Ben Squires
Family & Pets

History made in Census findings on Australia's leading religion

The results from the 2016 Census are in and they’ve painted an interesting picture of the religious landscape in Australia, contradicting many scare campaigns.

For the first time in Australian history the number of people claiming to have “no religion” has overtaken Catholics, rising from 22.6 per cent to 29.6 per cent. Those identifying as Catholic dropped from 25.3 per cent to 22.6 per cent.

Christianity in total still made up 52 per cent of the population, with Islam (2.6 per cent) and Buddhism (2.4 per cent) the next most common religions reported.

The results also saw a spike in those who did not answer the religious question, the only non-compulsory one in the Census, which was up slightly to 9.6 per cent.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) said this is a clear sign that it’s time to take religion out of policics, with president Kylie Sturgess telling News.com.au, “This includes policy on abortion, marriage equality, voluntary euthanasia, religious education in state schools and anything else where religious beliefs hold undue influence.

“That has to stop. Politicians, business leaders and influencers take heed: this is an important milestone in Australia’s history. Those who marked down ‘No religion’ deserve much more recognition. We will be making our opinions known, and there’s power in numbers.”

What are your views on the Census results? 

Tags:
Lifestyle, Family & Pets, Census, Religion