Douglas Todd: In this cosmopolitan region — despite scores of different cultures, languages and religions — there are still ways to come together in community and magic.

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Slowing down. Gathering with family and friends. Enjoying wide-eyed children. Savouring the lights and music. Walking a foggy beach. Going further to be kind.

In a cosmopolitan region like Metro Vancouver — with scores of different cultures, languages and religions and almost half its three million residents born in another country — it can be a challenge to come together as a community over the Christmas season.

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That’s probably why many have turned to calling it the holiday season. Still, regardless of background, diverse Canadians in multiple ways still find the Christmas period one of the most enjoyable, uplifting and magical of the year. There are universal aspects we have in common.

That’s regardless of Christmas’s historic origins in Christianity. Now, only 33 per cent of residents of Metro Vancouver count themselves as Christians, according to the 2021 census. That compares to 60 per cent in 1991. It is the lowest proportion of Christians in any major urban region in North America.

By comparison, 46 per cent Greater Toronto residents are Christian, as are 59 per cent of those in New York City and 65 per cent in Los Angeles. The lowest proportion of Christians in any big American city, according to Pew Research, is in culturally progressive San Francisco, which, at 48 per cent, still has a higher ratio than Metro Vancouver.

Given this urban region has gone through a seismic demographic shift in regard to religion, how........

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