Religious Affiliation in Australia from 1945- 2016

Religion refers to pattern of the beliefs which people hold in a passionate manner. There are various kinds of religions in the society and each religion has different pattern of the beliefs. The religion landscape in Australia can be said to be diverse. Section 116 of that of the Constitution of Australia prohibit government from interfering in the religion of the people (Reimondos, Gray and Evans 2018). This report discusses about the religious affiliation in Australia from the year 1945 to the year 2016. The report analyses the trends and looks at the areas of growth or that of decline over a passage of time. The report elaborates on the reasons that have led to the changes in the religious landscape of Australia. The report also discusses about the opportunities along with the challenges that the Christian community within Australia would have to face if the trends continue.

Figure: Census from 1947-2011

Source: Abs.gov.au 2018

The census report show that the number of Anglicans has decreased in Australia from the year 1947 to the year 2011. The number of Catholic people in Australia has increased from the year 1947 in Australia. The table shows that the number of people in Australia who were Methodist continued to recede with the passage of time and by the year 1981 they disappeared from the society. The number of people who were practising the Presbyterian faith has diminished to a great extent in the Australian society.

The number of people who were following the Buddhist faith has increased from 0.01 in the year 1947 to 2.5 in the year 2011. In the similar pattern the number of the people having the religious affiliation of Hinduism has also increased from the year 1947 to the year 2011. There are a large number of people in Australia who do not practice any religion and this is evident owing to the fact that it was 0.3 in the year 1947 to that of 22.3 by the end of the year 2011.

Figure: Census Report 2011

Source: Abs.gov.au 2018

The census carried out in the year 2011 shows that Christianity continues to remain the dominant religion in Australia and 61.14 % of the population in Australia practise the Christian faith. There was a minor portion of the population who did not state their religious affiliation and it was around 8.55 % in the year 2011.

Figure: Changes in Religious Landscape in Australia

Source: Abs.gov.au 2018

The above table shows that the number of the Non-Christian in Australia has increased from 1105.10 in the year 2006 to 1546.30 in the year 2011. The growth of the Non-Christians can hence be stated to be around 39.92 %. The growth of the people practising Buddhism remains at 26.31 % as the number of people practising Buddhism has increased from 418.80 in the year 2006 to that of 1546 in the year 2011. The number of people practising Islam has also increased from 340.40 in the year 2006 to that of 476.30 in the year 2011.

Analysis of Trends

Figure: Comparison of Census report of 2011 and 2016

Source: Abs.gov.au 2018

The table shows that there has been an increase in the number of the people who did not have any religion from 22.3 % in the year 2011 to that of 30.1 % in the year 2016. The number of Anglicans have reduced from 17.1 % in the year 2011 to that of 13.3 % in the year 2016. There has also been an overall decrease in the number of people practising Hinduism from 1. 9 % to that of 1.3 %.

According to Abs.gov.au (2018), the religious trends in Australia highlight the fact that the people in Australia are growing disenchanted with that of the Anglican and the Methodist faith. Declaration of the factor of “no religion” could be evident among that of the young people who are also known as the millenials. The census carried out in the year 2011 showed that 30 % of the Australians who were between the age of 25 and that of 34 stated that they did not have any religion. According to Dunn and Piracha (2015), there has been a tendency among the Australians to essentialise that of the secular divide and people ignore diversity of the ways within which people act in a religious manner. The census reports reveals that that there exist people in Australia who associate themselves with that of the organised religion because they feel that motivate them for performing service. Religion is important for the group of the people because they feel that it plays an important part in the re-shaping of the society. Focus groups among the millenials in Australia have pointed to the fact that there are some people who are exclusivist who have a tendency of believing that everyone in the society should have the same religion. It has been stated by Christerson and Flory (2017) that there also exist people who practise their own religion and believe that others have the right of practising their own religion.

Immigration has played an important role in developing the aspect of religious faith within Australia. The census carried out in the year 2011 show the fact that immigration had a great impact on the lives of the people within Australia. The religious groups that have grown the most in the last ten years are the groups that have high proportion of the immigrants. Migrants have an impact on that of the number of children in the Australian communities (Possamai et al. 2016). There were four countries that accounted for 43 % of the migrants in Australia between the year 2001 and the year 2011- India, England, China and that of New Zealand.

Denominational switching has been common among the Protestant denominations as compared to the Catholic or that of the Orthodox groups. Catholic along with Ortghodox Christians have higher level of that of denominational loyalty on the basis of appreciation of their distinctive traditions. The younger Protestants have the tendency of searching for a new denomination on the basis of various factors like minister and the style of the worship.

Reasons for the trends

New Age phenomena in Australia lays stress on the aspect of body along with rituals. It lays stress on that of individual fulfilment and the mystical experience. It provides opportunity to a person for possessing unique power that can be transformed. The Christians in Australia have been influenced but various aspects like meditation that helps them in functioning within a complex world (Maginn and Hamnett 2016). There are a large number of people in Australia who believe in astrology which is evident from the fact that Australians have the tendency of spending more than $ 150,000 in each month on the horoscopes along with the psychic phone calls. There are many people in Australia who are embracing the views of that of the New Age. There has been an increase in the number of the stall who peddle the New Age merchandise like crystals along with the pyramids.

Rise of the aspect of secularism has paved the way for decrease in the number of the people who attend the religious services. In the year 1947 only 0.3 % of that of the population thought attested to the fact that they did not have any religion. In the year 1971 there was the option that was provided to the people that if they did not practice any kind of religion they could write “none” (Wise and Velayutham 2014). This helped in revealing the fact that there was seven fold increase in the number of people who did not practise any kind of religion.

The challenge that the Christianity community in Australia has to face is owing to the fact that there has been decline in number of that of the regular churchgoers. The opportunities are presented by the fact that there has been increase in the the number of the people who attend the Catholic schools. There are many people in Australia who are initiated into the church that has increased the opportunities for the Christian community within Australia (Hackett et al. 2014). There are many people who attend the who attend the church at the time of Christmas and the newer groups are emerging that have created challenges for that of the Christian population in Australia.

Conclusion

Religion is indicative of the beliefs that the people in a society hold. Census report in Australia reveals the fact that number of the Anglicans has lessened with the passage of the years. The number of people following Catholicism has increased from the year 1947 in Australia. There are many people within Australia who do not have any religion in the present age. Religious landscape in Australia bears testimony to the fact that there exist many people who are growing dissatisfied with Anglican along with Methodist faith. Challenge facing the Christian community in Australia rises because of the fact that the number of the people who attend the church has reduced in the present age. The opportunities that Christian community has to face is on account of the fact that there many children in Australia who attend that of the Catholic schools.

References

Abs.gov.au (2018). Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Government. [online] Abs.gov.au. Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ [Accessed 17 Nov. 2018].

Christerson, B. and Flory, R., 2017. The Rise of Network Christianity: How Independent Leaders Are Changing the Religious Landscape. Oxford University Press.

Dunn, K.M. and Piracha, A., 2015. The multifaith city in an era of post-secularism: The complicated geographies of Christians, non-Christians and non-faithful across Sydney, Australia. In The changing world religion map (pp. 1635-1654). Springer, Dordrecht.

Hackett, C., Grim, B., Stonawski, M., Skirbekk, V., Kuriakose, N., Potan?oková, M., Grim, B.J., Johnson, T.M., Skirbekk, V. and Zurlo, G.A., 2014. Methodology of the Pew Research Global Religious Landscape Study. Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2014, 167.

Maginn, P.J. and Hamnett, S., 2016. Multiculturalism and metropolitan Australia: demographic change and implications for strategic planning. Built Environment, 42(1), pp.120-144.

Possamai, A., Dunn, K., Hopkins, P., Amin, F., Worthington, L. and Ali, J., 2016. Muslim students’ religious and cultural experiences in the micro-publics of university campuses in NSW, Australia. Australian Geographer, 47(3), pp.311-324.

Reimondos, A., Gray, E. and Evans, A., 2018. How moving a box changed the religious landscape of Australia. Australian Population Studies, 2(2), pp.59-61.

Wise, A. and Velayutham, S., 2014. Conviviality in everyday multiculturalism: Some brief comparisons between Singapore and Sydney. European journal of cultural studies, 17(4), pp.406-430.