Recent censuses show that the number of Quebecers who say they have no religion is on the rise, especially among young people. But what’s behind their non-affiliation? And how do they incorporate spirituality and the search for meaning into their lives?
Jean-Philippe Perreault, researcher in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Université Laval, conducted some forty interviews with young people between the ages of 18 and 30 that led him to define three profiles of people with no religious affiliation.
The first are disaffiliated and detached: people who experienced a minimum of religious socialization in their childhood before drifting away. Some, for example, say they were shocked by the sexual misconduct scandals involving Catholic leaders.
At the other end of the spectrum are those who are quietly disaffiliated. They were exposed to some religious culture in their youth that naturally faded, often because their parents abandoned their religious practice. In their case, it was an erosion process, rather than a break, that came into play.
And between the two, there are the unaffiliated, who were never introduced to a religious practice as children.
But non-affiliation doesn’t mean all religious practice has been abandoned. Indeed, the young people surveyed say they’ve found other sources that provide them with meaning and answers to their spiritual and existential questions, with science, philosophy, a vision of the common good, personal development pop psychology, family ties and friendships playing an important role. Professor Perreault is now focusing his research on this religious reconfiguration among people with no religion.