Just some stats:

         3.4 Million NONBELIEVERS IN CANADA: 1991 CENSUS
                    90% Increase in Ten Years
            Summary Report prepared by Paul Pfalzner

     It's official now - nonbelievers in Canada have increased by
90% since the 1981 Census. They now make up 12.4% of the
population, totaling 3.4 million of whom 1.9 million are male and
1.5 million female. Included in this group are a total of 13,515
who identified themselves as Atheist (male/female ratio 2:1),
21,975 Agnostic (male/female 1.4:1), 1245 Humanist (1.2:1) and
470 Freethinker (2:1), with the great majority simply responding
No Religion to the Census question. All results are based on a
20% sample of Canadian census households.

     All this and much more is found in the Statistics Canada
300-page catalogue "Religions in Canada", $40.00 + GST, issued 
June 1, 1993, tabulating and correlating the 1991 Census results
for religion in eight extensive tables. The Census recognizes
seven major religious categories: Catholic, with four subgroups;
Protestant, 56 subgroups; Eastern Orthodox, nine subgroups;
Jewish, no subgroups (odd, since there are at least three
distinct groups, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews in
Canada); Eastern Non-Christian, eleven subgroups; Para-Religious,
eleven subgroups; and No Religious Affiliation with six
subgroups. It's amusing that this last category should be one of
the seven major religious categories - but, at least, we are no
longer listed as No Religious Preference, as in past Census
reports!

     Some details: the No Religion group at 12.4% is nationally
the second largest single group, after Roman Catholic (45.2%, a
decline from 46.5% in 1981), with the largest Protestant group,
United Church - having dropped from 15.6% in 1981 to 11.5% in
1991 - in third place, followed by Anglican at 8.1%. All major
religious groups decreased as a percentage of the total
population, except for Pentecostal (total numbers 436,435) and
several smaller groups such as Adventist, Church of Christ-
Disciples, as well as the small non-Christian eastern religions
(Islam, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh). The No Religion group increased
more than any other, from 7.3% to 12.4%, continuing strong growth
first noted in 1971 when it jumped from 0.5% to 4.3% in the ten-
year period.

     By provinces, in British Columbia and Yukon, No Religion is
the single largest group, 30.7% and 35.2% resp.; in Alberta, it
is the second largest at 19.9%, and in the Northwest Territories
as well as in all the remaining larger provinces it is third-
largest - with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
and Newfoundland still staying less hospitable to nonbelief.
Ontario, at 12.6%, is closest to the national average, with
Yukon, B.C., Alberta, and Manitoba above average at 35.2, 30.7,
19.9 and 14.0 percent resp.

     In age distribution, the No Religion group shows up well
below the national average age of 34.5, at only 29 years, the
only others below 30 being Sikh, Hindu and Islam; Pentecostal has
the lowest average age among the Christian groups at 31 years;
Presbyterian, living up to their name, have close to the highest
average age, 40.5, followed by Lutheran and Jewish, 39. Of the
smaller groups, Unitarians show the highest average age at 42.1,
and are listed in the Census as having 16,535 adherents - whereas
the Canadian Unitarian Council claims only about 5000 members! So
there are a lot of lapsed or non-practicing Unitarians around -
but the same must be true of all but the most fundamentalist
religions in Canada. For most groups, the true membership is
probably only about a third or less of the stated Census figures,
whereas the No Religion group is almost certainly underreported.

     Major decreases in stated affiliations occurred among the
larger Protestant groups: 22% decrease for Presbyterian, 18%
fewer United Church, 10% Anglican and Lutheran, 5% Baptist.

     The Para-Religious category includes such relatively small
sects as Unity-Metaphysical with 4605 adherents, New Age - 1200,
Scientology - 1220, Pagan - 5530, Native - 10,840, Theosophy -
765, Rastafarian - 460, and Satanism with 335 stated adherents,
showing that these mainly so-called New Agers remain quite small
in total numbers, far less than the media would have us believe.
It's a surprise that Pagans outnumber stated Humanists and
Freethinkers! Of course, many of the two latter groups would
simply report No Religion on the Census form since that is one of
the check-off boxes.

     The No Religion group also fares very well in the Census
tables showing highest level of schooling, with 60% in the 25 to
44-year age segment having at least some post-secondary
education. Further tables show cross-classifications of religion
(and non-religion), for Canada as a whole and for each province,
with mother tongue (English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and
Ukrainian in the lead for No religion, but also about 10,000 with
aboriginal languages and over 2800 Punjabi, 2200 Arabic, 1800
Greek); ethnic origins (British: over 800,000, and French
origins, Canadian and German highest, but also Italian, Dutch,
Balkan origins, Ukrainian, Black, aboriginal, Jewish, and very
large proportion of Chinese: 345,000, and East Asian and South
East Asian ethnic origin among the No Religion group); school
attendance rates; immigration status - the proportion of those
stating No Religion is slightly higher (14.5%) in the immigrant
population than in Canadian-born (12.1%); and detailed breakdowns
for all major metropolitan areas in Canada.

     These tables, as can be seen, give a wealth of information,
and most certainly reduce all other polls, whether they be Gallup
or any other, to quite negligible importance.