This is Reg Bibby. Reg is a sociology professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. He's spent the last 30 years studying the attitudes of Canadians about all kinds of different things. What he's really focused on is religion.

Nobody knows more about religious trends in Canada than Reg Bibby.

In his latest books, Restless Gods and Restless Churches, Reg has come up with some startling conclusions. Everybody thinks that people are ditching traditional churches and turning to other spiritualities or to atheism. But, Reg says, that's not true. In fact, 85% of Canadians still identify with a traditional religious grouping.

Even though they don't attend church like they used to, they still affiliate in huge numbers with the churches they went to as children or that their parents still attend.

From the inside, these people look "inactive." Like they've dropped out. Like they don't care. But according to Reg Bibby, that's a BIG mistake for churches to make. Because many of these people still think they belong. They will turn to the church that they know when they need something -- a wedding or a baptism, crisis counselling, programs for their kids, or a way of making sense out of life.

And, here's the most important thing: between 40 and 75% of them are open to becoming more involved if they consider it worthwhile for themselves or their families.

The BIG question for the churches is: What are they going to do about this? How can churches touch the lives of the people Bibby calls "affiliates" in such a way that they establish (or re-establish) a connection?

What do you think? Is Bibby right? Or is he wrong? That's what I'm interested in finding out.