Is Australia losing its religion?

Glenn - The Census Expert

Glenn is our resident Census expert. After ten years working at the ABS, Glenn's deep knowledge of the Census has been a crucial input in the development of our community profiles. These tools help everyday people uncover the rich and important stories about our communities that are often hidden deep in the Census data. Glenn is also our most prolific blogger - if you're reading this, you've just finished reading one of his blogs. Take a quick look at the front page of our blog and you'll no doubt find more of Glenn's latest work. As a client manager, Glenn travels the country giving sought-after briefings to councils and communities (these are also great opportunities for Glenn to tend to his rankings in Geolocation games such as Munzee and Geocaching).

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7 Responses

  1. Antoinette Geagea says:

    Yes we are. I believe that our religion helps us on a pathway through life, helps to develop values that are a guide to how to treat each other. No morals by which we measure our behaviours. Young people have no moral compass to guide their actions, thoughts and attitudes about others in their families, neighbourhoods or societies.

  2. Leo says:

    Religion? Its about time it become irrelevant to human existence on this planet. It will find a place in history a thousand years from now in the same way as witchcraft and all other ancient mysticisms. The only religion that will develop over time is that of the constructive humanists which will be reflected in the laws of the planet. people who have a need for metaphysical justifications for existing or for dying will eventually get some form of medical treatment for their condition that will help them accept reality for what it is without mystical justifications for their existence. This transition will be supported by a solution to ageing via genetic engineering. Immortal man will become the new Gods for the universe for any primitive life form similar to us at this point in time. So lets give all current Gods the sack and get on with the inevitable human evolution toward the new base for the future which is that of the Constructive Humanist ideology and its supportive laws. All human created religions are not good enough for us aspiring humanists. Man has invented God and is capable of de-inventing God and the imperfect religious laws that support him/her with consequential misery to most on this planet. Religious people need to grow up become wiser objective and more existentialist. Man kind is responsible for creating its future and no one else. To be a humanist is to do their fictitious Gods work.

  3. Well I did say the religion question is controversial! Great to see some pretty much diametrically opposing views here!

  4. Prabhat Gupta says:

    Glenn – I will go slightly off tangent here and once you read it I am sure you will understand.

    We all talk about “TOLERANCE” between religions. However if you look at word it TOLERANCE it means this according to Janet Haag, editor of Sacred Journey, a Princeton-based multi-faith journal.

    “Haag explained that the Latin origin of “tolerance” refers to enduring and does not convey mutual affirmation or support: “[The term] also implicitly suggests an imbalance of power in the relationship, with one of the parties in the position of giving or withholding permission for the other to be.”

    The Latin word for respect, by contrast, “presupposes we are equally worthy of honor. There is no room for arrogance and exclusivity in mutual respect.”

    So when there is a mandate for conversion in some religions how can there be MUTUAL RESPECT as opposed to TOLERANCE (according to Nicene Creed doctrine *all* are born sinners and only true belief in christ can one be redeemed!)

    Now for the answers:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajiv-malhotra/hypocrisy-of-tolerance_b_792239.html?ir=Australia

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajiv-malhotra/dharma-and-the-new-pope_b_2755683.html?ir=Australia

    So we all need to work even more to convince others that ‘they’ are free and we all have MUTUAL RESPECT towards each other instead of PATRONIZING TOLERANCE.

  5. Roslyn Brown says:

    I cannot believe that ‘Christian’ is not a listed option in the 2016 census! How can the census creators not understand that Anglican, Presbyterian, Uniting, Baptist etc are denominations, not religions. This makes my choice hard. I want to declare myself first and foremost to be a Christian, as I share unity with other Christians, but I also want to show loyalty to my denomination – Presbyterian.

    • Hi Roslyn,

      The ABS has categories for all the Christian denominations. You can write in “Christian” in the other box, and this will be put in the category “Christian, nfd” (or not further described), which is part of the overall Christian total. In fact this category was one of the fastest growing responses in the last Census, up by nearly 50% (you can see it in the charts above).

      If you do mark Presbyterian you will still be counted in the broader Christian category too, it’s a subcategory of the Christian religions. The main question responses on the form don’t really show that religion is a hierarchical variable, meaning it has subcategories within broader categories like this.

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