ARE CHRISTIANS BECOMING THE RELIGION NOBODY WANTS TO DEFEND?

  By Dale Jodoin Columnist                                               People went to church to pray. They never came home. In parts of Africa, Christians are being murdered for their faith. In the West, the danger is very different. Hate crimes against Christians are documented, churches are closing and fewer people identify as Christian. Yet something unexpected is happening. Some young people, especially young men, appear to be looking toward Christianity again. So what is happening? Is Christianity disappearing, changing to survive, or beginning another chapter? Hatred against anyone because of religion is wrong. Attacking any place of worship is wrong. This column is about Christians. In July 2025, militants attacked a Catholic night vigil in Komanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dozens were killed. They went to pray. Their families expected them home. Instead, they became another statistic. Open Doors reports that 4,849 Christians were killed for faith related reasons during its latest reporting period. Of those, 4,491 were killed in sub Saharan Africa. Nigeria alone accounted for 3,490. The violence has many causes. Terrorism, crime, land disputes, ethnic conflict and weak governments can overlap. But Christians are also deliberately targeted because they are Christian. In one part of the world, people are dying to keep their faith. A Different West England and Wales recorded 502 hate crimes targeting Christians in the year ending March 2025. Canada also records hate crimes against Christian groups, although its categories make a complete number for all Christian denominations difficult to isolate. Then there are the incidents police never hear about. Someone wearing a cross is threatened and walks away. Someone is harassed because of Christian beliefs and decides reporting it isn't worth the trouble. Nobody knows how often that happens. An incident nobody reports becomes a victim nobody counts. That leaves something worth investigating. Do Christian victims believe hostility toward their faith will be taken seriously? Look at the Buildings The next part of the story can be seen from the street. The cross is still on the roof. The FOR SALE sign is on the lawn. Churches that stood for generations are closing, merging or being sold. Others have burned to the ground, but that is a discussion for another article. In 2001, 77.1 per cent of Canadians identified as Christian. By 2021, it was 53.3 per cent. That is a major change in 20 years. The churches still open are trying to find their place in a society that has changed around them. Some have changed their music and language. Others have changed how they approach modern social issues. This is not about deciding which church is right. It is about observing what is happening. Some Christians call these changes renewal. Others worry Christianity is being changed to fit modern society. That brings the argument back to its centre. Is Christianity disappearing, or adapting? The Weight of the Past Christianity has a long history containing great good and terrible wrongs. Both should be taught honestly. But today's Christian child didn't create that history. A teenager wearing a cross is responsible for how that teenager behaves today, not for something done generations ago. If young Christians begin seeing their faith as something embarrassing to admit, the decline becomes about more than empty buildings. But just when the numbers appear to point in one direction, something else is happening. Young people may be coming back. Recent American research from Barna found increased church engagement among younger adults. In 2026, 40 per cent of Protestant pastors surveyed reported increased engagement among men aged 18 to 35. That does not prove a revival. But it makes Christianity's future much harder to predict. Some may be searching for faith. Others may be looking for belonging, discipline or meaning. Nobody knows where it leads. And that leaves two images. On one street, an old church stands nearly empty. The cross is still on the roof. The FOR SALE sign is on the lawn. Somewhere else, a young man walks into a church for the first time and sits down. One looks like an ending. The other could be a beginning.