Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:34:28.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religion and Grassroots Social Conservatism in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2019

Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme Open the ORCID record for Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme [Opens in a new window]  and
Sam Reimer
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1
Sam Reimer
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Crandall University, 333 Gorge Rd., Moncton, NB, E1G 3H9
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

With a decisive Liberal party electoral victory in 2015, observers are now wondering if religious conservatism's role in the Canadian political landscape is waning. Using data from the Canadian Election Study (CES) from the years 2004 to 2015, we find that respondents’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage and women working outside the home have moved left on the spectrum among both the general population and more religious voters. However, this does not go hand in hand with a decline in the effect strength of religiosity on the Conservative vote, which remains significant across the five federal elections examined in this study. Conservative religious voters now make up a smaller share of the adult population, but their issue positions on sexual morals and gender roles, along with the wider conservative value orientation these issues represent, remain important in their vote choice.

Résumé

Avec la victoire électorale décisive du Parti libéral en 2015, les observateurs se demandent maintenant si le rôle du conservatisme religieux dans le paysage politique canadien s'estompe. En utilisant les données de l'ÉÉC 2004-2015, nous constatons que les attitudes des répondants à l'égard du mariage homosexuel et des femmes qui travaillent hors du foyer se sont déplacées à gauche sur l'échelle, tant parmi la population générale que parmi les électeurs plus religieux. Toutefois, cela ne va pas de pair avec une diminution de la force de l'effet de la religiosité sur le vote des conservateurs, qui demeure importante dans les cinq élections fédérales examinées dans la présente étude. Les électeurs religieux conservateurs représentent maintenant une plus petite part de la population adulte, mais leurs positions sur la morale sexuelle et les rôles sexuels ainsi que l'orientation plus large des valeurs conservatrices que ces questions représentent demeurent importantes dans leur choix électoral.

Keywords

religionconservatismsame-sex marriagegender rolesvote choicefederal electionsissue positionsvaluesCanada
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 865 - 881
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adkins, Todd, Layman, Geoffrey C., Campbell, David E. and Green, John C.. 2013. “Religious Group Cues and Citizen Policy Attitudes in the United States.” Politics and Religion 6 (2): 235–63.Google Scholar
Anderson, Robert and Fetner, Tina. 2008. “Cohort Differences in Tolerance of Homosexuality.” Public Opinion Quarterly 72 (2): 311–30.Google Scholar
Ang, Adrian and Petrocik, John R.. 2012. “Religion, Religiosity, and the Moral Divide in Canadian Politics.” Politics and Religion 5 (1): 103–32.Google Scholar
Basen, Ira. 2013. “From ‘Bible Bill’ to Stephen Harper: The Evolution of Faith-Based Politics.” CBC News, March 15. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-bible-bill-to-stephen-harper-the-evolution-of-faith-based-politics-1.1369490 (March 9, 2017).Google Scholar
Bean, Lydia and Martinez, Brandon C.. 2014. “Evangelical Ambivalence toward Gays and Lesbians.” Sociology of Religion 75 (3): 395–417.Google Scholar
Bélanger, Paul and Eagles, Munroe. 2006. “The Geography of Class and Religion in Canadian Elections Revisited.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 39 (3): 591–609.Google Scholar
Bibby, Reginald W. 2017. Resilient Gods: Being Pro-Religious, Low Religious, and No Religious in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Bibby, Reginald W. and Reid, Angus. 2016. Canada's Catholics: Vitality and Hope in a New Era. Toronto: Novalis.Google Scholar
Blais, André. 2005. “Accounting for the Electoral Success of the Liberal Party in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 38 (4): 821–40.Google Scholar
Blais, André, Gidengil, Elisabeth, Nadeau, Richard and Nevitte, Neil. 2002. Anatomy of a Liberal Victory: Making Sense of the Vote in the 2000 Canadian Election. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Blais, André and Loewen, Peter. 2009. “Youth Electoral Engagement in Canada.” Elections Canada. https://www.elections.ca/res/rec/part/youeng/yeefr-2011-eng.pdf (April 9, 2019).Google Scholar
Bramadat, Paul and Seljak, David, ed. 2005. Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Toronto: Pearson.Google Scholar
Clarke, Brian and Macdonald, Stuart. 2017. Leaving Christianity: Changing Allegiances in Canada since 1945. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Kornberg, Allen, Scotto, Thomas and Twynman, Joe. 2006. “Flawless Campaign, Fragile Victory: Voting in Canada's 2006 Federal Election.” Political Science and Politics 37 (4): 815–19.Google Scholar
Dostie-Goulet, Eugénie. 2006. “Le mariage homosexuel et le vote au Canada.” Politique et Sociétés 25 (1): 129–44.Google Scholar
Elections Canada. 2016. “Voter Turnout by Age Group.” http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=rec/eval/pes2015/vtsa&document=table1&lang=e (November 23, 2018).Google Scholar
Fournier, Patrick, Cutler, Fred, Soroka, Stuart and Stolle, Dietlind. 2017. Canadian Election Study (CES), 2004–2015. CES data available for download at http://ces-eec.arts.ubc.ca/english-section/surveys/.Google Scholar
Fournier, Patrick, Cutler, Fred, Soroka, Stuart, Stolle, Dietlind and Bélanger, Éric. 2013. “Riding the Orange Wave: Leadership, Values, Issues, and the 2011 Canadian Election.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 46 (4): 863–97.Google Scholar
Geddes, John. 2015. “The Surprising Spoils of Income Splitting.” Maclean's, March 20. https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/new-numbers-on-who-wins-from-income-splitting/ (March 29, 2019).Google Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, Blais, André, Everitt, Joanna, Fournier, Patrick and Nevitte, Neil. 2012. Dominance and Decline: Making Sense of Recent Canadian Elections. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Guth, James L. and Fraser, Cleveland R.. 2001. “Religion and Partisanship in Canada.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40 (1): 51–64.Google Scholar
Harrison, Brian F. and Michelson, Melissa R.. 2015. “God and Marriage: The Impact of Religious Identity Priming on Attitudes toward Same-Sex Marriage.” Social Science Quarterly 96 (5): 1411–23.Google Scholar
Hunter, James D. 1991. Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, Don and Hiemstra, Rick. 2009. “Canadian Evangelical Voting Trends by Region.” Church and Faith Trends 2 (3): 1–25. http://files.efc-canada.net/min/rc/cft/V02I03/Evangelical_Voting_Trends_1996-2008.pdf (December 5, 2018).Google Scholar
Johnston, Richard. 2012. “The Structural Bases of Canadian Party Preference: Evolution and Cross-National Comparison.” In The Canadian Election Studies: Assessing Four Decades of Influence, ed. Kanji, Mebs, Bilodeau, Antoine and Scotto, Thomas J.. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Kay, Barry J. and Perrella, Andrea M. L.. 2012. “Eclipse of Class: A Review of Demographic Variables, 1974–2006.” In The Canadian Election Studies: Assessing Four Decades of Influence, ed. Kanji, Mebs, Bilodeau, Antoine and Scotto, Thomas J.. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Malloy, Jonathan. 2010a. “Between American and Europe: Religion, Politics and Evangelicals in Canada.” Paper presented at the “Does God Matter? Representing Religion in the European Union and the United States” conference, Aston University.Google Scholar
Malloy, Jonathan. 2010b. “The Private Faith and Public Lives of Evangelical MPs.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Concordia University.Google Scholar
Malloy, Jonathan. 2011. “Canadian Evangelicals and Same-Sex Marriage.” In Faith, Politics, and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, ed. Rayside, David and Wilcox, Clyde. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Matthews, J. Scott. 2005. “The Political Foundations of Support for Same-Sex Marriage in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 38 (4): 841–66.Google Scholar
McDonald, Marci. 2011. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada. Toronto: Vintage Canada.Google Scholar
Meunier, E.-Martin and Wilkins-Laflamme, Sarah. 2011. “Sécularisation, catholicisme et transformation du régime de religiosité au Québec: Étude comparative avec le catholicisme au Canada (1968–2007).” Recherches Sociographiques 52 (3): 683–729.Google Scholar
Nicolet, Sarah and Tresch, Anke. 2009. “Changing Religiosity, Changing Politics? The Influence of ‘Belonging’ and ‘Believing’ on Political Attitudes in Switzerland.” Politics and Religion 2 (1): 76–99.Google Scholar
O'Neill, Brenda. 2001. “A Simple Difference of Opinion? Religious Beliefs and Gender Gaps in Public Opinion in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 34 (2): 275–98.Google Scholar
O'Toole, Roger, Campbell, Douglas F., Hannigan, John A., Beyer, Peter and Simpson, John H.. 1993. “The United Church in Crisis.” In The Sociology of Religion: A Canadian Focus, ed. Hewitt, Warren Edward. Toronto: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. and Campbell, David E.. 2010. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Raymond, Christopher. 2011. “The Continued Salience of Religious Voting in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain.” Electoral Studies 30 (1): 125–35.Google Scholar
Rayside, David. 2011. “The Conservative Party and Its Religious Constituencies.” In Faith, Politics and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, ed. Rayside, David and Wilcox, Clyde. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, Sam. 2003. Evangelicals and the Continental Divide: The Evangelical Subculture in Canada and the United States. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, Sam. 2008. “Does Religion Matter? Canadian Religious Traditions and Attitudes toward Diversity.” In Religion and Diversity in Canada, ed. Beaman, Lori G. and Beyer, Peter. Toronto: Brill.Google Scholar
Reimer, Sam. 2011. “Civility without Compromise”: Evangelical Attitudes toward Same-Sex Issues in Comparative Context.” In Faith, Politics and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States, ed. Rayside, David and Wilcox, Clyde. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, Sam. 2017. “Conservative Protestants and Religious Polarization in Canada.” Studies in Religion 48 (2): 187–208.Google Scholar
Reimer, Sam and Wilkinson, Michael. 2015. A Culture of Faith: Evangelical Congregations in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Smidt, Corwin E., Dulk, Kevin den, Froehle, Bryan, Penning, James, Monsma, Stephen and Koopman, Douglas. 2010. The Disappearing God Gap? Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stephenson, Laura B. 2010. “The Catholic-Liberal Connection: A Test of Strength.” In Voting Behaviour in Canada, ed. Anderson, Cameron D. and Stephenson, Laura B.. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Van der Brug, Wouter, Hobolt, Sara B. and de Vreese, Claes H.. 2009. “Religion and Party Choice in Europe.” West European Politics 32 (6): 1266–83.Google Scholar
Wilkins-Laflamme, Sarah. 2015. “How Unreligious Are the Religious ‘Nones’? Religious Dynamics of the Unaffiliated in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 40 (4): 477–500.Google Scholar
Wilkins-Laflamme, Sarah. 2016a. “The Changing Religious Cleavage in Canadians’ Voting Behaviour.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 49 (3): 499–518.Google Scholar
Wilkins-Laflamme, Sarah. 2016b. “Secularization and the Wider Gap in Values and Personal Religiosity between the Religious and Nonreligious.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55 (4): 717–36.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 1988. The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith since World War II. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wilkins-Laflamme and Reimer supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Wilkins-Laflamme and Reimer supplementary material(File)
File 45.7 KB