What about longitudinal variations? Surveys show a steady decline of religious participation in postwar Europe and Canada, and other sources (religious censuses, church record) suggest that the decline began during the late nineteenth century. Can this decline in vitality be traced either to a decline in pluralism or to an increase in regulation? That is not what the historical record suggest. Generally speaking, relations between church and state were becoming looser, rather than tighter, during this period, and new religious movements and denominations were emerging and expanding. Thus, the decline in vitality seems to have coincided with growth in pluralism and a decrease in regulation, a picture confirmed in longitudinal studies of Canada, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Sweden. These trends in religious pluralism, regulation, and participation seem to have been general in Europe.