One might expect Presbyterians to be more religiously committed than Anglicans and United Church affiliates for at least four reasons - they tend to be more conservative or orthodox, their denomination is smaller, the churches that decided to remain Presbyterian in the union vote were located in more densely populated areas and surrounded by more competing denominations, and Presbyterians have given greater priority to church growth, at least since the early 1980s when a church growth committee was operating. On the orthodoxy question, for example, it would be hard to imagine a Presbyterian Presbytery passing a vote on the blessing of same-sex unions as the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster did on June 15, 2002. In the following we examine commitment in terms of frequency of worship, religiosity, and volunteering in religious organizations.
Attendance rates suggest higher commitment on the part of Presbyterians. The weekly worship rate is 22% for Presbyterians, somewhat more than the 16% to 17% for Anglicans and United Church affiliates. The monthly rate also is somewhat higher: 19% compared with 14% to 15%. These add up to a regular worship rate of 41% for Presbyterians, and 31% to 32% for Anglicans and United Church affiliates. Another 32% of Presbyterians attend less frequently but at least once in the year preceding the survey, less than the 34% of Anglicans and 37% of United Church affiliates.
Presbyterians are also slightly more inclined than Anglicans and United Church people to say that they are very religious, though less inclined to say they are somewhat religious. Some 10.8% of Presbyterians say they are very religious, and 58% say they are somewhat religious, and these add up to a religious population of 69% of all Presbyterians. The respective percentages for Anglicans are 10.1% very religious, 58% somewhat, and 68% religious, and for the United Church affiliates are 9.3% very religious, 64% somewhat, and 73% religious. On the whole, Presbyterian, Anglican and United Church religiosity seems to be fairly similar.
When it comes to volunteering in religious organizations, Presbyterians and United Church people are equally likely to volunteer, and more so than the Anglicans, and Presbyterians contribute more hours. Some 12% of Presbyterians and United Church people volunteer, as do 9% of Anglicans. Presbyterians contribute 12.8 hours per year, United Church people contribute 10.8 hours, and Anglicans 10.2 hours. On a per volunteer basis, Anglican volunteers contribute the most, 117 hours per year, followed by Presbyterians, 110 hours, and United Church people, 92 hours. These indicators suggest that Presbyterians are not much different from their Anglican and United Church counterparts when it comes to volunteering in religious organizations.
All of the above indicators of commitment refer to the population aged 15 and over. Attendance rates are also available for children aged 15 and younger for the periods 1998-99, 1994-95, and the changes in worship frequency between the two periods. The weekly attendance rate of Presbyterian children is 29%, higher than the Anglican and United Church rates of 17% to 18%. The respective rates for children in two parent families are slightly higher: Presbyterian, 29%, Anglican and United Church, 17% to 18%. The weekly attendance rates increase with the age of the child in the case of Presbyterians and Anglicans, but not so in the case of United Church children - refer to the last chart. The regularly attending Presbyterian children comprise 54% of all Presbyterian children, higher than Anglican children, 42%, and United Church children, 40%. The difference is similar for children in two parent families: of Presbyterian children 59% attend regularly, compared with 42% of Anglican children, and 40% of United Church children. Regarding transitions over time, some 80% of children aged 4 to 15 in 1998-99 also attended regularly in 1994-95, compared with 71% of Anglicans and 73% of United Church children in the same age range. This suggests that the retention rate is somewhat higher for Presbyterian than Anglican or United Church children. Of the non-attending Presbyterian children in 1998-99, 46% attended at least yearly four years earlier. The respective percentages for Anglican and United Church children are 41% and 43%. This means that more Presbyterian than Anglican or United Church children have at least some exposure to church based religious education.
In many of our studies of religious commitment we combine Presbyterians with Anglicans, United Church people, and Lutherans, calling the sum "liberal Christians." These denominations do tend to be similar in many respects, and quite different from our "conservative Christian" group, comprising Baptists, Pentecostals, and affiliates of smaller Christian and non-Catholic faiths. When we look more closely, however, it would seem that Presbyterians seem on balance to be more religiously committed than either Anglicans or United Church people. The differences are most evident in the case of frequency of worship, especially for children.
Until recently the questions addressed above could not be answered in any detail because of small samples and the absence of religious commitment questions in surveys. The results reported in this study come from combining the records from the 1997 and 2000 National Surveys of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, and the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, both conducted by Statistics Canada.
Frank Jones, Director of Research, Christian Commitment Research Institute, former member of the Presbyterian Church Growth Committee, and member of St Martin's Anglican, Ottawa. The author only is responsible for the views and facts reported in this article; any errors are the sole responsibility of the author.