The State Of Canadian Christianity Is Much Much Worse Than Most Realize

There are survey results that make you pause. Then there are survey results that leave you wondering whether entire generations have sat in church buildings without ever hearing the basic truths of the Christian faith.

A newly released State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries Canada and Lifeway Research falls firmly into the second category.

The findings are nothing short of shocking.

What makes them even more alarming is that these are not the beliefs of the general Canadian public. These are the beliefs of people classified as evangelicals--the very segment of Christianity that has historically been known for taking the Bible seriously, emphasizing personal salvation through Jesus Christ, and defending core Christian doctrine.

If these are the beliefs of evangelicals, one can only imagine what similar polling might reveal among Canada's increasingly liberal mainline denominations.

The survey found that 73 percent of Canadian evangelicals agreed with the statement that "Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God." Another 60 percent agreed that "Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature."

Those answers directly contradict one of the most foundational teachings of Christianity.

The Bible teaches that humanity has inherited a fallen nature through Adam's sin. Scripture repeatedly describes mankind as spiritually dead, separated from God, and in desperate need of redemption. The Gospel itself begins with the reality that humanity has a sin problem that cannot be solved through personal goodness or moral effort.

If people are born innocent and are mostly good by nature, then why did Jesus have to die?

That is not a minor theological disagreement. It strikes at the very heart of the Gospel message.

Yet the surprises do not stop there.

Perhaps one of the most astonishing findings in the survey is that 66 percent of Canadian evangelicals agreed with the statement that "The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being."

This is remarkable because 93 percent of the same respondents affirmed belief in the Trinity.

How can both statements be true?

The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--three distinct persons sharing one divine essence. To deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit is to deny a central component of the Trinity itself.

It would be similar to claiming belief in a triangle while insisting one of its sides does not exist.

The survey appears to reveal what the late theologian R.C. Sproul often called "happy inconsistencies"--people affirming Christian labels while simultaneously holding beliefs that undermine those very labels.

But even that explanation may not fully account for what these numbers reveal.

Consider another statistic.

Forty-five percent of Canadian evangelicals agreed that "Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God."

Read that again.

Nearly half of self-identified evangelicals deny the deity of Christ.

Yet according to the survey's own definition, these same individuals affirm that the Bible is their highest authority and that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone.

The contradiction is staggering.

The New Testament repeatedly and explicitly identifies Jesus as divine. The opening chapter of John's Gospel declares that "the Word was God." Thomas worships the risen Christ by declaring, "My Lord and my God." Jesus Himself accepted worship, forgave sins, and claimed titles reserved for God alone.

Christianity without the deity of Christ is not Christianity at all.

It becomes merely another moral philosophy built around a remarkable teacher.

The survey also found that 28 percent of Canadian evangelicals believe the Bible contains helpful myths but is not literally true.

Again, the contradiction is difficult to ignore.

How can Scripture be the highest authority in someone's life if it is viewed primarily as mythology?

An authority that cannot be trusted cannot truly function as an authority.

The deeper issue revealed by this survey may be the growing disconnect between Christian identity and Christian understanding.

For generations, many Canadians have continued to identify as Christian culturally even as biblical literacy has collapsed. Churches have increasingly emphasized feelings over doctrine, experience over truth, and personal fulfillment over discipleship.

The result is a Christianity that often retains Christian vocabulary while losing Christian content.

People still use words like salvation, grace, faith, and Jesus. But many no longer understand what those words actually mean.

This is not merely a Canadian problem. Similar surveys in the United States have shown troubling levels of theological confusion. But Canada's increasingly secular culture appears to be accelerating the trend.

For decades, Christian leaders warned that biblical illiteracy would eventually produce doctrinal confusion. That prediction now appears to be playing out before our eyes.

The solution is not despair but discipleship.

The Church does not need better marketing strategies. It does not need trendier programs. It does not need more cultural accommodation.

It needs a renewed commitment to teaching the Word of God clearly, faithfully, and unapologetically.

The Apostle Paul warned that a time would come when people would not endure sound doctrine. We may be witnessing the consequences of that warning today.

These survey results should serve as a wake-up call for every pastor, church leader, parent, and believer in Canada.

A nation cannot preserve biblical Christianity if it no longer understands what biblical Christianity teaches.

The numbers in this survey are not merely statistics. They are a spiritual alarm bell ringing across the Canadian Church.

And it is getting harder to ignore.