Is God Dead...Or Just Misread?

In case anyone hasn't noticed, for the past year or so two books by two British-trained intellectuals who describe themselves as atheists, anti-theists, and anti-religious have been sitting at the top of best-seller lists. I am speaking, of course, of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. What troubles them both is not just the fact that large numbers of people continue to believe in something that is false but that such people also subscribe to ensuing religions that are dangerous, individually and socially.

The heart of such arguments are hardly new. One only has to browse some of the classic works of people like Auguste Comte, Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx to uncover similar sentiments. All three observers maintained that God is a human creation, and that holding such beliefs has negative personal and social consequences. They called, respectively, for people to move forward by embracing science, abandoning illusion, and taking control of their lives.

However, since 9-11 such anti-religious arguments have taken on new currency. Large numbers of people, it seems, are questioning both the social good of religion, as well as the more general question as to whether or not there is a God. To the extent that belief in God does not translate into positive interpersonal life, even those who subscribe to religion are left with the conclusion that, at minimum, God and God's purposes for humankind are either being badly misread or not implemented very well.

One thing is certain from our ongoing examination of beliefs in Canada: for whatever misgivings Canadians may have about the consequences of people being religious, they still are just as inclined as ever to believe in God. The earliest national poll I have been able to uncover in Canada on belief in God is one that Gallup carried out in 1945. At that time, 95% of Canadians told the pollster that they believed in God. Levels of belief were slightly lower among males and younger adults. By 1969 the figure was essentially the same at 96% (excluding a small percentage with no opinion) . In short, the early surveys pegged atheism at around 5%.

My Project Canada surveys spanning 1975 through the present time have found little change in the level of atheism over the years. It was a position held by only 6% of Canadians in 1975 and 1985, 9% in 1995, and 7% in 2005. As in those early Gallup surveys, atheism tends to be marginally higher among men and younger adults than women and people who are older.

An interesting finding is that Canadians who don't believe in God are not necessarily hostile toward organized religion. In fact, our Project Canada 2000 national survey found that almost one in two atheists agreed that "religious groups still have a role to play in Canadian lives." About one in five actually said that they personally would be open to greater involvement in religious groups if they found such involvement to be worthwhile for themselves and their families.

For all the attention being given atheism and anti-religious sentiments these days, the survey findings are clear: the proportion of atheists is not growing and significant numbers of atheists are not anti-organized religion.

Canadians continue to believe in God, and appear to demonstrate what many of their parents, grandparents, and earlier family members did before them – the inclination to differentiate between God and what people both claim and do in the name of God. The net result, as I have been saying for years, is that God continues to do well in the polls.