Losing our religion? Australia would no longer be majority religious if format of census question changed, survey finds | Religion

Australia would no longer be a majority-religious country if the format of the census question was changed, a new survey suggests.

The Essential Media survey tested the current census format, in which people choose from a list of the most common religions, “no religion” and “other.”

In the 2021 census, approximately 39% of people selected “no religion” from this list.

In the new survey, published ahead of the 2026 Australian census on August 11, 43% of people chose “no religion” when asked in the same format.

But when first presented with a “yes/no” option (“do you have a religion?”), followed by a text box to fill out if “yes” was selected, 54% of respondents chose “no.” This means approximately 2 million adults.

The survey was commissioned by the Census – Not Religious? Mark No Religion campaign, which says the format used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) exaggerates Australia’s religiosity and understates the number of people who do not practice any religion.

Spokesperson Michael Dove, a self-confessed “demographics nerd,” said the census is the “gold standard” of data needed to “inform debate, policy and ultimately funding decisions.”

“We are confident that ABS will provide us with high-quality data that we can trust and ensure that the right decisions are made based on the right data,” he said.

Campaign website listings a series of surveys They found that the non-religious cohort was higher than the 39% in the census.

The question of religion has long been a source of debate and, in some cases, humor.

In 2001, more than 70,000 Australians declared themselves Jedi Knights, inspired by Jediism from the Star Wars series.

Pastafarians, members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster who use colanders as religious headgear, say: They checked the “no religion” box In order not to be considered a Christian.

Christianity has declined steadily over the past 50 years, but was still the most prevalent religion at the last census, according to the ABS. While 43.9 percent of the survey participants stated Christianity as their religion, 38.9 percent selected the “no religion” option.

The number of people who have beliefs other than Christianity and who do not belong to any religion is constantly increasing.

The survey surveyed more than 2,000 people using the current census question and another group of more than 2,000 people using the proposed alternative.

In the first group, 43% chose “no religion,” 55% chose a religion, and 2% chose not to answer. For the second option, this number was reversed: 43% said they had a religion, and more than half (54%) said they did not (4% chose not to answer).

In the second group, the religious beliefs of those aged 18-34 were lower (34%), and those with a university education were higher (50%).

While the survey was aimed at adults, the census includes children; For younger children, an adult fills it out.

The ABS considered changing the question after the 2021 census and said it had received feedback stating that the wording of the question “assumes you have a religion”, but said any change could mean “data cannot be compared with data from previous censuses”.

Dove said campaign members had two rounds of consultations with the ABS after the 2021 census and that the bureau was responsive. But in the end they rejected the change.

“I think they are being compromised by the lobbying activities of religious groups [who] “He has the strongest interests,” he said.

“It needs to be fixed.”

The ABS said it had consulted religious and secular bodies and that it was “not possible to design a question(s) that would meet the range of needs identified” and that it was unable to adequately support people who needed to compare data with previous censuses.

It provided extra instructions and updated samples for the next census, reordered categories to reflect the most prevalent religious groups in the last census, and changed the way data was processed to “record the most detailed level of detail provided by respondents.”

Dove said the “ship has sailed” for the 2026 census.

“We already have our sights set on 2031,” he said.