A new look at London | Local | News | The London Free Press

London?s Bible belt reputation may need a conversion.

A higher percentages of Londoners than Canadians and Ontarians declare no religious affiliation, the census household survey shows.

Scholar Bill Acres called the London results shocking.

?That?s the whole story right there,? said Acres, who teaches theology at Huron University College.

While 24% of Canadians and 23% of Ontarians say they have no religious affiliation, the percentage among Londoners was 30.3%.

Acres said those who study religion have identified a trend away from organized religions toward other spiritually ?satisfying activities.

?People are doing yoga, ?meditation .?.?. volunteering, they may be going to a Christian church and all kinds of different things and the spiritual table is being fed,? he said.

?The word religion does scare people sometimes, for a lot of sociological reasons.?

More specifically, he acknowledged, the Roman Catholic faith has been ?rocked? in recent years and the London Diocese affected by several sex scandals.

?The diocese in London has been hit particularly hard by sex scandals. . . some of my Catholic friends were rocked to the core by this.

?We could be seeing a bit of an aftershock here.?

Mark Adkinson, a diocese spokesperson, said the number with no religious affiliation in London are both a concern and an opportunity.

?As we have seen in trends in society as a whole, people are seen as having less affiliation with organizations of any kind, not just religion,? he said.

?That doesn?t mean we don?t have a lot of work to do. We are committed to finding ways to better serve our Catholic ?population and also to reach out and invite others.?

Church closings have become a regular event in London, with several Protestant denominations shutting down facilities and reorganizing.

The Catholic diocese closed two churches in London as part of its parish reorganization process. But there are also opportunities for growth, Adkinson said, pointing to the opening last week of St. Andrew Kim, a church ?serving the city?s Korean Catholic population.

Mark Yenson, a professor of religious studies at King?s ?University College, said the London survey numbers could reflect the tiny percentage of immigrants who have moved to the city in recent years.

?I would think that immigration for a lot of communities offsets the decline, so that may be part of the trend

if you correlate those two,? he said.

Nationally, the survey found Canada?s largest faith is Christianity, with two-thirds of Canada?s population affiliated with a Christian religion.

In 2011, people who identified themselves as Muslim made up 3.2% of the population, Hindu 1.5%, Sikh 1.4%, Buddhist 1.1% and Jewish 1.0%, Statistics Canada reported.

Source: http://www.lfpress.com/2013/05/08/more-londoners-are-losing-their-religion-census-reveals

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