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America's neighbor to the North.
There is a wide mix of religions in Canada with no one being the official religion. The government is based on a philosophy of religious pluralism which means having peaceful relations between all religions. Not withstanding the governments position most of the population proclaim to be Christian. A fact that is evident in the way most of the families live their lives. A census in 2001 revealed that 43.6% of the population is Roman Catholic, more commonly known as "Catholic Church." The Catholic Church is made up of one Western and twenty two Eastern Churches divided into 2,782 jurisdictions worldwide that makes up about 1/6 of the planet's population. Protestants as a whole make up about 29.2% of the countries people. There are many different denominations that make up Protestantism and here are the ones in Canada. The United Church, which is a combination of the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, and the Association of Local Union Churches. The church accounts for about 9.6% of people. Founded in 1925, unlike most Evangelical Protestant churches, The United Church of Canada has remained theologically and politically liberal. Most of the Evangelical Protestant Churches here in the US tend to lean to right (conservative). The next largest Protestant Church is the Anglican Church of Canada with 6.9% of the population. This church is representative of the Anglican Communion which is their worldwide affiliation. Dating back to Revolutionary days it is the third largest Church. 2.6% of the population registered as Christian with no church affiliation, meaning persons who report Christian, and those who report Apostolic, Born-again Christian, and Evangelical. That brings us to the Baptist Church that makes up 2.5%. The Baptist name is derived from a conviction that followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to be immersed in water as a public display of their faith. One interesting thing about Baptist is that not all of the churches consider themselves to be Protestant. After the Baptists we have the Lutheran Church making up 2%. Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther. His attempt to reform the practice and theology of the Church had an unexpected result, it left the Church divided. The split between Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church arose mainly over the doctrine of justification before God. In Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God. At 1.9% Protestants that aren't included elsewhere come into the chart. This Includes persons who report only Protestant. Next on our list is Christian Orthodox with 1.6%. It involves two branches the Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. This brings us to the Presbyterians with 1.4%. Presbyterianism is a family of Christian denominations within the Reformed branch of Protestant Western Christianity. Also called Calvinists which means the rule of God over all things. Coming in on the list with a respectable .03% is the Coptic Orthodox Church and finally last but not least with .02% is the Romanian Orthodox Church. From what I have been able to find this is still a fair representation of the make up of all Christian Churches in Canada today.
I didn't want to make this site part of my site all about the numbers and statistics so I decided in the beginning to put in what I believe are interesting little tidbits of information about each place we visit. Something everyone may not know is that Detroit, Michigan is connected to Canada by both a bridge and a tunnel. I have actually been on both. On a trip to Michigan a friend of mine and I decided we wanted to go across the border because he wanted to go to a Casino in Windsor. I myself not being a gambler didn’t see the attraction but I went anyway. We crossed the bridge to get into Canada. It is a spectacular drive with a great view. After my friend had satisfied his desire, in the casino, we did some sightseeing and then started back to Detroit. My friend then told me about the tunnel that crossed between the two cities and at first I assumed like many times before he was just pulling my leg. Well to my surprise as we headed back toward the bridge I started to see signs for the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. It turns out that the tunnel is the 2nd busiest crossing from the US to Canada. The cool thing about this tunnel is that part of it is submerged under water. It crosses under the Detroit River and is 5,160 feet long which is 120 feet shy of a mile. At its deepest point it is 75 feet below the surface of the river. If you ever find yourself in Detroit, I highly recommend a trip thru the tunnel. It is both exciting and a little spooky all at the same time. There is just something about knowing that all that water was above my head that kind of made nervous.
Canada also has some of the most picturesque scenery of anywhere on the planet if you love the outdoors. With mountains and woods that are rustic and majestic it is a great place to take your family for a real back to nature vacation. Click on this link
Canada vacation get-a-ways
to see an article by Terri Mason from Canadian Cowboy Country magazine for more information on some great vacation locations.
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