In 1996 Terence Murphy concluded a history of Canadian Christianity by declaring that ‘the concept of “Christendom” – that is of a society where Christianity and culture are essentially integrated, is gone for ever in Canada’. He went on to claim: ‘The defining reality of contemporary Canadian society is pluralism, which includes not only cultural, racial and religious diversity, but also the recognition of tolerance and of differing beliefs and customs as a basic societal value.’ In 1956, when 61 per cent of the population said they had attended a place of worship during the preceding week, Canada had ranked among the most strongly churchgoing of Western countries. By 1990 this figure had dropped to 23 per cent. This was still higher than in many European countries. But it was hardly surprising that Canadians were conscious of having entered a new era in their history.

In Britain churchgoing had never been as high, even at the peak of the Victorian religious boom, as in Canada, and by 1990 the weekly attendance rate was around 10 per cent. Callum Brown, in a much-discussed book published in 2001, felt able to adopt a more apocalyptic tone. He began: