Editing Pacific Northwest (section)

===Spirituality and religion===
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Religion in the Pacific Northwest
|-
! Religion
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |British Columbia ([[2021 Canadian census|2021]])<ref name="canadareligion">{{Cite web |last=Government of Canada |first=Statistics Canada |date=October 26, 2022 |title= Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=British%20Columbia&DGUIDlist=2021A000259&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 |access-date=November 9, 2022 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Washington (2014 [[estimate|est]].)<ref name="pewwashington">{{Cite web  |title=Religious Landscape Study-Adults in Washington|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/washington/|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Oregon (2014 [[estimate|est]].)<ref name="peworegon">{{Cite web  |title=Religious Landscape Study-Adults in Oregon|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/oregon/|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Idaho (2014 [[estimate|est]].)<ref name="pewidaho">{{Cite web  |title=Religious Landscape Study-Adults in Idaho |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/idaho/|access-date=August 19, 2023}}</ref>
|-
! Affiliation
! colspan="8"|% of population
|-
| [[Christian]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 34||2||background:darkblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 61||2||background:darkblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 61||2||background:darkblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 67||2||background:darkblue}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Protestant]]
|align=right| {{bartable|10||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|40||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|43||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|37||2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Catholic]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 12||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 17||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 12||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 10||2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Mormon]]
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| {{bartable| 3||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 4||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 19||2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 2||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| Other Christian/Not Specified
|align=right| {{bartable|11||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|1||2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| [[Irreligious|Unaffiliated]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 52||2||background:purple}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 33||2||background:purple}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 32||2||background:purple}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 28||2||background:purple}}
|-
| Non-Christian
|align=right| {{bartable|14||2||background:darkgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|6||2||background:darkgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|7||2||background:darkgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|4||2||background:darkgreen}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Sikh]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 6||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Muslim]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 3||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Buddhist]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 2||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Hindu]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 2||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| <1
|
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| [[Jewish]]
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable| 2||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| <1
|
|-
| style="text-align:left; text-indent:15px;"| Other faith
|align=right| {{bartable|1||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|3||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|4||2||background:lightgreen}}
|align=right| {{bartable|2||2||background:lightgreen}}
|-
| '''Total''' 
| 
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|}
The Pacific Northwest has the lowest rate of church attendance in the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage of [[atheists|atheism]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religionatlas.org/religion_region/COASTALNORTHWEST.htm |title=Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest |work=Religionatlas.org |access-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511110025/http://www.religionatlas.org/religion_region/COASTALNORTHWEST.htm |archive-date=May 11, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-07-no-religion.htm | work=USA Today | title=Charting the unchurched in America | date=March 7, 2002 | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> this is most pronounced on the part of the region west of the Cascades.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm |title=Religious identification in the U.S |work=Religioustolerance.org |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=October 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005071548/http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> A recent study indicates that one quarter of those in Washington and Oregon have no religion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/aris_report_2008.pdf|title=American Religious Identification Survey|date=March 2009}}</ref> Similarly, according to the 2011 National Household Survey, 44% of British Columbia residents reported no religion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105399&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=National Household Survey|year=2011}}</ref>

Religion plays a smaller part in Pacific Northwest politics than in the rest of the United States. The [[Christian right|religious right]] has considerably less political influence than in other regions. Political conservatives in the Pacific Northwest tend to identify more strongly with free-market [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] values than they do with more religious [[social conservatives]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Vance |first=Chris |url=http://www.crosscut.com/politics-government/5511/ |title=Crosscut Seattle – Why Washington Republicans got creamed in 2006 and what they can do about it |work=[[Crosscut.com]] |date=July 24, 2007 |access-date=August 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729200355/http://www.crosscut.com/politics-government/5511/ |archive-date=July 29, 2012 }}</ref>

That said, three of the four major international [[charities]] in the region are religious in nature: [[World Concern]], [[World Vision International]], and [[Mercy Corps]]. This is part of a long tradition of activist religion. The [[Skid Road]] Group, a shelter offering soup and sermons to the [[unemployment|unemployed]] and recovering [[alcoholics]], was launched in Vancouver, with the [[Salvation Army]] having deep roots in the [[Gastown]] district, dating back to the era of the construction of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] (1880s) and attained prominence in the same centers during the [[Klondike Gold Rush]].

The region is also known as a magnet for a wide range of philosophical and spiritual belief systems. Eastern spiritual beliefs have been adopted by an unusually large number of people (by North American standards), and [[Tibetan Buddhism]] in particular has a strong local following.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/us/11seattle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Dalai Lama Arrives for a Five-Day Conference in Seattle, Very Much His Kind of Town | first=William | last=Yardley | date=April 11, 2008 | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> The Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association, claimed to be the largest organization of its kind in the world, was founded in Portland in 1993.

The region is home to many unique Christian communities, ranging from the [[Doukhobors]] to the [[Mennonites]]. The Mennonite Central Committee Supportive Care Services is based in the British Columbia city of Abbotsford.<ref>[http://www.mccscs.com/cms/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=9 Mennonite Central Committee Supportive Care Services] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819235828/http://www.mccscs.com/cms/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=9 |date=August 19, 2006 }}</ref> The [[Mennonite Central Committee]] and the [[Mennonite Disaster Service]] enjoy a heavy rate of enlistment and donations from the strong Mennonite community in British Columbia's [[Fraser Valley]]. The Doukhobors, whose church is the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, are a Russian [[Anabaptist]] sect whose migration to Canada was aided by Count [[Leo Tolstoy]], and who are today focused in the [[West Kootenay]] and [[Boundary Country|Boundary]] regions of Southeastern British Columbia. Their history in Canada includes resistance to state education and industrial development (see [[Sons of Freedom (political group)|Sons of Freedom]]). Also, within the region, there is a fairly strong representation of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] churches (Greek, Russian, Serbian, and others), as well as the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]]. Oregon's [[Willamette Valley]] has a large population of [[Old Believers|Russian Old Believers]].<ref>[http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=764E6BED-FFC4-C034-9A5563F41CE37080 Oregon Historical Society article about Old Believers]. Retrieved February 9, 2007.</ref> Religious sees that are based in the Pacific Northwest include the Roman Catholic [[ecclesiastical province]]s of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon|Portland]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle|Seattle]], and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver|Vancouver]], [[Province 8 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America]], the Anglican [[Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon]], and the [[suffragan]] dioceses that make up those provinces.

Yogic teachings, Sufism, tribal and ancient beliefs and other philosophies are widely studied and appreciated in the region. The [[Lower Mainland]] of British Columbia has a very large [[Sikhism|Sikh]] community. Oregon has a considerable [[Quakers|Quaker]] ([[Society of Friends]]) population. There has been major growth in [[Chinese Buddhism|Chinese Buddhist]] temples since the increase in immigration from [[East Asia]] in the 1980s, especially in Vancouver.

Also in Vancouver, there is a small [[Hindu]] population, a number of Parsee ([[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]]), and an emerging [[Islam|Muslim]], especially the 11,000-strong [[Ismaili]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Ismaili Success: Made in Vancouver| date=July 2, 2006| url=https://www.bcbusiness.ca/ismaili-success-made-in-vancouver}}</ref> population from [[South Asia]], the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.

Two of the five [[Shingon]] Buddhist temples in America are in Seattle.<ref name="Lee Matsuoka Yee Nakasone 2015 p. 883">{{cite book | last1=Lee | first1=J.H.X. | last2=Matsuoka | first2=F. | last3=Yee | first3=E. | last4=Nakasone | first4=R.Y. | title=Asian American Religious Cultures  | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-59884-331-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=taNZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA794 | page=794}}</ref>

Some people in the area also embrace alternative [[religion]], such as [[New Age]] spirituality and [[Neo-Paganism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=184701&page=1 |title=ABC News: School Says Halloween Disrespectful to Witches |work=ABC News |date=October 21, 2004 |access-date=February 19, 2011}}</ref> A [[New Thought]] church called [[Living Enrichment Center]] with 4,000 members was in [[Wilsonville, Oregon]], from 1992 to 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-3209-the_prophet_margin.html |title=the Prophet margin |author=Janine Robben |work=wweek.com |date=May 19, 2004 |access-date=November 22, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Brother Twelve]] ran a controversial commune in the [[Gulf Islands]] of British Columbia early in the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=Nanaimo Daily News | date=February 14, 1987 | page=3 | last=MacMillan | first=Neil | title=Wardill recalls Brother XII | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nanaimo-daily-news-broxii-nanaimo/130053706/}}</ref>
* The [[Emissaries of Divine Light]] are a notable presence in the region of [[100 Mile House]], British Columbia and also have a large ashram on [[Kootenay Lake]], northeast of [[Nelson, British Columbia]].<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The Province | location=Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | date=August 8, 1970 | page=61 | title=The village that lives in the shadow of a cult | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-province-kootenay-cult/130053862/}}</ref>
* The followers of the Guru [[Rajneesh]], the ''[[sannyasins]]'', established a center for their beliefs and lifestyle near [[Antelope, Oregon]], which included an [[ashram]] complex as well as, for a while, an attempted takeover of the local economy.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=Statesman Journal | location= Salem, Oregon  | last=Shay | first=Ted | date=May 29, 1983 | page=41 | title=Legislative action asked in Antelope-Rajneesh impasse | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/statesman-journal-rajneesh-antelope/130054497/}}</ref>
* The training school of the immortal (according to the organization) being [[Ramtha]] is headquartered in [[Yelm, Washington]].<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The News Tribune | location=Tacoma, Washington| last1=Larson | first1=Gary | last2=Merryman | first2=Kathleen | date=March 29, 1987 | page=1 | title=Ramtha teachings paying off for J. Z. Knight | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-ramtha-yale/130053970/}}</ref>
* [[Eckhart Tolle]], author of ''[[The Power of Now]]'', lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=Calgary Herald | date=February 27, 1999 | page=113 | last=Legge | first=Gordon | title=Spiritual guide blissed by joy of Being | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-tolle-vancouver/130054080/}}</ref>
* [[Neale Donald Walsch]], author of ''[[Conversations with God]]'', lives in Ashland, Oregon, where he runs a retreat center.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The News Tribune | location= Tacoma, Washington   | date=September 2, 2000 | page=17 | last=Maynard | first=Steve | title=God speaks to all who listen, author says | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-walsch-retreat/130054196/}}</ref>