A 2020 study by The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada suggests that only half of Canadians self-identify as religious, and only 10 per cent of Canadians attend religious services on a weekly basis. Is this the essence of secularization? Dr. Kevin Flatt, professor of history and associate dean of humanities, doesn’t think so. Rather, he believes that church decline merely scratches the surface. It goes much deeper, into the order of Western society.
Flatt has long been interested in the history of the Protestant church in Canada and secularization in Western societies. He argues that understanding secularization to be more about construction than subtraction is key to understanding the changing culture around us.
According to Flatt, in secular society, citizens’ shared social lives do not appeal to a higher power but rather to human considerations alone. Rather than a simple removal, Western societies are grappling with a shift. “It is not just an empty space or a neutral space … [Our culture] reflects a certain understanding of what it means to be human in the universe and what it means to live together,” says Flatt.
Redeemer recently hosted a faculty colloquium where Flatt shared further thoughts and findings on this topic, ideas found in the manuscript of a forthcoming book.
Determining the role of Christianity in contemporary life can be challenging, given the decline in church attendance alongside the public persistence of certain Christian values. Flatt clarifies that secularization has not happened completely and that change often happens unevenly, over a number of centuries. He also cites English author and historian Tom Holland to explain that contemporary Western civilization continues to draw upon a value framework originating in the Christian faith and worldview.
In the face of opposition, Flatt shares, faith groups sometimes choose to withdraw into the private realm, keeping faith individualized and away from the public sphere. There are risks of compartmentalizing and, reflecting on the story of Jesus paying the template tax, Flatt proposes that although we are to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, we are to give God what is God’s—and that includes our whole lives.
“The problem with compartmentalizing is that when Christ claims us, when he is the Lord of our lives, that is a comprehensive claim. It’s a comprehensive claim on not just who I am as a worshipper at church or who I am in my own home or maybe as a parent to my kids, but also on how I act as a citizen, how I act as a member of a profession and how I act as a member of a community.”
… when Christ claims us, when he is the Lord of our lives, that is a comprehensive claim.
Flatt is highly engaged in national discussions about secularization. In October 2024, he was featured in a 100 Huntley Street special on the state of Christianity in Canada. In the interview, he explains that the 1960s were a particularly turbulent time for the Canadian church, specifically for mainline Protestants and Catholics. He also makes a critical observation regarding why the Canadian church has changed significantly over the past 25 years.
“You have this really large group of people in Canada who retain some sense of Christian identity … but they don’t go to church regularly, maybe very occasionally. They don’t have strong Christian beliefs or practices that they’re involved in. And so really what has happened since 2000 or so is that a lot of those people who would have identified as Christian before have stopped identifying as Christian.”
Despite the challenges of a changing Canadian church, Flatt finds rest in the knowledge that our hope is not rooted in anything earthly.
“Our hope is grounded in God, who is the creator and sustainer of the universe, who is our Redeemer. My hope for the future is that the future is in God’s hands. He is working out his purposes in history. He’s working out his purposes in this very specific context that we’re in. We’re his instruments.”
Flatt also notes some positive trends and patterns in the Canadian church. First, evangelical Protestant churches have been surprisingly resilient in comparison to mainline Protestant and Catholic churches and score high in sociological research on believing and living out orthodox Christian beliefs. Second, a number of public figures have become friendlier to Christianity, as witnessed through Christian apologist Wes Huff’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience or Richard Dawkins’ claim to be a “cultural Christian.” Finally, younger generations, compared to baby boomers, seem to have higher levels of commitment to faith, the church and the church’s teachings.
“For the ones who are [interested], there’s a kind of seriousness. They’re not doing it because it’s the ‘thing to do.’”
Flatt’s research is an example of how Redeemer faculty from all disciplines approach their scholarship and teaching from a Reformed Christian worldview. Flatt is involved in a number of efforts to innovate Redeemer programming to equip future Christian leaders, such as exploring the potential of master’s programs in the humanities.
Flatt encourages Christians to trust in God’s timeline and hold onto the promise that he will sustain his church. He looks to C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity for some helpful perspective, in which the author both recognizes the church’s current growing pains and anticipates future unity: “Never forget that we are all still ‘the early Christians.’”