New Cardus-ARI survey: Only 18% of Canadians are Religiously Committed vs 37% of Americans — yet Gen Z in both countries is more faithful than Millennials.
Newsroom (11/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) A major new cross-border study released November 6 by the Angus Reid Institute (ARI) and the Christian think tank Cardus reveals a persistent and dramatic religious divide between Canada and the United States — but also offers intriguing evidence that the long secular slide may be slowing, especially among the young.
The landmark survey of more than 10,000 adults (5,001 in each country) marks the first time the widely respected Spectrum of Spirituality index — developed jointly by Cardus and ARI in 2017 — has been applied to the American population, allowing for direct, apples-to-apples comparison.
The headline finding is stark: Americans are twice as likely as Canadians to be “Religiously Committed” (37% vs. 18%). Conversely, Canadians are nearly twice as likely to be outright “Non-Believers” (19% vs. 10%).
“The overall numbers aren’t a surprise,” said Ray Pennings, Cardus executive vice-president and co-founder of the Spectrum index. “We’ve known for decades that religious practice in the United States runs at roughly double the Canadian rate on a per-capita basis. What’s new and fascinating is how differently faith plays out in public life and personal satisfaction in the two countries.”
Public expression of faith shows one of the widest gaps. Seven in ten Americans (70%) say they are openly public about their religion and don’t mind others knowing they are believers; only 56% of Canadians say the same. Even more telling: 56% of Americans believe public officials should feel free to speak and act on their religious convictions, while two-thirds of Canadians (66%) say society is “better off if we keep God and religion completely out of public life.”
Daily spiritual experience follows the same pattern. One-third of Americans (32%) report feeling God’s presence every single day, compared to just 15% of Canadians. Forty-four per cent of Canadians — almost one in two — say they never feel God’s presence at all.
The Spectrum of Spirituality sorts respondents into four categories:
- Religiously Committed (18% Canada, 37% U.S.) – pray daily, attend services regularly, certain of God and afterlife
- Privately Faithful (19% Canada, 27% U.S.) – believe but wary of organized religion, worship mostly at home
- Spiritually Uncertain (44% Canada, 27% U.S.) – largest Canadian group; doubt God/life after death but don’t rule them out; 77% still report “feelings of faith and spirituality”
- Non-Believers (19% Canada, 10% U.S.)
Yet beneath the aggregate gloom for Canadian religiosity lies a striking generational reversal. Canadians aged 18–24 are the most religiously committed age cohort in the country at 24% — higher than 25–34-year-olds (23%) and dramatically higher than Canadians aged 35–54. A similar pattern appears south of the border, where Zoomers and young Millennials show clearer religious tendencies than the once-notoriously secular Millennial generation.
“What you find is that people are looking for genuine orthodox religiosity, a sense of the transcendent,” Pennings told journalists. “The liberal secular promise of meaning and satisfaction is not surviving the loneliness epidemic and the breakdown of relationships that so many are experiencing. When people can’t find belonging, meaning, and purpose elsewhere, they are turning — or returning — to religion.”
The data also challenge some common stereotypes. In the United States, higher educational attainment correlates with greater likelihood of being Religiously Committed — the opposite of the pattern seen in most Western nations. In Canada, income and education show no significant relationship with religious commitment.
Politically, the picture is predictable but still dramatic: half (51%) of 2024 Trump voters in the U.S. fall into the Religiously Committed category, while supporters of Kamala Harris mirror the distribution of past Canadian Conservative voters.
The findings will be formally presented and debated at a Cardus25 Research Showcase & Panel Discussion with Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl on November 21 in Ottawa.
For a country long accustomed to being told it is one of the most secular in the Western world, the data contain both sobering confirmation and a small but unmistakable spark of hope — particularly among the generation most often written off as indifferent to faith.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Catholic Register
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