Religious Intermarriage in Canada, 1981 to 2011

Abstract

AbstractIs the social influence of religion weakening as the ranks of the unaffiliated grow and religious attendance falls? Will these changes extend to religion's influence on marriage? This research note contributes to these discussions by examining religious intermarriage as another indicator of religion's social influence. Increased religious intermarriage may indicate a weakening of traditional norms of religious endogamy and a decline in religion's social influence. Descriptive results from examining Canadian census and survey data from 1981 to 2011 show that religious intermarriage increased from 14 percent in 1981 to 19 percent in 2011, but varies by religion and other characteristics. Results from probit models confirm the descriptive findings and further reveal three trends: increasing intermarriage for Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Buddhists; low and stable intermarriage for Hindus and Sikhs; and decreasing intermarriage for Muslims and the unaffiliated. The findings provide a descriptive base for future research to elaborate and explain the different trends and their implications for religion's social influence on marriage and how this may be changing in societies where religious identity and attendance are also changing.