| More Canadians, especially young people, are sitting in church pews these days, says Reginald Bibby, one of Canada's best-known pollsters on religion. And all the groups from Protestant, to Roman Catholic, to non-traditional are showing "important signs of new life." Attendance is up by as much as "four or five percentage points" since the late 1990s, says the University of Lethbridge sociologist who has just published a new book, Restless Churches, in which he argues his case through a blizzard of statistics. Lots of people are hurting, struggling to find meaning and worried about their kids, said Bibby. "People are saying, 'Well you know, jeez, I'd like my kids to turn out OK.' " If they can find meaning in a church, "that makes people feel good about the organization." In a survey Bibby completed in 2003, 26% of Canadians said they attended religious services about once a week, up 5% from a similar poll in 2000. |