“If no religion mark none,” Census data, multiculturalism, and Australia’s

secular history

Historians and statisticians are divided regarding the nature and history of

secularism and Christianity in Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics

figures show an increasingly secular Australia emerging in the 1970s, with a

simultaneous decrease in commitment to, and identification with, traditional

Christian denominations.

This paper argues that despite religious affiliation expressed by census data,

Australia’s history can be understood in secular terms (though not to the

extent suggested by the secularisation lobby), and that Australia’s

immigration policy after World War II, and multicultural aspirations which

came to the fore in the 1970s, and the changing nature Australian social and

mores in that period, did not fundamentally change the place of religious

belief in Australia, in a process of secularisation, but rather represented the

development of a post-modern marketplace of spirituality, in which

Christianity represents a significant player. The post-modern, secular, and

multicultural nature of modern Australia has not shifted Christianity to the

sidelines, but rather provided clarity regarding the role the church can play in

the development of social capital, fostering community life in Australia.

Introduction

In 1911, first post-federation nationally collected census, 95.9% of Australians

identified as Christian, by 1921 it was 96.9%, this declined to 83% in 1933

when the voluntary nature of the question was highlighted on the census

form.1 In 1971 the form contained the instruction “if no religion mark none,”

which resulted in an increase of those identifying with no religion from 1% to

7%, this represented the most significant statistical decline in religious

affiliation in Australia.2 By 1991, when the census question involved a tick-

box for popular religious affiliations, rather than a write-in space, the number

of Australians identifying as Christian was 74%.3 This decrease did not only

represent a marked increase in those indicating “no religion,”4 but rather the

rapid growth of alternative religious options,5 fueled by Australia’s huge

influx of migrants after World War II,6 the demise of the White Australia

                                                                                                               1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Special Feature: Trends in Religious Affiliation,' 4102.0 - Social Trends 1994, retrieved online, Nov 2011, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/10072ec3ffc4f7b4ca2570ec00787c40!OpenDocument, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, retrieved online, Nov 2011, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/46d1bc47ac9d0c7bca256c470025ff87/bfdda1ca506d6cfaca2570de0014496e!OpenDocument 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Special Feature: Trends in Religious Affiliation,' 4102.0 - Social Trends 1994, “Most of the decline over the last 20 years was recorded in the early 1970s, in association with an explicit instruction for people with no religion to indicate as such.” And an associated decline in those identifying as Christian, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, retrieved online, Nov 2011, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/fa58e975c470b73cca256e9e00296645!OpenDocument 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Special Feature: Trends in Religious Affiliation,' 4102.0 - Social Trends 1994 4 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, though there has been “a rising tendency among all Australians to state that they did not affiliate with any religion - particularly evident since the 1970s (7% in 1971 and 16% in 2001).” 5 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004 6 Department of Immigration, Fact Sheet 4 - More than 60 Years of Post War Migration, retrieved online Nov 2011, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/04fifty.htm, “The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has facilitated the permanent migration of more than seven million people since its establishment in 1945. A large-scale program of migration to Australia began at the end of World War II when millions of people in Europe were displaced from their homelands,” Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, also Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, “The distribution of affiliation across religions and Christian denominations remained relatively stable during the 1930s and early 1940s, but began to change considerably following the end of the second world war. In particular, migration from continental Europe gradually increased the proportion of all

Policy and rise of multiculturalism (and thus multi-religious), 7 society in the

1970s.8

In the 2001 census more than a quarter of Australians indicated they had “no

religion,” or failed to adequately answer the question.9 The so-called “rise of

the nones” has been a common phenomenon in Western cultures, and is at

least partly the result of a changing social and cultural landscape.10

This increase led to theories of “secularisation” which prophesied the coming

decline of religion in western societies, and the proclamation of the death of

                                                                                                               Australians affiliating with Catholicism 7 Australian Department of Immigration, Fact Sheet 6 - Australia's Multicultural Policy, Retrieved Online Nov 2011, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/06australias-multicultural-policy.htm, “The White Australia policy as it was commonly described was progressively dismantled by the Australian Government after World War II… From the mid-1960s until 1973, when the final vestiges of the White Australia policy were removed, policies started to examine assumptions about assimilation… By 1973, the term ‘multiculturalism’ had been introduced and migrant groups were forming state and national associations to maintain their cultures, and promote the survival of their languages and heritages within mainstream institutions.” 8 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, also, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, “Between 1971 and 2001, the proportion of all Australians affiliating with Christianity fell from 86% to 68%, while those affiliating with a non-Christian religion increased from 1% to 5%. More recently, immigration from Asia and the Middle East helped increase the proportion of all Australians affiliating with a non-Christian religion… Of all people affiliating with Hinduism in 2001, 82% had been born overseas, with 34% born in India and 11% in Sri Lanka. Similarly, nearly three-quarters of all those affiliating with Buddhism had been born overseas - 26% in Vietnam and 8% in China. Of Australians of all ages affiliating with Islam in 2001, 62% were overseas born, with almost 11% born in Lebanon and 9% in Turkey.” M.E. Marty, 'Talking about religion down under,' Christian Century, 8/9/89-8/16/89, Vol. 106 Issue 23, 708-709, modern Australian Christian leaders tend to bemoan the decline in influence brought about by a multicultural society, also G.D Bouma, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-first Century, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006), 7, migration changed the religious landscape, first within the Christian church, then with a number of ethnic religions. 9 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, “In response to the 2001 Census of Population and Housing question, stated religious affiliations were: 27% Catholic; 21% Anglican; 21% other Christian denominations; and 5% non-Christian religions. Just over a quarter of all persons either stated they had no religion, or did not adequately respond to the question to enable classification of their religion.” However, this was not necessarily indicative of a lack of religious belief, see G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 54-59, “2001 census results indicate 2.9 million respondents ticked "no religion," but of that number 18,000 identified specifically as agnostic, and 24,000 specifically as atheist. 1.8 million did not state an answer to the question,” a survey of the “nones” in 1983 indicated that many “nones” were spiritual. 10 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, “This gradual fall occurred against a backdrop of change in social values and attitudes, particularly since the late 1960s, and an increased secularisation of society in the last three decades of the 20th century.”

God as a social and political force.11 But this seems both an oversimplification

of the current state of affairs, and a mischaracterisation of the nature of

religious commitment through Australia’s history.

Much of the confusion revolves around the best measure of the nation’s

Christianity. Historians bring different rubrics to the table: some assess census

data, where individuals self identify their religious affiliation, others assess

church attendance and belief in God, and others the political power exercised

by the church. One could observe secularisation occurring through one of

these measures at any point in Australia’s history. On the basis of church

attendance, and social factors in Australia’s history, one could argue that

Australia has always been a secular nation,12 though this does not mean

Australia is irreligious, or anti-religious.13

                                                                                                               11 S. Bruce, ‘God is Dead: Secularization in the West,’ (Malden, Blackwell, 2002), 2-3, Secularization is a “social condition manifest in a) the declining importance of religion for the operation of non religious roles and institutions such as those of the state and the economy, b) a decline in the social standing of religious roles and institutions, c) a decline in the extent to which people engage in religious practices, display religious beliefs of any kind, and conduct other aspects of their lives in a manner informed by such beliefs.” 208, Australia and Britain are examples of countries where this secularization is taking place, M. Maddox, ‘Indigenous Religion in Secular Australia,’ Australian Parliamentary Library, Research Paper 11 1999-2000, 14 Dec 1999, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1999-2000/2000rp11.htm, adopts the same definition to suggest “These are all features of Australia's recent history, so much so that Australia is sometimes said to be 'the world's most secular society.” M. Gaskill, Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000), 12, suggests that secularization can be considered a result of the Reformation, and its attempts to separate the holy and the profane, N. Ormerod, 'Secularisation and the "Rise" of Atheism,' Australian eJournal of Theology 17 (December2010), 13-22, 15-19, adopts the same definition of secularisation to argue that Australia is secularised, and intellectually hostile to religion, on the basis of an increase in atheism in the intellectual elite, and the popularity of new atheist tomes, G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 6, argues that in the face of empirical evidence against secularisation, it is much more useful to think of it as a loss of control from the churches, this is particularly true in Australia which has never been energetically religious like the US. 12 S. Swain, ‘Do You Want Religion With That? Welfare History In A Secular Age,’ History Australia, Volume 2, Number 3, 2005 Monash University Epress, 78.1-78.8, “This has been particularly the case in Australia, which has been seen, from its white beginnings, as more secular than most countries. Although the sub-discipline of religious history has been growing at least since the 1960s, the ‘general historical literature’ proceeded on the assumption ‘that an adequate account can be given without paying much detailed attention to religious themes’. The new social historians, Nash has argued, accepted the central premise of the secularisation hypothesis that religious practices and beliefs would inevitably decline as modernisation advanced.” 13 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 5

We will consider the role of migration and the nature of Christian

identification, belief, and attendance, through the history of western

settlement of Australia to argue that the nation’s religious make-up has

always been more complex than census data would allow, and that from the

earliest convict days, to post-modern, secular, multicultural Australia,14 a

description of Australia as a Christian nation infers too much from a single

data point, and paints too simplistic a picture of real life.

We will suggest that the rise of the “nones,” and decline in Christian

affiliation in census data since 1971 reflects a mix of factors, changes in

Australia’s cultural through increased multiculturalism, a shift in national

identity and morality, and a moderate secularisation process where people

who had identified as Christian, but not practiced, were more inclined

(perhaps through the wording of the census form) to identify as having no

religion.

We will conclude that contrary to the positions advocated by secularists,

religion, spirituality, and Christianity, still plays a role in the lives of

individuals, and in the Australian political landscape, and has a role to play in

the future in re-establishing social capital and fostering community life.

Pre-Federation – A land of convicts and farmers

Ethnicity and religious beliefs are often closely intertwined,15 so migration has

always had the effect of changing the religious make up of Australia, from the

                                                                                                               14 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 3 15 Migrants arriving in new locations often seek the familiar structure of religion as they resettle. See R.Y Kim, ‘Religion and Ethnicity: Theoretical Connections,’ Religions, 2011, 2, 312-329, for a study of the impact and pivotal role religion plays in the settlement of migrants.

first western settlement and its impact on the indigenous culture,16 to the

arrival of non-convict agricultural and gold rush settlers, to the modern

streams of migrants from around the globe.

The convict population was generally irreligious, while the church was used

to enforce discipline and order in the lives of these criminals.17 While the

church had initially viewed the penal settlement with an eagerness fueled by

missionary zeal, the results on the ground were not forthcoming. The church

made little impact,18 and its role as the government approved arbiters of

morality and institutional obedience confused the Christian message in the

early days of settlement.19

The free settling farming workforce, escaping the poverty of England, held a

prevailing view that the church had failed the poor, so they continued the

irreligious tone set by the convicts.20 Even those who identified as Christian

                                                                                                               16 On the impact of western settlement on Indigenous religious practice see M. Maddox, ‘Indigenous Religion in Secular Australia.’ 17 T. Frame, Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia, (Sydney, UNSW Press, 2009), 40-41, J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002), 19, suggests a rejection of religious zeal for fear of sectarian disputes was typical of the political scene in the United Kingdom prior to Australian settlement, hopes of redemption for the convicts were tied more to the fresh start, than to the impact of religion, however, the moral order of the new settlement was linked to the role of the church. 18 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 41-42 19 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 43, G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 40, the use of religion as a disciplinary tool for convicts reinforced the view that religion is ethics, and about character. Some have suggested that the revivalism popular in Britain in the early 19th century missed Australian shores, however, J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, 20, suggests the revival brought religion to the fore in the circles of intellectual elite in Britain, and was the basis of a plea from William Wilberforce in 1792 that religion be kept alive in the colony so that settlers would be temperate, orderly, domestic and content. 20 On the view that the church had failed the poor see, G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 39-40, on the nature of this wave of migration, and the approach to Christianity in regional Australia see: Department of Immigration, Fact Sheet 4 - More than 60 Years of Post War Migration, western migration initially consisted of convicts, and then the growth of the wool industry brought “an increase in the migration of free people from the United Kingdom. The social upheavals of industrialisation in Britain also resulted in many people emigrating to escape widespread poverty and unemployment,” This influx usually involved people disillusioned with the church, which carried into the Australian setting, see C. Stevenson, ‘Felons, Ratbags, Commies, and Left-Wing Loonies,’ Australian Book of Atheism, ed. W. Bonett, (Melbourne, Scribe Publications, 2010), 16, In 1893, poet Banjo Patterson wrote The Bush Christening highlighting the absence

before migrating to Australia fell out of the habit of churchgoing when they

arrived.21 Australia’s convict and colonial heritage contributed to a prevailing

culture of individualism, and a rejection of institutions and authorities.22

The government attempted to establish the church in Australia through the

Church Act in 1836, which provided financial assistance for attracting clergy,

and grants for church building projects.23 Controversially, the Anglican

Church was not given the same establishment rights they had enjoyed in the

mother country,24 and other British colonial endeavours.25 As a result of this

Act, and the population mix, which was almost 30% Irish from 1828,

Catholicism became more confident, and reaped the benefits of the funding

                                                                                                               of Christianity in outback communities. “On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few, And men of religion are scanty, On a road never cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost, One Michael Magee had a shanty.” Patterson, and Henry Lawson were both committed to atheism – Patterson said the ideal reformer of society would be a “bastard atheist born at sea” – somebody owing allegiances to nobody. Lawson saw trade unionism rising to extinguish all other distinctions between people as “a new religion,” T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 45-46, A.M Grocott, Convicts, Clergymen, and Churches, (Sydney, Sydney University Press, 1980), 163, Atheism had a real foothold in outback Australia, with men of the cloth a rarity because settlement prioritised the “unholy trinity” of horses, grog, and gaol, T. Frame, Anglicans in Australia, (Sydney, UNSW Press, 2007) 61-64, presents a dissenting view to Grocott’s, suggesting primary sources from the time indicate that rural communities appreciated the visits from clergy when they were received, and that such communities desired more frequent visits. 21 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 46, 54 22 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 17, M. Gaskill, Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England, 12, suggests the individualism of the Reformation, and the advent of Capitalism, created winners and losers on a grand scale, including a massive spike in poverty, which led to increased migration to Australia, J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, 26-27, the demographic shift from convict to settler brought a less dominant view of authority, both regarding the military, and the clergy, in the 1820s there was also concern regarding sectarianism so the authority of the Anglican Church was diluted as other denominations became more established. 23 T. Frame, Church and State: Australia’s Imaginary Wall, (Sydney, UNSW Press, 2006), 48-49 24 J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, 31, Anglican Pamphleteer E. Coleridge perhaps summed up the Anglican response to this situation when he described the Act as “an act of violence, in direct opposition to the constitutional law of the mother country.” 25 G.D Bouma, ‘Globalisation and Localisation: Pentecostals and Anglicans in Australia and the United States,’ The End of Religions? Religion in an Age of Globalisation, ed. C. Cusack and P. Oldmeadow (Sydney, University of Sydney Press, 2001), 87-88, 91, the Anglican Church had historically been used "as an arm of the state fostering the cultural transformation of the newly acquired lands. In this environment many people associated with them such that they became like their conquerors in culture as well as in governmental structure, economy and aspects of life."

program.26 Sectarianism came to the fore as the Anglicans fought for the

government entitlements they had enjoyed as the state church in England.27

It was an influx of educated free settlers from Europe and the UK between the

middle and end of the 19th century, which began the redefinition of Australia

as a nation of Christians.28 However, this influx came during a crisis of faith,

as the European church considered its response to modern science. The nature

of Christianity held by those who identified as Christian was in a state of flux.

While the clergy used natural theology to reconcile itself to Darwinism,

members of their flock were lured by the philosophical appeal of naturalism.29

European settlers in Australia also struggled to touch the transcendent in a

foreign land, devoid of sacred sites, which meant religious practice and belief

moved from a public and communal experience, to a private, rational, and

individual commitment.30

It is clear that any claims about Australia’s Christian heritage takes a narrow

view of Australian colonial history. Such claims about Australia’s Christian

heritage are generally drawn from census identification at the beginning of

the 20th century. However, Australia was culturally secular from the earliest

colonial days, and at Federation, became formally and legally secular.31

                                                                                                               26 T. Frame, Church and State: Australia’s Imaginary Wall, 48, J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, 31-32 27 T. Frame, Church and State: Australia’s Imaginary Wall, 49, 28 A.M Grocott, Convicts, Clergymen, and Churches, 284, C. W. Dilke, Problems of Greater Britain (London: Macmillan Company, 1890), Questia, Web, 28 Nov. 2011, 155, In 1868 a third of the population of Victoria was British Born, and a third Australian born – though in many cases these were the children of the British ex-pats. 29 T. Frame, Losing my Religion, 47-48, see also B.W Butcher, ‘Darwin Downunder: science, religion, and evolution in Australia,’ Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion and Gender, ed. R.L Numbers, J. Stenhouse, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999) 30 J. Gascoigne, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, 34 31 M. Maddox, ‘Indigenous Religion in Secular Australia,’ “More generally, however, Australian secularism owes less to theory than to culture. It emerges in our foundation myths of frontier self-reliance and working-class larrikinism and in our modern self-image of cosmopolitan hedonism. Where

Federation – s116 and a secular Australia

At the turn of the century, the population of Australia was predominantly

anglo-celtic, 40% identified as Anglican, 23% as Catholic, 34% as other

Christian denominations, and 1% non-Christian.32 A desire to avoid

sectarianism led Christians involved in the process of federation to maintain a

secular approach to education and government.33

The Australian Constitution ensured the government could not establish a

state religion, which maintained a secular approach to government, despite

the majority of Australians identifying as Christian.34 These were principles

that became increasingly important in a multi-cultural Australia, though

                                                                                                               other nations have often developed secular constitutions while retaining vibrantly religious cultures, Australian cultural secularisation was arguably well-advanced before Federation opened the agenda in which the issue of constitutional secularism became relevant.” C. Baines, 'Secularisation and the Church and State Relationship: A Socio-Legal Exploration,' TASA Conference, New Zealand, 2007, 1-7, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.tasa.org.au/conferences/conferencepapers07/papers/71.pdf, 5, "As religious organisations became differentiated and secularised from the state, their relationship to the state was changed in three fundamental ways. First, the state no longer maintained a monopoly over religion. As a result, individuals were now able to choose whether they would follow a particular religion. Second, religious plurality was able to be developed and maintained. Third, all religious organisations would receive equal rights under the law. In addition, religion could maintain public significance as it would be supported but not controlled by the state." 32 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006 33 T. Frame, Evolution in the Antipodes, 109, in 1880, the “father of federation,” Henry Parkes said “I do not believe in any people becoming a great people without a profound faith.” Education was a particular point of sectarian conflict, and has continued to enjoy an interesting relationship with religious organisations, see H. Wilson, ‘Public Education in Queensland,’ Australian Book of Atheism, ed. W. Bonett, (Melbourne, Scribe Publications, 2010), 113, the Lilley Royal Commission said: “… dogmatic religious instruction is the business not of the state but of the several churches, and the state is neither entitled to, nor required to undertake the teaching of the distinctive doctrines of any sect or to contribute funds for that purpose,” see R.C. Thompson, Religion in Australia: A History, (Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 2002, 2nd Edition), 20, who points out that the pro-Christian Parkes introduced the Public Instruction Bill in 1879, which abolished state aid to denominational schools. The two statements were not mutually exclusive. 34 Section 116 of the Constitution was established to avoid sectarian issues via the undue influence of a state religion, and has been interpreted to provide freedom to practice religion., see M. Wallace, ‘The Constitution, Belief, and the State,’ Australian Book of Atheism, ed. W. Bonett, (Melbourne, Scribe Publications, 2010), 36, High Court decisions since that time have interpreted the decision as operating to allow for freedom of religion (or non-religion), C. Wright, ‘Religion and the Law in Australia,’ Australian Book of Atheism, ed. W. Bonett, (Melbourne, Scribe Publications, 2010), 42-43

some have suggested a more positive statement about what the government

can do to protect religious freedom for minorities is required.35

While almost all Australians identified as Christian during this period (95-

96%), the reality in the pews on any given Sunday painted an altogether

different picture. An inquiry commissioned by the Anglican Church diocese

of Brisbane, conducted on the “Religious Knowledge and Habits of the

People” in 1907 found that of the 131,000 residents of the diocese who claimed

to be Anglican, only 15,000 attended church regularly, three quarters of these

attendees were women.36 The church did play a social and cultural role in this

period, and was not without influence, but Australians have seemingly

always taken a lackadaisical approach to church attendance.

Some have attributed a decline in church attendance in the 1910s-1920s to the

hangover effect from the “demise of Christendom” at World War I, where

Christian nations took up arms against one another.37 Church attendance

declined in the years following the war, though the percentage of Australians

                                                                                                               35 M. Maddox, ‘Indigenous Religion in Secular Australia,’ Australian Parliamentary Library, Research Paper 11 1999-2000, “At various times, there have been suggestions that the negative protections in the Constitution should be supplemented by legislation for greater positive protection such as active encouragement of toleration or explicit protection of religious minorities from discrimination or disadvantage.” Laws regarding religious vilification introduced after the publication of this article represented such an attempt, for a discussion of the policy implications of multicultural, multifaith, Australia see D. Cahill, G. Bouma, H. Dellal, & M. Leahy, Religion, Cultural Diversity, and Safeguarding Australia: A Partnership under the Australian Government’s Living in Harmony initiative, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and Australian Multicultural Foundation, in Association with the World Conference of Religions for Peace, RMIT and Monash University, (Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia, 2004) Interestingly, tolerance has become the buzzword of this movement, but this often involves an intolerance of Christianity, Cardinal G. Pell, 'Intolerant tolerance,' First Things no 195 Ag-S 2009, 9-12 36 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 60-62 37 Christian Research Association, ‘No Religion: Change over time,’ retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.cra.org.au/pages/00000231.cgi, T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 62, there was also a dissatisfaction with the church for ennobling military service, and sanctioning violent conflict.

identifying as Christians increased.38 While there is a possible causal link

between the decline in attendance and the war, the Australian church was

experiencing renewed competition from competing worldviews, and at the

time, the decline was attributed to the church’s failure to “commend their

message effectively by word and deed.”39

Interestingly, though church attendance was in decline there was no

corresponding rise in atheism, rather, it was also declining.40 Anglican Bishop

George Cranswick, speaking at the 1923 Moorhouse Lectures, said “the blatant

and aggressive unbelief on a wide scale, so prevalent two or three generations ago, has

largely vanished. The old atheistic attitude is no longer tolerated.”41 The challenge

of science, which modern sociologists suggest had an impact on church

attendance,42 had been accounted for by the natural theology advocated in the

late 19th century, at least according to Cranswick, “the kingdom of science had

become an ally to the kingdom of God.” 43 Cranswick identified gospel ignorance,

created in part by the nation’s penal history, 44 various forms of hedonism,

and the arrival of alternative spiritualities, as the challengers to Christian faith

and practice. 45

                                                                                                               38 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 62 39 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 62 40 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 62-63, Rather than turning away from belief in the supernatural with the rejection of the church, Australia experienced an increased interest in the spiritual realm 41 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 63 42 C.M Cusack, ‘Tradition and Change: Australian Churches and the Future,’ Australian Review of Public Affairs, 5 May 2003, Retrieved 22 Nov 2011, http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2003/05/cusack.html, “Christianity, traditionally the religion of Europe and European-derived communities, has lost its appeal in the face of the scientific revolution and the challenge of other religions. From this perspective, Christianity dominated the past because it had no real competition, so the challenge of the future is to re-think the Christian faith so that it could compete in the religious marketplace.” 43 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 63 44 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 63, Cranswick said “Christianity is regarded as a series of negative laws – not a life of communion with a person.” 45 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 63,

The 1921 census is the high watermark of Christian identification in Australia,

its 96.9%, was a 1% increase on the previous figure collected in 1911.

However, the period between 1921 and the next census in 1933 saw a 10.5%

decline in Christian affiliation.46 This can be attributed to a change to the form,

which stressed the voluntary nature of the religion question, and only the

second census after World War I.47 The number of respondents identifying as

“no religion” was below 1%, as it was in every census prior to 1971.48

Christianity after World War II

There is no census data to suggest any decline in the nation’s religious

identification in the period between 1933 and 1947, a period including World

War II, the number of Australians identifying as Christian increased slightly

(to 88%) in the 1947 census. While the First World War had a negative impact

on church attendance, the Second World War seemingly galvanized the

faithful, with church participation up until the 1980s considered to have

received an artificial boost from wartime attendance.49

The pre-1947 period marked a new era of religious practice in Australia,

establishing the Australian religious psyche, and an approach to religious

                                                                                                               46 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, and an associated increase in those not answering the question, this change was shared amongst the major denominations, but almost half of the 11% who moved into the “not stated” category, came from the Anglicans (5% of the total), then from “other denominations” (3.5%), followed by the Catholics (2.1%) - these were people who had previously felt compelled to identify with these denominations by the wording of the question. 47 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Special Feature: Trends in Religious Affiliation,' 4102.0 - Social Trends 1994 48 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, in fact, 1933 represents the lowest percentage of “no religion” respondents recorded, with 0.2% of the population indicating no religion, it also has the highest percentage response for “not stated” or “inadequately described,” with 12.9%. 49 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 78, T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 64, suggests the church became a refuge from the broken world, and were the focus of community life from 1945-1956.

institutions that owed much to Australia’s colonial heritage. There are two

views of Christianity’s place in the fabric of Australian life during this period.

Thompson (1994) acknowledges the early years of secularism, but suggests

between those early decades, and 1960, Australia was functionally a Christian

nation.50 He plays down the significance of lax attendance, and prefers to

assess the place of Christianity in Australian life through a rubric that

conflates Christianity with conservative politics, and assesses Christianity’s

impact through its political power,51 and ability to maintain the moral order.52

Bouma (2007) suggests the hallmarks of pre-1947 Australian religious

identification involved limited participation in religious structures and

services, suspicion of those in positions of authority, a commitment to

enjoying life in the moment, and valued mateship, the laconic Australian

personality, and a self-deprecating tolerance.53 This picture resonates with the

outcome modern proponents of secularisation believe such a process will

                                                                                                               50 R.C Thompson, Religion in Australia: A History, 140, “While Australia was predominantly irreligious in the first decades of European settlement, religion was then an integral part of the colonial state.” 51 R.C Thompson, Religion in Australia: A History, 139-140, “The major thrust of Protestant involvement in politics has been to support the conservative status quo... The Protestant and Catholic churches showed their conservative face with largely palliative attempts to cope with the distress of the depressions of the 1890s and 1930s, rather than challenging the capitalist order. In Australia's wars, Protestant churches have been strong supporters of the imperial and national causes... Not until the 1960s did Australia start to become a post-Christian society, where religion no longer has the same degree of power it once enjoyed to influence political events.” 52 R.C Thompson, Religion in Australia: A History, 140, “The 1960s saw the beginning of the collapse of Christian morality in an increasingly secular Australian society, though the emergence of secular Christianity also sapped Christian moral energy.” 53 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 45-47, Bouma’s more detailed list includes: a wariness of enthusiasm, shyness regarding "high demand" religion, wariness of imported religious products, distancing from authoritarian leaders, a commitment to enjoying life now, an openness to the experience of others, but suspicion of empty rhetoric, the "mateship" produced by shared experiences of World War II, tolerance for all seeking a fair go, a serious desire for humour, particularly in the form of self-deprecation, a serious "quiet reverence, a wariness of "God's Police," and a preference for "live and let live" tolerance.

have on Australian culture as religious affiliation declines,54 such a prediction

for Australia’s religious future fails to adequately grasp Australia’s religious

past.

Individual affiliation to Christian denominations was relatively stable in this

period,55 but this commitment to one’s denomination of birth began to wane

as Australia reinvented itself in the post-war period. As the gates were

opened to migrants, first from Europe, and later from Asia, denominational

allegiances began to shift dramatically, as new, international, expressions of

Christian faith emerged, and the above trends in Australian religious

identification began to express themselves as trends in religious practice.56

In the early 1950s the church was given a pivotal role in the fight against

communism, and the maintenance of the “moral order.”57 In 1951 the leaders

of the major Christian denominations, joined Jewish leaders, and the nation’s

Chief Justices, in issuing a ‘Call to the People of Australia,’ the Remembrance

Day Address, broadcast to the nation, warned of the dangers of communism,

and called for a renewed personal moral fervour.58 The 1950s were marked by

large crowds gathering for public religious events, in 1953 a Catholic rally in

the heart of Melbourne attracted 150,000 people, and in 1959, the same                                                                                                                54 See note 11, particularly the definitions of secularisation adopted by Bruce and Maddox. 55 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups: 1947 to 2001,' People and place. 2002; 10(4), 17-23, 17 56 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups,’ 18-19, 57 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 64 58 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 65, also, ‘Moral Issues put to Australians,’ The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) 12 Nov 1951, 1, retrieved online Nov 2011, National Library of Australia, Trove, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45793608, “…We call on our people to remember those whose labors opened this land to the uses of mankind; those who bore and reared the children of a new nation; those, who died in battle for us, bringing splendor to Australian arms; those who worked with mind and muscle for the heritage which we, please God, shall hold and enlarge for our children and their children. And that this may be so, we ask that each shall renew in himself the full meanings of the call which has. Inspired our people in their high est tasks and in their days or danger: Fear God. Honor the king.”

number of protestants gathered in Sydney for the final leg of the Billy Graham

Crusade.59 In the main, the decade was a time of Christian revival, church

attendance was improved, new churches were planted, and parachurch

organisations flourished.60 However, regular attendance began to decline

towards the end of the decade, and the beginning of the 1960s, as the nation’s

increased prosperity put more families in cars, and more televisions in

homes.61 The Australian way of life was considered a threat to the church,62

and Christianity was increasingly viewed as “divorced from life,” which had

implications on social structures like marriage.63

Widespread demographic changes caused by Australia’s post-war migration

policy were also starting to come into effect. New religious options were

available, and denominational affiliation was no longer set in stone.64 The

                                                                                                               59 D. Hilliard, ‘God in the Suburbs: The Religious Culture of Australian Cities in the 1950s,’ Australian Historical Studies, Volume 24, Issue 96, 1991, 399-419, 399 60 D. Hilliard, ‘God in the Suburbs: The Religious Culture of Australian Cities in the 1950s,’ 402, T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 66, has a slightly less optimistic view of the fate of the church in the period, suggesting the Billy Graham Crusade was an anomaly, contradicting the mood of the people, this seems to be the result of Frame’s emphasis on belief and attendance of less committed (once a month attendees) as measures of the nation’s Christian commitment. 61 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 66 62 Rev. A. Walker, 'Australian Way of Life a Challenge to Church,' 'The Mercury (Hobart, Tas), Tuesday 12 May 1953, page 4, National Library of Australia, Trove, retrieved Nov 2011, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/27152809, especially its “leisure time activities” of gambling and drinking. 63 E.J. Davidson, 'The Significance of Marriage,' The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), Saturday 12 December 1953, page 9, National Library of Australia, Trove, retrieved Nov 2011, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18400990, in which the author of a polemic against the decline of the religious significance of marriage says, “This may be due to a variety of causes, ranging from lack of instruction to the prevailing spirit of secularisation characteristic of our age. In so far as we have developed the habit of thinking of religion as divorced from life, as the province proper to the pious, or worse still, as an island of irrelevancy in a world of harsh realities…” 64 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 2, 52-53, G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups,’ 17, 20, “From 1850 to 1947 the pattern of distribution was quite stable. Throughout this period Anglicans, Presbyterians and Methodists together comprised 60 per cent of the population.” at 20, conversion became a factor with the rise of the globalisation of religious ideas and new religious movements, “These have been spread largely through conversion, or the adoption of teachings and practices brought to Australia, not by migration of persons, but through the globalization of religious and spiritual practices.”

period was religiously dynamic, rather than static, and traditional protestant

denominations began shrinking as a percentage of the population.65

Bouma (2002) identifies four features at play in the dynamic nature of

religious identification in Australia at this point in history, he suggests: a

move from rational to experience orientated spirituality, the arrival of the

Pentecostal movement,66 the post World War II migration of European

families with their ethnically shaped Christian practices (for example Italian

Catholics, Orthodox Greeks, and the Dutch Reformed church),67 and Turks,

Lebanese, and Egyptians who brought Islam to Australia in greater numbers,

and the global transfer of alternative forms of spiritual expression, were

responsible for the shift.68

The changing moral landscape of the 1960s saw the church pushed towards

the margins of relevance. While most Australians still identified as Christian,

                                                                                                               65 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 55, the changes were, at first, directly proportional to the migration intake. 66 G.D Bouma, ‘Globalisation and Localisation: Pentecostals and Anglicans in Australia and the United States,’ 90, unlike Anglicanism, the Pentecostal movement, which was born in the US, quickly indigenizes, culturally, rather than attempting to change the culture in the new place, ala colonial Anglicanism, “in globalisation they have successfully localised.” 67 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, “Further waves of migration helped to reshape the profile of Australia's religious affiliations over subsequent decades. The impact of migration from Europe in the aftermath of World War II led to increases in affiliates of the Orthodox Churches, the establishment of Reformed bodies, growth in the number of Catholics (largely from Italian migration), and the creation of ethnic parishes among many other denominations. More recently, immigration from South-East Asia and the Middle East has expanded Buddhist and Muslim numbers considerably, and increased the ethnic diversity of existing Christian denominations,” also Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Characteristics of the Population,’ 1301.0 - Yearbook Chapter, 2009–10, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article7012009%E2%80%9310 68 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups, 19-20, this final category included the adoption of imported spiritualities like paganism, wicca, and goddess worship, and religious sects like mormonism, and scientology. The influence of migration on the nation’s religious make up continues in the present, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, “Of all people affiliating with Hinduism in 2001, 82% had been born overseas, with 34% born in India and 11% in Sri Lanka. Similarly, nearly three-quarters of all those affiliating with Buddhism had been born overseas - 26% in Vietnam and 8% in China. Of persons of all ages affiliating with Islam in 2001, 62% were overseas born, with almost 11% born in Lebanon and 9% in Turkey.”

or religious, come census time (88% in both 1961 and 1966),69 social

commentators suggest the prevailing individual attitude towards Christianity

was, as it always had been, apathy.70 While the church still enjoyed political

influence on the basis of census data,71 Christianity was increasingly under

fire because its moral vision, championed in the early 1950s, had been lost.

The church was increasingly viewed as interfering with Australian culture.72

Since this time, younger generations of Australians have been increasingly

disinterested in religion, and less likely to affiliate with a religious belief in

the census.73 This, again, can be attributed to the early, and continued, use of

Christianity as a moral carrot and stick.74

Asian migration became a significant factor in the 1970s, after the Vietnam

War,75 which again changed the religious landscape. Interestingly, Buddhism

                                                                                                               69 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006 70 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 67-68, cites C. McGregor, who in 1965, said “most people think of themselves as Christians but they don’t bother to do anything about it.” Then R.Conway, who doubted whether “religious faith has ever been deeply and practically professed by more than a minority of Australians.” 71 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 67, again citing C. McGregor, “Nevertheless the influence of the churches is strong within the community and they form a vocal and powerful group at government level.” 72 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 67-69, cites D. Horne, The Lucky Country, “Churches no longer matter very much to most Australians… hell is abolished…the concept of evil is un-Australian… The official beliefs of Australia are mostly humanist and those parts of Christianity that fit this belief are maintained… religion becomes important only when it stops them doing something they want to do.” and R.Conway, who suggested secular objections to Christianity were really “the rationalized result of the matrist sentiment against a creed founded on the principles which check unconditional freedom and the boundless satisfaction of the pleasure principle. The most common objection of the ordinary Australian to religion is that it spoils his fun.” Conway also suggested Australians were either “moral imbeciles” or “metaphysical morons.” 73 R. Powell & K. Jacka, 'Occasional Paper 10: Moving Beyond Forty Years of Missing Generations,' National Church Life Survey, Jan 2008, 5, research in 1966 showed no major difference between generations, forty years later, the younger generations who began disappearing from the church at this time, have not returned. 74 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 68-69, cites Manning Clark, who suggested protestant Christianity was used by people eager to encourage subordination. 75 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups, 19, C.M Cusack, ‘Tradition and Change: Australian Churches and the Future,’ Australian Review of Public Affairs, 5 May 2003, Retrieved 22 Nov 2011, http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2003/05/cusack.html, “From 1960 onwards, Australian society has been engaged in a dual transformation. On one hand, radical secularisation has lowered church attendance figures across all denominations. On the other, Australia has become a multi-cultural, multi-faith society with many new religions.”

has grown faster than a direct link to Asian migration would allow,76 so the

previously identified ethnic boundaries of religious affiliation have broken

down, people are now willing to convert to a new religious affiliation as a

statement of identity.77 The changing nature of religious belief in Australia,

and a movement away from Western traditions, meant the Australian Bureau

of Statistics reclassified its definitions of religious affiliation to provide greater

levels of specificity.78

The 1980s and 1990s saw a continued decline in church affiliation in

protestant denominations,79 and rapid growth in the charismatic or

Pentecostal church. In attempting to explain the continued decline in

Christian affiliation and church attendance, Australia’s Christian leaders

identified the historic conflation of Christianity and morality as a significant

factor.80 Australian poet Les Murray, a Christian, suggests Australia has a

                                                                                                               76 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups, 20, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006 77 Contra the interpretive methodology adopted by Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Religion across the generations,’ A Picture of the Nation, 2006, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/7CEC0AAC7B73D745CA25754C0013DE60/$File/20700_religion.pdf, 54, which assumes Australian adults do not change religious affiliation. 78 G.D Bouma, 'Increasing diversity in religious identification in Australia: comparing 1947, 1991 and 1996 census reports,' People and place. 1997; 5(3), 12-18, “First, the major categories of religious groups are listed alphabetically and not as Christian and non-Christian as formerly. Secondly, the categories of Christian denominations were carefully re-examined to ensure that they included the appropriate specific organisations. This was particularly a concern for Pentecostal and evangelical Christian groups and for the Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) and Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christian groups. Finally, while most of the major religions of the world were given separate reporting headings of their own, the major category generically termed ‘other religions’ was re-organised to provide some information on very small groups in Australia.” 79 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, between 1981 and 1996 Anglican affiliation fell from 26% to 22%, Catholic affiliation increased from 26% to 27%, and “other” fell from 24.3% to 21.9%, the actual number of Anglicans, Catholics and “other” increased slightly, but decreased as a percentage of the population, see G.D Bouma, 'Increasing diversity in religious identification in Australia, 12-18, as members of traditional Christian denominations, especially Anglicanism, literally died out. 80 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 73, cites a Sydney Morning Herald piece by Peter Jensen which argued that morality was not just an obstacle preventing people becoming Christian in a negative sense, but also in a positive, the confusion meant that people who considered themselves “good” saw no need for the gospel.

“Residual” Christianity,81 suggesting Christianity was never a dominant force

in Australian culture, but is the “bottom line,” a reserve Australians draw on

in times of trouble.82

Demographic changes were also related to the decline. Urban life enhanced

Australia’s historic tendency towards individualism, moving city dwellers

away from the communal nature of church life,83 and was correlated with a

marked a rapid increase in consumerism and an emphasis on individual

gratification of desire.84 This created a “consumer mentality” in the Australian

approach to faith, where religious services were to be taken, not necessarily

given.85 The marketplace nature of new age religions meant spirituality still

played a role in both individual and civic life, but this was increasingly

removed from the church.86

The religious landscape in 21st Century Australia

The rapid decline in Christian affiliation in Australian census data in the last

fifty years, and the “rise of the nones,” is due to multiple social and

demographic factors, and a technicality in data collection. It must be

attributed, in part, to the changing nature of social values and attitudes.87

                                                                                                               81 L.A. Murray, ‘Some Religious Stuff I Know About Australia’ The Shape of Belief: Christianity in Australia Today, ed. D. Harris, et al, (Homebush, Lancer, 1982), 24, this residual Christianity is the faith of most Australians and operates alongside themes of “stoicism, luck, and heroism…” and various pieties towards family structures, amongst country people, and towards dead comrades amongst ex-servicemen. 82 L.A. Murray, ‘Some Religious Stuff I Know About Australia,’ 25 83 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 69-70 84 H. Mackay, Turning Point: Australians Choosing their own religion, (Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 1999), 15 85 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 75-76, citing P.Bentley & P. Hughes, ‘A Brief Review of Church-Related Research in Australia 1975-2005,’ Christian Research Australia Occasional Research Paper No. 6, 2005, 14 86 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 77 87 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, “The proportion of all Australians stating an affiliation to some type of religion remained relatively stable from 1933 until 1971, at slightly less than 90%. This proportion dropped to 80% in 1976, then slowly

Australia is one of the least interested countries in the world in terms of

organised religious belief.88 The Australian Bureau of Statistics also attributes

this decline to “an increased secularisation of society,”89 we would suggest this

statement is a reductionist view of reality, firstly, because the relationship

between secularisation and spirituality (rather than religion) is not adequately

measured by the census question,90 the results of which have been historically

influenced by its particularity,91 and secondly, because as demonstrated

above, Australian society has always been secularised despite individuals

choosing to identify with a religious institution.92 A more correct statement is

that the decline represents a deinstitutionalisation of Australian spirituality.93

Religious affiliation is only a part of the picture when it comes to religious

adherence and belief, so the application of the census data to the discussion of

the place of Christianity in the Australian landscape is limited.94 While there

was a 9% increase in the “nones” between 1970 and 2001,95 and a further

increase to 18.7% in the 2006 Census (with almost 30% of respondents not

                                                                                                               declined to 73% in 2001. This gradual fall occurred against a backdrop of change in social values and attitudes, particularly since the late 1960s” 88 T. Frame, Losing my Religion, 79-84 89 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006 90 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 51 91 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 86-91, 95, The ABS acknowledges that answers to the question tend to be sensitive to changes in form design. 92 See, for example, the comments, bemoaning the declining influence of religion in Australian society in the 1950s from E.J. Davidson, 'The Significance of Marriage,' The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW), Saturday 12 December 1953, page 9 93 T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 93, interestingly the fastest growing census category for those identifying as Christian was “Christian not further defined,” which lends support to the deinstitutionalisation view. 94 V.J Watts, 'Christianity's Potential Contribution to Australian Society,' International Journal of New Perspectives in Christianity, Vol 1. Issue 1. (2009), 5-15, 6-7, The census records affiliation rather than adherence, is self reporting and poorly explained, open to a form of status quo bias or dishonesty, people actually do move freely between denominations, people don't necessarily want to reveal their affiliation. 95 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, It was accompanied by a rising tendency among all Australians to state that they did not affiliate with any religion - particularly evident since the 1970s (7% in 1971 and 15.5% in 2001).

identifying as religious),96 responses to the category have fluctuated in the

period (decreasing in 2001), and “no religion” is not necessarily indicative of

atheism or agnosticism.97 It does not follow that a rise in “nones” in census

responses necessarily represents an increased secularisation of Australian

society, unless secularisation is limited to traditional religion, and excludes

spirituality. Australia is a more spiritual society than has been allowed by

advocates of secularisation, who tend to make assessments purely from a

religious, rather than spiritual, framework.98 So Australians are less inclined

to reject the supernatural and see their lives in natural terms than some might

allow.99

However, the census data undeniably presents a decline in affiliation with

traditional protestant denominations, in real terms,100 and especially amongst

                                                                                                               96 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Religious Affiliation: Full Classification List: By Sex,’ 2006 Census Tables, retrieved online Nov 2011, http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/, The 2006 Census Data indicates only 53,429 Australian’s identify as atheist or agnostic, and 3.6 million marked “no religion,” a further 2.2 million did not answer the question. 97 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups, 21-22, 2001 Census represented a decrease in the percentage of the Australian population identifying as having no religion, G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 54, no religion is not necessarily indicative of no spirituality. Also, T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 98-99, a survey in 2002 found that 24% of “no religion” respondents described themselves as spiritual on a spectrum from moderate to very spiritual. It is also possible that some respondents simply do not wish to reveal their religious affiliation to the government. Cultural and ethical affiliation may also inflate the number of people professing religious affiliation. P. Hughes, ‘Dissatisfaction and the Shape of Australian Spirituality,’ Australian Broadcasting Corporation Religion and Ethics, 26 Nov 2010, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2010/11/26/3077011.htm, in the 2009 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes “Of those who indicated they had "no religion," 32 per cent of them said that they considered themselves to be spiritual. Moreover, of those who said they had a religion, 15 per cent said they were more spiritual than religious. These figures are a clear indication that, while many Australians consider themselves spiritual, many of these do not look to Christianity or other religions to nurture that spirituality.” 98 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups,’ 22, Though Bouma gives the Jedi movement more credence than might be merited, see also, G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 10-15 99 So the definition of secularisation outlined above, which involves an absence of spiritual belief in the day to day decision making of the secular individual is demonstrably an inaccurate picture of Australian life. 100 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups,’ 22, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation,' 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2006, “Christian denominations had smaller proportional changes in the numbers of affiliates than the non-Christian religions. Between 1996 and 2001 Catholic affiliates increased by 4.2% and Baptist

the younger generations of Australians,101 supporting the alternative view of

secularisation, namely that a meaningful description of secularisation in an

Australian involves a decrease in the authority of traditional religious

institutions.102 The census data is slowly creeping towards church attendance

figures,103 if these two data streams ever come close to intersecting, then the

statistics may become a more meaningful representation of Christianity in

                                                                                                               affiliates by 4.8%. However, as the total population grew by 6% during this period, the actual percentage of the population professing affiliation to these denominations remained virtually unchanged. The most notable decreases in Christian affiliation occurred for Churches of Christ (decreasing by 18%), the Uniting Church (decreasing by 7%), and Presbyterian and Reformed (decreasing by 6%).” Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2914.0.55.002 - 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Media Releases and Fact Sheets, 2006, retrieved online Nov 2011, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/6ef598989db79931ca257306000d52b4!OpenDocument In the 2006 census these groups continued to decrease on the 2001 results, the ten year trend figures have “The number of Australians affiliated with the Catholic church grew by 7% to 5.1 million, while those affiliated with the Anglican faith decreased by 5% to 3.7 million. Other groups to decline were the Uniting Church (by 15% to 1.1 million) and the Presbyterian and Reformed churches (by 12% to 0.6 million). The fastest-growing Christian denomination was Pentecostal, increasing by 26% (to around 220,000),” while the non-Christian religions continued to grow, “Australia's three most common non-Christian religious affiliations were Buddhism (2.1% of the population), Islam (1.7%) and Hinduism (0.7%). Of these groups, Hinduism experienced the fastest proportional growth since 1996, more than doubling to 150,000, followed by Buddhism which doubled to 420,000.” 101 R. Powell & K. Jacka, 'Occasional Paper 10: Moving Beyond Forty Years of Missing Generations,' National Church Life Survey, Jan 2008, 5, "Younger age groups are under-represented in Australian church life. Only 15% of church attenders are aged 15 to 30 years, compared to 25% in the wider Australian population. In contrast, some 23% of attenders are aged 70 year and over, compared to only 12% in the wider population." 102 G.D Bouma, 'Globalization and recent changes in the demography of Australian religious groups,’ 22, C.M Cusack, ‘Tradition and Change: Australian Churches and the Future,’ Australian Review of Public Affairs, 5 May 2003, Retrieved 22 Nov 2011, http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2003/05/cusack.html, citing C. Miley, The Suicidal Church: Can the Anglican Church be Saved, (Melbourne, Pluto Press, 2002), “The great change needed now is de-institutionalisation, since Western people no longer desire membership of institutions. Miley stresses that Jesus did not found a bureaucracy, and that Christianity is about acceptance and empowerment, salvation, and forgiveness: most spiritual people in Australia today are simply not prepared to believe that people are evil or condemned because they were born homosexual or Hindu, female or Buddhist, black or Muslim.” 103 J. Bellamy & K. Castle, 'Occasional Paper 3: 2001 Church Attendance Estimates,' National Church Life Survey Research, Feb 2004, 8-9, Attendance figures are still dramatically lower than those identifying as Christian in most denominations, smaller denominations tend to have a higher percentage of attendance from those who identify with the denomination in the census"Based on the 2001 NCLS, it is estimated that around 1.5 million people attended services at participating Anglican, Catholic and Protestant denominations each week in 2001. In addition there were another 137,000 people attending small Pentecostal and Protestant denominations and groups, based on 1996 estimates. Assuming that this remnant figure hasn't changed much since 1996, weekly attendance in 2001 would be about 1,660,000 for Anglican, Catholic and Protestant churches. This equates to 8.8% of a population of 18,769,249…The proportion of people claiming to identify with a Christian denomination has dropped from 71% in the 1996 Census to 68% in the 2001 Census. What proportion of these people actually attend church frequently? The answer to this question varies significantly from one denomination to another. Attendance rates in larger mainstream denominations such as Anglican (5%) and Uniting (10%) are a small proportion of the overall number identifying. By comparison, Protestant denominations such as Baptist (36%), Churches of Christ (74%) and the Salvation Army (39%) tend to have much higher proportions attending."

Australia.104 However, a disparity remains between the two data sets. Church

attendance has halved (from an artificially high point) since the early 80s,105

while the census data suggests Christian affiliation in Australia has remained

relatively constant in the period.106

Australia’s multiculturalism has continued to increase religious diversity in

the nation during this period, in 2006, 91% of those affiliated with non-

Christian religions in Australia were born overseas, or had an overseas born

parent.107 But the changes in Australian culture in the 21st are also a

continuation of the changing shape of suburban and family life, which began

in the 1950s and 1960s. These include a lower commitment to marriage and

the traditional family unit, an increase in individualism, a decline in

participation in institutions, including both community organisations and

organised Christian religion, and an increase in individualised post-modern

                                                                                                               104 P. Hughes, ‘Dissatisfaction and the Shape of Australian Spirituality,’ suggests the affiliation measured by the census is not necessarily indicative of religious belief, and that the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes is a better measure, it “showed that in 2009 just 50 per cent of adult Australians regarded themselves as Christian (compared with 86 per cent according to the 1966 Census), and 46 per cent of adult Australians said they did not have a religion… However, the Survey gives a far more accurate reading of the Australian population as they currently see themselves. Many who complete the Census form respond in terms of the way they were brought up, or what school they went to. The Survey was more direct and signalled that it was asking about "now."” T. Frame, Losing My Religion, 100-104, suggests neither affiliation nor participation figures provide an accurate measure or religious belief, but the combined decline of both does seem to correlate with a decline in religious belief. Frame follows Mackay, who suggests that Australians aren’t anti-religious, just apathetic, while some may suggest that community involvement rules out certain introverted personality types, and thus is an inadequate measure of Christian belief, P. Kaldor, L.J Francis, & P. J Hughes, ‘Personality and Community Involvement: Is Churchgoing Different,’ Journal of Beliefs & Values, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2002, 101-105, found that church participation appeals to both introverts and extraverts, and that psychoticism was a better measure, where people who were concerned for others were more likely to engage in community life, including church participation. 105 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 78 106 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 77 107 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Religion across the generations,’ A Picture of the Nation, 2006, retrieved Nov 2011, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/7CEC0AAC7B73D745CA25754C0013DE60/$File/20700_religion.pdf, 54

spiritualism.108 These changes are said to have caused a decrease in “social

capital” in Australia and other western societies.109

While this picture of the place of religion in the Australian landscape is bleak,

religious and spiritual practice have also maintained a position in the day-to-

day lives of a significant (and relatively stable) percentage of Australians,110

invalidating the predictions of the secularisers who predicted a rise in

irreligion or anti-religion in Australian culture coinciding with declining

affiliation with religious institutions.111 One in ten families in Australia

participate in daily religious activities,112 and almost a quarter of Australian

                                                                                                               108 A. Possamai, 'A Revisionist Perspective on Secularisation: Alternative spiritualities, globalised consumer culture, and public spheres,' The End of Religions?: Religion in an Age of Globalisation, ed. C. Cusack and P. Oldmeadow (Sydney, University of Sydney Press, 2001), 202-205, New Age religions are a continuation of the consumer mentality which developed in Australia in the 1960s, post-modernism, the popularity of "perennist" spirituality, and its place in the public sphere, undermines the secularisation theory. While traditional religious belief is in decline, consumer focused, post-modern religions are growing. 109 D. Cahill, G. Bouma, H. Dellal, & M. Leahy, Religion, Cultural Diversity, and Safeguarding Australia, 6-10, organised religion traditionally played a vital role in the production of social capital, but changing social trends mean social capital is either in decline or being redefined, see C.M. Cusack, ‘The future of Australian secularism: Religion, civil society and the American alliance,’ Australian Review of Public Affairs, 10 October 2005, Retrieved Online 22 November 2011, http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2005/10/cusack.html, considers the application of the findings of R.D. Putman, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), to Australian society. “Putnam notes a range of factors responsible for civic disengagement: suburban sprawl; the popularity of television and electronic media; changed work patterns, including the large-scale entry of women into the workforce; and generational changes resulting in the ‘replacement of an unusually civic generation by several generations [Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y] … that are less embedded in community life’ (p. 275).” Putnam suggests migration is particularly responsible for declining social capital in western, multicultural societies, R.D Putnam, 'E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture,' Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 30 – No. 2, 2007, 137-174, 163-164, suggests this breakdown in community is a short term, and almost transitional effect of increased ethnic diversity, and public policy initiatives are required to balance this trade off, he also suggests that religious institutions have a major role to play in incorporating new immigrants and breaking down ethnic barriers to community. 110 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 63-77 111 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 5, “Whatever theories of secularisation predicted, it has become extremely clear at the opening of the twenty-first century that spirituality is not on the decline… Rather, in secular societies, religion and spirituality have seeped out of the control of the churches. Leading to increased diversity and individualism.” 112 G.D Bouma, & D. Lennon 'Estimating the Extent of Religious and Spiritual Activity in Australia Using Time-Budget Data,' Journal For The Scientific Study Of Religion, March 2003;42(1), 107-112, 109-111, This is not exclusively focused on Christianity or traditional church practices, one in ten Australian families engage in religious activities daily, this does however, account for a relatively small amount of time per day.

adults participated in religious activities on a quarterly basis in 2002.113

Religious participation in Australia is on par with attendance of sporting

activities.114

Conclusion

The Census data on religious affiliation, which focuses on individual identity

rather than community belonging,115 provides an insight into the failure of the

Australian church to articulate what Christian identity entails,116 and paints a

confusing picture about the role of religion in Australia in both the past and

the present.117 While some wish to claim Australia has a “rich Christian

heritage,”118 the reality is that an equally viable claim could be made for

Australia’s secular history, and advocating either view at the expense of the

other is historically reductionist.

The claims and predictions made about religious, or supernatural, belief in

the lives of Australians by strong secularisers, on the basis of statistical

declines in the 1970s do not stand up to the scrutiny of history or the available

data.                                                                                                                113 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Religious Affiliation and Activity,' 4102.0 Social Trends 2004, “According to the ABS 2002 General Social Survey, 23% of Australian adults participated in church or religious activities during the three months prior to interview.” 114 G.D Bouma, & D. Lennon 'Estimating the Extent of Religious and Spiritual Activity in Australia, 109-111 115 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 51 116 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 35-36, “Australian churches make organisational demands of people that "exceed the norms" Australians expect from religious institutions. This explains the disparity between identification and attendance.” 117 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 63-64 suggests the census question is inadequate for assessing post-modern Australia, “the census fails to consider that post-modern Australians may wish to identify with multiple religions. Many answers in the "other" field express this tendency,” and at 54, Bouma points to a 1983 survey which found even those who identified as having no religion were quite spiritual, “a survey of "nones" found 21.2% considered themselves religious, 37.8% prayed occasionally, and 16.2% said God was 'quite' or 'very' important in their lives.” 118 V.J Watts, 'Christianity's Potential Contribution to Australian Society,' 10, 14, Australian Christianity has contributed to Australian culture, and Australia has a "rich Christian heritage," "but what is needed today is a new religiosity (forward- movement) free from irrelevant traditions and practices, self-indulgence, dogmatism, ineptitude, violence, and intolerance, a new religiosity that is free to express itself in practical community engagement."

The religious landscape in Australia has become more diverse, and arguably

more significant in the life of the population, since the 1970s. The Australian

migration program brought new residents who were more committed to their

religious practices than their Christian counterparts.119 There has, however,

been a simultaneous movement away from institutions and traditional

religious power structures,120 and towards alternative spiritualities. 121

Consumer culture and the globalisation of religious phenomena and have

created a kind of post-modern spiritualism that contradicts the theories of

secularisers.122 Other sociological factors, not limited to migration, have also

contributed to the changing face of religion in Australia. Shifts in public

morality, and the changing nature of family life and social structures, means

religious affiliation is less likely to be a decision made for an individual.123

These factors present challenges for the modern church as it engages with

modern Australia.124

                                                                                                               119 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 73, “Migration brought people who were more religious than they would have been if they stayed where they were raised (religious connections aided settlement). Their religions were new to Australia or promoted rapid growth in the religions that had previously attracted few adherents…the middle class became more ethnically and religiously diverse.” 120 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 73, “Migration brought people who were more religious than they would have been if they stayed where they were raised (religious connections aided settlement). Their religions were new to Australia or promoted rapid growth in the religions that had previously attracted few adherents…the middle class became more ethnically and religiously diverse.” 121 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 8-15, at 10, suggests while religion might be on the wane, spirituality is on the increase, at 15, the boundary between religion and spirituality is murky, but Bouma suggests religion is structured, and takes place in groups, spirituality is an individual thing. But it is hard to identify the boundaries between them. 122 A. Possamai, 'A Revisionist Perspective on Secularisation: Alternative spiritualities, globalised consumer culture, and public spheres,' 215, one can not speak of a meaningful spiritual distinction between public and private, spirituality, in a new age framework, has been replaced by a consumer culture and a build your own religion. He concludes western societies are becoming less secular. 123 A. Singleton, "People Were Not Made to Be in God's Image": A Contemporary Overview of Secular Australians,' Secularism & secularity: contemporary international perspectives, Ed. B.A Kosmin, A. Keysar,. Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, (Hartford, Institute for the Study of Secularism, 2007), 84, “Arguably, what it means to be either religious or secular is different in a society that is now post-industrial, multicultural, and religiously diverse and in which one’s religious identification is increasingly a matter of personal choice rather than social obligation.” 124 V.J Watts, 'Christianity's Potential Contribution to Australian Society,' 11, "In summary, Australian Christians currently confront a range of challenges relating to (a) the changed religious

The modern Australian landscape offers a multicultural cornucopia of

religions. The associated rise of post-modernity, tolerance, and a focus on

individual spirituality rather than corporate, organised, religion, has shaped

an Australian society that is neither secular, nor traditionally religious. This

new multicultural version of Australia presents both challenges and

opportunities for the church. Challenges, in that the value system has moved

from Christian morality in the 1950s, to post-modern tolerance today, and

opportunities, in that the church has a significant role to play in the

welcoming of migrants into the Australian community.125

The Christianity reflected in the census figures is more likely to be of an

individual flavour, something like Manning Clark’s “shy hope in the heart,”

than Biblical Christianity and membership of a church community.126 Bouma

(2006) suggests this “takes the form of an inarticulate pointing to the

transcendent.”127 The Church must recognise the challenges presented by the

nature of Australian faith, the apathetic approach to matters of religion, the

suspicion of institutions, the decline of community life, and the multicultural

nature of Australian society as it seeks to address the widespread confusion

about the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

                                                                                                               demographics; (b) the overall decline of Christianity; (c) the range of issues within the Christian churches and church structures; and (d) active participation in, and contribution to, Australian society." 125 R.D Putnam, 'E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century,’ 163-164 126 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 2, 32 127 G.D Bouma, Australian Soul, 27

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