I’ve worked a lot of jobs in my lifetime. From grave digging, to brick and block laborer, farm worker, to factory worker, to warehouse worker, to painter, to ditch digger, to leaky basement laborer, to ski lift operator, to worker in the water well drilling industry. But the one job I really dreaded heading out the door each day was in 2011. I was a census enumerator. My territory entailed about 500 households. I had to hand deliver the census forms in a certain order. Every household would get a census form. But every fourth household would be the dreaded long form. As soon as the home owner realized who I was, they would either be cold towards me, agitated or downright hostile and instantly hating me. It was an awful feeling being so hated and despised.

The short form was short and simple. How many people live at the residence. Their gender. Their ages. Which languages do they use at home, and if they use English or French in public. That’s it. Two or three minutes for a family of four and they’re done. Even then there were some resisters that did not want to complete the form. The long form is what caused me the most grief. This form would take twenty to thirty minutes to complete. There was a lot more detail and personal questions asked such as ethnicity, education, employment, commuting distance, health conditions, house size and age. And so on. The two biggies that seemed to trigger people were income for each person and religious affiliation for each person. I learned very quickly people do not like to declare what their income or religious affiliation is on a government form. In 2011, it was voluntary for households to fill out the long form. But the census enumerators were required to try and talk the people into completing it. It was a nightmare. The enumerators like myself took a lot of abuse. In eight weeks I was on the receiving end of far more derogatory comments and expletives than in my entire lifetime. It definitely put my Christian faith to the test.

Other census enumerators in the region were quitting, but I stuck it out to the end. In fact I took over and wrapped up two other routes where the enumerators had quit. This extended my tenure of census enumerator from five weeks to eight weeks. Jobs were scarce in 2011. I had no other job to go to and needed the money to pay bills and feed the family. However, for my own mental health and well being, I was glad to see the time when this all came to an end. As one who does like going over statistics, I do enjoy reading the final results of the work the enumerators did. But what I find extremely intriguing and fascinating is what people have stated as their religious affiliation. In the latest 2021 census, 53.3% reported a Christian religious affiliation, 34.6% reported no religious affiliation (atheist, agnostic, humanist or other secular perspectives) and 12.1% another religious affiliation. With 53.3% stating a Christian affiliation, this “technically” makes Canada a Christian nation. It just didn’t add up, 53.3% being Christian seemed way too high. If 53.3% of our population were Christian, they would be worshipping God each Sunday in church. Our churches would literally be overflowing. So I came up with a term, and if you were to Google it you won’t find it. I call it “Shirttail Christianity”. Well Grandma went to church, Grandma taught Sunday School, Grandma read her Bible and prayed each day. Grandma was a Christian. So that must make me a Christian as well. People are hanging onto Grandmas shirttails for our Christian affiliation. As a result they write Christian as their religious affiliation on the census form.

Religious affiliation is very different from our ancestry lineage, where a person might say he or she is of Irish lineage. Religious affiliation is also different from religious faith. Religious faith is personal. It doesn’t depend on the faith that my Mom or Grandma or Great Grandma had. It is what faith we have on an individual basis. In John 3, Jesus is having a conversation with a devout religious leader named Nicodemus, when Jesus said in John 3:7, “You must be born again”. This is a personal faith, not an affiliation with the faith that Grandma might have had. We all know what a physical birth is. We all are alive because of it. For myself I was born physically on July 7, 1958 at Barrie, Ontario. After several tumultuous years where I was angry at God for the death of my dad when I was 15, I put my trust in Jesus. I was born again at the age of 20. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”

A birth certificate is one of the documents required when I applied for my passport indicating I am a Canadian citizen. I needed my passport when I travelled to and from New Zealand for my daughters wedding and to meet my grandchildren for the very first time. I used it to get through security going to New Zealand. I used it to get through security coming back to Canada. When I became a born again Christian, it meant that I now have two citizenships. One for Canada and one for Heaven. I don’t need a passport for Heaven because God already knows who I am. So there won’t be any need to go through any security either. That one way trip to Heaven will take place either when I die or if Jesus comes again while I am still living. Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”. The cool thing is, I’ll get to see both my dear Grandma and my mom again when that day comes. I have the same Christian faith and citizenship as they had.

After my one stint as census enumerator in 2011, a few months prior to each new census (held every five years), I would receive an email from Census Canada asking if I would again be an enumerator for the next census. Fortunately I had other work during those periods, so my answer was no. In reality I would have much preferred hand digging trenches or digging graves (jobs I have held in the past). The census job was an eye opener for me. It was quite alarming to me to see how agitated and angry people got over a simple question asking “religious affiliation”. Perhaps the question triggers them. People realize they don’t have the same faith as Grandma. And God’s Spirit was giving their conscience a little prick. Christian faith is personal. Hanging onto the shirttails of Grandmas faith will not get us into Heaven. If Census Canada really wanted to be more accurate, they should have “Born Again Christian” as one of the options. It really would give a much more accurate picture if Canada really indeed is a Christian country.