSR - Canadian Society for the Study of Religion's upcoming webinar. Register here for the free event: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Missed Mervyn Horgan's talk yesterday "Some Theses on the Secular Sacred" at the IRCSF? Check out the recording here of the event, for free viewing anytime on our YouTube channel (@IRCSF): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZITB...

Check out this Broadview Magazine article titled "Christians are no longer the majority in Canada: surveys" by Julie McGonegal, featuring our very own Director Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme: broadview.org/canada-chris...

Still time to register for this free hybrid event!

Over 1/3 of the Canadian pop. has no religious affiliation. This Pew Research Center report looks into the spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as attitudes towards religion, among the religiously unaffiliated across the world, including here in Canada. www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Eastern Europe is home to some of the most secular countries in the world, such as Estonia (81% of its pop is religiously unaffiliated according to EVS 2017) and Czechia (77%), as well as some very Christian ones (Poland and Ukraine for example).

We're back from the summer break with Fall 2025 events! First up is a talk on Sept. 24 @ 2:30pm EDT with Mervyn Horgan on current uses of Durkheim's concept of the sacred in sociology. Register for the free hybrid event here: uwaterloo.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

We've recorded and posted three videos in our Maple Spirit Pulse series. Have a look if you're interested in "Religious Populism," "Religious Schools," and/or "Canadian Ismailis and the Aga Khan." www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNz...

We're back from the summer break with Fall 2025 events! First up is a talk on Sept. 24 @ 2:30pm EDT with Mervyn Horgan on current uses of Durkheim's concept of the sacred in sociology. Register for the free hybrid event here: uwaterloo.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

In the new CBC Gem documentary "So You Want To Be a Muslim," director Hoda Elatawi opens a window onto a number of Canadians' personal journeys into Islam. A fascinating watch for anyone interested in lived Islam in the country. gem.cbc.ca/so-you-want-...

Interested in knowing more about Canada's 129 publicly-funded Catholic hospitals and long-term care homes? Check out Amelie Barras' and Andrea Paras' new article "Canadian Catholic Health Care at the Nexus of Multiple Legal Regimes": resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...

We've got a new Maple Spirit Pulse video on Canadian Ismailis and the Aga Khan, with Dr. Alyshea Cummins, for your summer viewing: youtu.be/yHwqNYtNMIY

New 2025 ISSP Canada data on religion are now available. Below are rates of religious nones and monthly attenders in 2023 and 2025 between the comparable ISSP Canada general population surveys.

Junbo, a student working with us here at the IRCSF this summer, found the McCaffree, K., Saide, A., & Basmechi, F. (2025) "Sex Differences in #Secularity in #Iran" article in @s-n-journal.bsky.social particularly interesting: link.gale.com/apps/doc/A83...

Congrats to IRCSF research fellow Miray Philips from the University of Toronto for being selected as a Young Scholar in American Religion by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture!

Hajer gives a review of McLean et al’s 2024 “Taking Alberta Back: Faith, Fuel, and Freedom on the Canadian Far Right” from the journal Religions. Find Hajer’s review in the photo below, and the full McLean et al. 2024 journal article at: www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15...

Looking for something to watch on the Canada Day long weekend? Check out our new Maple Spirit Pulse video on #religious schools, with Carol Ann MacGregor from St. Jerome's University: youtu.be/6krXX0wK3eA

Alternative and traditional medicine is often interwoven with spiritualities. Below are rates of support and use of alternative/folk/traditional medicine in countries around the globe, from the 2021 International Social Survey Programme.

Attitudes towards State secularism (also known as laïcité) measures, by country, from 2023 Nonreligion in a Complex Future survey data. In this graph, rates of agreement with the statement ”I think the government should only fund secular schools and not faith-based schools.”

Great work being done by one of our student fellows Jacob Legault-Leclair on religious socialization and transmission! Check out Jacob's new article in the journal Studies in Religion: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Attitudes towards State secularism (also known as laïcité) measures, by country, from 2023 @nonreligioncf.bsky.social survey data.

Rates of the religiously unaffiliated were very similar between Canadian 15-24 & 25-34 year-olds in 1985...they still are in 2022 as well, even though much higher now than in 1985, and the highest of any age group in 2022 at around 50%.

Check out our new @IRCSF YouTube video series titled "Maple Spirit Pulse," where we do quick 5min dives into hot topics in #Canadian #religion, #spirituality and #secularity. This first video is on #Religious #Populism, with Galen Watts: youtu.be/VFNz--vW4Fg

Looking for something to watch at the beach this summer? Catch up on the recordings of all our great webinars and seminars from this past Fall 2024 and Winter 2025! All available for free viewing anytime on our YouTube channel @IRCSF: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Stq...

Should we consider occasional religious practice as the dominant way Canadians and Americans experience Christianity? Sarah K. Johnson says yes, we should! global.oup.com/academic/pro...

With 2022 Stats Can General Social Survey data, we can now get a better picture of how religiosity trends evolved in Canada over the pandemic years. As illustrated in the figure below, the estimated percentage of Canadian adults who have no religious affiliation increased over the 2018-2022 period.

While ties between religiosity and body/sexual morality remain strong, those between religiosity and other types of morality have weakened across 5 countries. Find out more in Sam Reimer's and our very own Associate Director Galen Watts' new JSSR article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

We've been adding to our website since we launched it last year. Worth a visit! Among the added features, we now have the details of our growing team of affiliated research and student fellows, including Kevin Flatt, Miray Philips, Jacob Legault-Leclair and Hannah Vines: uwaterloo.ca/st-jeromes/a...

With 2022 Statistics Canada General Social Survey data, we can now get a better picture of how #religiosity trends evolved in #Canada over the #pandemic years. Rates of engaging in a #religious or #spiritual activity on one's own stayed pretty stable over the 2018-2022 period.

"Families and Religion: Dynamics of Transmission Across Generations" has just been released! Our student fellow Jacob Legault-Leclair is involved with a number of the chapters, providing updated and cross-national empirical findings on (non)religious transmission: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

With recently released #statscan 2022 General Social Survey data, we can now get a better picture of how religiosity trends evolved in Canada over the pandemic years.

Check out this podcast episode titled "Losing Our #Religion? It's Not That Simple" with our Director Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme: In English: share.transistor.fm/s/b3bb6fe2 In French: share.transistor.fm/s/48a60d76

Did the recent election leave you wondering how religion and politics works in Canada? If so, check out Daoust, Guévremont and Blais's 2024 open access article titled "The (Non)-Religious Voter in Canadian Elections," in Electoral Studies (90: p. 102812): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

One of our student RAs, Humreet, was working here with us this past winter on #religious #endogamy trends in #India. Here are some numbers she pulled from the 2019-20 @pewresearch.org's India #Survey Dataset:

Also just created an open feed on BlueSky called "Canadian Religion": a place for good-quality research and facts (academic or other) on all things religion, spirituality and secularity in Canada.

So excited to be joining BlueSky! See our website for our thematic areas of research, members and fellows, details for upcoming events, and recordings from past events: uwaterloo.ca/st-jeromes/a...