The Future of Non-Religion in Canada
Rates of religious non-affiliation and non-practice have been rising among many Canadian populations for a number of decades and generations now. These well-known trends are the starting point for this year’s Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Lecture, given by Associate Professor Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme from the University of Waterloo. Dr. Wilkins-Laflamme will examine the nature of these trends in more depth, key explanations in the sociology of religion as to why they are happening, what it could take to potentially reverse them and the (non)likelihood of seeing such a reversal of these trends, and where we are likely headed with religious non-affiliation and non-practice and their impact in the years to come.
The lecture will take place on February 13th, 2025 at 7:00 in room 303 Paterson Hall. Reception to follow.
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. She specializes in sociology of religion, quantitative methods, immigration, race and ethnicity, political sociology, as well as social change. Her books include 1) None of the Above: Nonreligious Identity in the US and Canada, co-authored with Joel Thiessen and published in 2020 with New York University Press; 2) Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest, co-edited with Paul Bramadat and Patricia Killen and published in 2022 with British Columbia University Press; and 3) Religion, Spirituality and Secularity among Millennials: The Generation Shaping American and Canadian Trends, published in 2023 with Routledge.
