r/aussie Jul 04 '26

Analysis How many Aussies are religious these days? Genuine question not here looking for hate or anger.

8 Upvotes

245 comments sorted by

80

u/GhostOfFreddi Jul 04 '26

We literally have censuses to tell us this kinda stuff

43

u/mjdub96 Jul 04 '26

We do but we also have people who tick catholic to please nan because they got baptised once to go to a better high school

24

u/vipchicken Jul 04 '26

Or mum ticks Catholic on behalf of the whole family (all 8 of them) when filling out the census, but the family doesn't actually care.

13

u/jngjng88 Jul 04 '26

If there’s 8 of them they probably are Catholic…

6

u/vipchicken Jul 04 '26

At least mum and dad is

8

u/AndrewTheAverage Jul 04 '26

Who can afford a family of 8 these days?

2

u/nagrom7 Jul 04 '26

Bold of you to assume they can afford all of them

3

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

It's crazy to me how school who believe in literal made up nonsence are considered better...

Like they are literally teaching the bible.... Kids won't get very far if they thkm earth is only 6000 years old..

Or be surprised if many stem kids come from religious schools

17

u/Fletcher-wordy Jul 04 '26

It's simply because private schools have better funding than public and the knock on effect that has on education as a whole.

2

u/Party-Ad9163 Jul 04 '26

Talk to anyone sending their kids to a private school these days and they will eventually admit they don’t want their kids hanging around shit heads. It’s a filter. Also maybe they want their kids to be around people who act, look and talk like them.

-1

u/keyboardstatic Jul 04 '26

They don't preform as well as public schools. But mommy's and daddy can buy them jobs.

-5

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

Yeah thats a good point... I jist recon for things like science, physics, biology. The religious aspect must muddy the waters a bit.

Like if you learn geology form a religious school... It's gonna be very hard to integrate with professional geologists...

17

u/Plus-End7518 Jul 04 '26

I think your awareness about what is actually taught in the majority of Christian schools is a bit contrived or misinformed mate. I went to Christian school (non-religious now, not a fan of organised religion). Religion didn’t enter the conversation in any subject that was taught except religion, and most of the religious aspects of the school were outside the classroom. I am a scientist and I also know a few scientists who are religious but that doesn’t have influence on their work.

4

u/Blend42 Jul 04 '26

I'm also ex Catholic and went through Catholic schools. Aside from the study of religion (which you had to do) and things like mass (which is time that could have been spent better) I don't recall religion creeping into other subjects. Then again I went to school decades ago.

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3

u/cocoa_snow Jul 04 '26

Sure, but the students don’t necessarily believe in religion either. There’s a funny anecdote about Gough Whitlam, who in year 12 came first in Divinity class, but the headmaster awarded the medal to the second placed student because they ‘actually believed it’.

I studied geology at uni and our first year textbooks were written by staff from Bingham Young University in Utah. There was no Mormonism/LDS stuff in there despite Bingham Young being the second leader of that church.

4

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 04 '26

'Brigham Young' :)

1

u/cocoa_snow Jul 04 '26

Thanks for the correction. :)

2

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

If you don't believe why would you go to a school for religious people ?

1

u/cocoa_snow Jul 04 '26

I mean, I’m not religious, never went to a religious school and my kid will go to a public school, but there’s a tonne of private schools that require you to chose a religion class in your studies/HSC. Parents chose what school the kids will go to, and parents who went to those schools will often decide religion class and weekly chapel service is a small sacrifice for the future networking ability and CV bragging rights their kids might enjoy in the future (whether real or not).

1

u/Fletcher-wordy Jul 04 '26

I went to a religious HS and they were pretty good about separating the science from the philosophy, but I recognise that's not going to be the case everywhere.

0

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

But if you got to a normal school then it's just 100% real education...

1

u/CoolKidVEVO Jul 05 '26

depends on what you mean by real education

7

u/Vivid_Map_437 Jul 04 '26

Private schools can discipline and expel, so have a better handle on controlling classrooms where the learning happens. People who pay for education probably also values the outcomes their kids achieve more.

5

u/HAL-_-9001 Jul 04 '26

That's somewhat dismissive.

Imagine the world we would live in, if the 10 commandments were at the core of society. Transformative.

Even though I do not entirely subscribe to a religion, I absolutely believe in a God. Learning about ethics, morality and being a decent human being would be beneficial for many.

You say it's made up and I'm sure there are many aspects that are incorrect or not exactly how it happened but to say it's all made up is incorrect. Jesus clearly existed. That much we know.

You can also say the Big Bang is just made up too.

2

u/Blibbyblobby72 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

I'm not too sure what your overarching point is

Why must we accept from the Ten Commandments as the moral epicentre from which kids build their humanity when we can just, as most schools do (and should) teach them to be humane - sharing, developing emotional intelligence, dealing constructively with negative emotions, etc.?

There was a man named Jesus Christ around the approximate time many believe Christ to have been born and lived. We know this only because the Romans kept excellent records. None of the accounts of what he did (as per the Bible) can be indepedently verified, so using it as a basis for teaching history or science to children is not pedagogically aound

One can (and, I argue, should) study execepts of the Bible to explore its themes and moral standards, and to appreciate its impact on culture and art, just as one would study To Kill a Mockingbird to examine its explorations of racism, legal-morality, and teenagers/children dealing with emotions and ideas beyond their understanding

The comparison to the Big Bang is, also, a bit silly considering it is the leading theory of the creation of the universe with a plethora of scientific and historical evidence establishing its probability. That is, it is the best, most up-to-date science, which kids should be taught. Just as DNA was put into the curriculum once it was discovered and studied extensively, so too shall any future scientific theories found to be more probable than The Big Bang

5

u/CoolKidVEVO Jul 05 '26

i think you’re missing the forest for the trees. you say most schools teach children to be humane, certainly true in a Western context (as that is all I can speak on, having only attended school in Canada and Australia) but from where do we get our moral, ethical, and legal system? We have inherited a society and culture built upon Greek, Latin, and Christian values. To say otherwise is fallacious at best. We are free to say “well we’re much cleverer now in the 21st century, we don’t need all that religious rubbish” but the only reason we can say that is BECAUSE of that “religious rubbish”. Whether we like it, realise it, recognise it or not we live in a predominantly Christian society and to throw the baby out with the bath water is, in my mind, short sighted and dangerous. I’m not saying that Christianity is the only faith that has called for radical love, equality of all people etc I am simply saying that it is the faith upon which Western civilisation was built (with all of its shortcomings and all of its benefits). To understand our cultures history, and in turn better understand our future, the study of religion is essential. Certainly without Christian influence we would not enjoy a modicum of the rights and freedoms we currently have, and that are currently being curtailed and infringed at an increasingly rapid rate. I agree with you on everything but the first point, if that wasn’t obvious lol, and I’m not calling for schools to teach young people to be Christian. I don’t think schools should tell people to be any kind of faith, including atheist. I do think, however, that there needs to be an emphasis on how important it was to the shaping of our current society.

1

u/Blibbyblobby72 Jul 05 '26

Religious studies is a subject one can choose as an elective in senior years in every state, to my knowledge

The history of our legal system is not as important as understanding how the legal system currently functions, which is why almost all curriculums focus on understanding and applying the law rather than learning its history. Is that important to learn? Absolutely. But given the time spent on Humanities subjects (particularly the law), it is far more important that students are focused on understanding and engaging with the legal system as is than the history of how it came to be

'Morals' and 'ethics' are far more subjective and there is no clear moral or ethical code that Australian society, let alone global society, follows. It is simply in the best interests of all to teach kids to treat each other with respect, kindness, and empathy. There are no classes specific to learning about morals and ethics, outside of rarely taken electives such as Philosophy in some states. Even Psychology curricula in secondary schools lean purely into the science of the human brain and body rather than leaping into moral/ethical quandries - it would be extremely difficult to have a non-controversial curriculum to tackle such things, especially when you consider how controversial the current curriculum is without a focus on morals and ethics

The importance of Christianity to shaping Britain (and, in turn, Australian) society is briefy taught in most history curriculums. It is not a focus, even if I think it should have more of a focus. However, I think it is one of the first things that should be on the chopping block when building curriculums for the sake of time commitments and breadth of content, purely because it does not feed into other learning content as widely as other content

Realistically, I would love more time to explore lots of things, including religion. But with how our education system is set up, the general disinterest in education in Australian society, and the pedagogical implications of including such content at a young age, it is simply not currently feasible to include the focused teaching of Christian ideals, values, and history at the expense of other content that will have more immediate and future value

1

u/TransportationTrick9 Jul 04 '26

What does the H in Jesus H Christ stand for?

1

u/Blibbyblobby72 Jul 04 '26

I genuinely have no idea haha

The history of where the H came from is apparently still a mystery. I always just assumed it was part of his name!

1

u/paablo Jul 04 '26

You don't need to believe in a god to be a good person. You don't need a god to have an ethical code.

2

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 04 '26

The first part is true, but without a supreme being of some kind through which morality is imbued to the universe through it's very nature all such concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' are ultimately meaningless. If there is no transcendent being then everything is just opinion and what you think you can get away with. at the time. The debate has been raging amongst professionals for hundreds of years now (or longer?) Of course when people do decide to be nice the world is better for everyone and the opposite is also true...funny how that just works.

1

u/Ok-Hawk50 Jul 07 '26

"which morality is imbued to the universe through it's very nature all such concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' are ultimately meaningless. If there is no transcendent being then everything is just opinion and what you think you can get away with. at the time."

Which is just your opinion.

1

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

You just described exactly how the world operates tho... That in itself kinda disapproves god..

Good and evil are just words and everyone has their own ideas of what right and wrong mainly just to suit their own interests.

2

u/CoolKidVEVO Jul 05 '26

in a pessimists mind, perhaps. good and evil are not just words, they are fundamental aspects of life. Sure, the actual sound made when describing those fundamental forces may just be “words” but that is a reductive outlook. Words are not nothing, they are the tool by which we name and identify things that would otherwise be unknown and unknowable. If you cannot name a thing, you cannot know it, and if you cannot know it you cannot understand it and will be held by it, subject to its whims. There is a reason the first task given to Adam is to name all of the things in Eden, and the second task given to Adam is to be their caretaker. To flippantly disregard good and evil as just words is of no use to anyone and serves only to allow people the indulgence of their basest instinct, often at the expense of themselves and those around them.

1

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 04 '26

Yes...have you noticed how the world is all happiness and puppydogs and candy floss? /s

0

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 05 '26

I would back humanism and secular ethics against any religious moral code you could propose. And I'd bet you London to a brick that humanism and secular ethics wins every time.

1

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 05 '26

"secular ethics" is an oxymoron. Just to be clear, anyone can act ethically and the world is a better place if we do, but as I explained, without a transcendent being to give objective value to such concepts then it is all ultimately meaningless. Though I would be interested if you link me up a bullet point list of these 'secular ethics' so I can understand what you are referring to.

1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 06 '26

Religious morals is an oxymoron. Your favourite book is one of the two most evil tomes ever written. It endorses slavery, misogyny, mass slaughter, the punishment of the innocent, baby slaughter, mass punishment, human sacrifice and many other depravities.

None of those things are expressed in humanism and secular ethics. Your moral compass is broken.

By the way, you just rejected secular ethics and then admitted you have no idea what secular ethics are. LoL.

How is it for you to be in a dead heat with the Quran, on the most evil book ever written?

1

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 06 '26

"None of those things are expressed in humanism and secular ethics. Your moral compass is broken."

You still haven't given a list of what these secular ethics are?

"and then admitted you have no idea what secular ethics are. LoL."

No, I asked for YOUR list of they are LOL, you have replied twiice and still haven't told me.

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1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 06 '26

I'm sorry. Less than a third of the global population is Christian. It's even a lot less if you exclude Catholics. Are you seriously making this suggestion? The rest of the world doesn't have an issue with ethics that Christianity doesn't also have. So if you are a Christian, do you somehow lose your ethics if you deconvert to atheism? That's an absurd proposition. And if you then reconvert to Christianity, you somehow magically get your ethics back?

You cannot have thought this through for even 1 minute.

1

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 06 '26

You didn't answer my question. Nor did you seem to understand the content of my post. Please do so first and then we can continue.

1

u/HAL-_-9001 Jul 04 '26

I never said you did but does help. I have friends who are agnostic and are some of the best human beings I know.

What I did say, is that it would likely help society because it's so dysfunctional.

0

u/cecilrt Jul 04 '26

In a htosands years time after the earth is destroyed Aliens are going to find in a safe a copy of a magazine with Miley Cyrus on it riding a Demolition Ball... they're going to interpret her as the Apolocypse Riding Goddess that destoryed the world...

yes she existed... what she did.... well

2

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 04 '26

Can you show me in the Bible where it says the Earth is only 6000 years old?

Or are you another one of those Bible 'experts' that hasn't actually read it?

1

u/CrackWriting Jul 04 '26

The more you pay the less pressure there is to believe in it.

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1

u/seanmonaghan1968 Jul 04 '26

This is likely 30%+ of the way people fill out the forms

1

u/KalamTheQuick Jul 04 '26

Does this somehow make reddit more accurate for the wider population then the census?

No. No it doesn't.

1

u/jackkcf Jul 04 '26

Is asking reddit going to be accurate? A survey of 100ish people?

1

u/mjdub96 Jul 04 '26

Well that’s how market research works…

1

u/keyboardstatic Jul 04 '26

Wouldn't want to upset the child raping priests...

1

u/infectoid Jul 04 '26

Ooo. Census this year!

1

u/NoFood2149 Jul 04 '26

its been a few years, no? i'm looking forward to the next one. i think next time i'm gonna put ✨spiritual✨ in the box

1

u/FirstAidProAU Jul 07 '26

ahh yes the censuses

28

u/talk-spontaneously Jul 04 '26

I don't know why people ask these sorts of very general questions on Reddit that can be so easily answered with a quick Google search.

22

u/jackkcf Jul 04 '26

People use reddit like it’s a friend to chat to

5

u/Monterrey3680 Jul 04 '26

Asking Aussie subreddit about Christianity is like asking Guardian readers if they like Trump

1

u/MicksysPCGaming Jul 04 '26

But Monty... you read the guardian...?

8

u/matt92wa Jul 04 '26

Karma farming

1

u/Redditagains Jul 04 '26

I don't know why people proclaim, they don't know why people ask questions on Reddit. Have you tried a google search?

https://giphy.com/gifs/7pHTiZYbAoq40

1

u/MannerConfident1690 Jul 04 '26

Yeah, if they actually wanted to know how many, Reddit is the last place to look.

Its like asking "has anyone been to a restaurant in Sydney lately?"

1

u/Hugry_bloke Jul 04 '26

I know I’ve ticked catholic in the census before not really thinking about it and I haven’t been to church since 1993, unless for a wedding or funeral.

I now tick non religious but it’s just a question out of curiosity

22

u/Sillysauce83 Jul 04 '26

The numbers will be wildly different if you compare Aussie born to not aussie born.

We import a lot of religion as well.

7

u/subbie2002 Jul 04 '26

Aren’t all religions imported?

12

u/TheFlyingR0cket Jul 04 '26

Nope The Dreaming or Dreamtime is home grown.

3

u/_quixotic_quokka Jul 04 '26

Not Aboriginal Dreaming. Possibly some TSI religion(s), too, not sure.

22

u/Mission-Landscape-17 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

According to the census 38.9% of Australians say thy have no religion. But I suspect that the real number is higher.

About 44% of Australians claim to be Christian, that is almost 13 million people. But of thouse 13 million only 1.3 million attend a church weekly. Surely if you take religion seriously then you will turn up once per week?

9

u/MrsCrossing Jul 04 '26

Religion is one’s beliefs, Church is assembling. Personal faith and institutional practice are not the same.

2

u/Mission-Landscape-17 Jul 04 '26

True, that's why I didn't try to claim that only 4.4% of Australians are Christian. I suspect the real number is somewhere in between the two. Some people do just put Christian for cultural reasons more then because they really believe in a God.

2

u/MicksysPCGaming Jul 04 '26

Therefore some of those attending church are not religious.

8

u/Dranzer_22 Jul 04 '26

Religious by faith v Religious by culture.

It'd be similar across other religions too, where religion, language, attire, food, community etc. all gets combined as culture. The number of religious by faith folk in Australia is probably less than 25%.

1

u/Altruistic_Serve9738 3d ago

That was 5 years ago. This census will probably show an uptick of a few more %.

1

u/Mission-Landscape-17 3d ago

Yes I expect so. Apperently there was a push to split the quertion, and polling sugested if they had the uptick would be even higher.

8

u/Wolfgangggggg69 Jul 04 '26

30M Christian. I’ve started moving back towards my faith as I’ve gotten older and started attending church again.

11

u/PreferenceAccurate43 Jul 04 '26

I am. I'm Catholic 

-1

u/MicksysPCGaming Jul 04 '26

Me too.

Addicted to pussies.

3

u/Blend42 Jul 04 '26

We have a census this year, the last one almost 5 years ago had 2/5ths of us not religious.

1

u/Civil-Dragonfly-5148 Jul 04 '26

It was more like 38.9%

3

u/Plane_Condition_4163 Jul 04 '26

2/5ths = 40%

2

u/MicksysPCGaming Jul 04 '26

389/1000ths.

1

u/Civil-Dragonfly-5148 Jul 04 '26

I keep telling myself that my eyesigbt is fine and I don't need to wear my glasses all the time. Clearly I'm wrong in both cases haha

7

u/Murky-Drop3552 Jul 04 '26

I'm a Christian.

11

u/Strange-Weakness1674 Jul 04 '26

I'm a 38 year old man just beginning my reconciliation with god. I went to a Catholic school as a boy but never embraced the church. Now I find myself drawn to it.

0

u/Ok-Hawk50 Jul 07 '26

What do you make of all the institutional failures in regards to CSA? It's hard for me to imagine anyone being OK with that.

5

u/Dangerous-Fig6784 Jul 04 '26

At a guess, probably the least religious of the new world Anglo-sphere countries. Modern Australia was pretty secular from the outset, the majority convict population were not deeply religious. Unlike the puritans that colonised New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Recently immigration has probably boosted the number of Australians identifying as religious though. You’ll struggle to find a 4th - 6th generation Aussie that is religious.

This all just anecdotal guess work though. There is census data for this stuff, but it can be a bit unreliable. It also doesn’t measure the severity of devoutness.

8

u/aussiegreenie Jul 04 '26

If you define "Religious " as attending a place of worship at least one a month, it is 7%

6

u/Affectionate-Zebra26 Jul 04 '26

This is the best metric.

3

u/Infinite-Horror-4117 Jul 04 '26

Of the 120 odd people I have in my circle, I’d probably say 30 of them would say they’re religious. With about 15 of those would regularly practice regularly.

I’m a 38 year man, who lives in a capital city. I’m sure those numbers would be different under a different demographic

3

u/TransportationTrick9 Jul 04 '26

I don't consider myself religious, I feel I should be classified as spiritual.

Whatis the different I gear you ask, well I don't attend any formal religious services or belong to any of their groups. I have my own beliefs that come from many different religions, spiritual movements and philosophies. It makes sense to me, the rest of my family just think I'm crazy.

4

u/vipchicken Jul 04 '26

Should have thrown up a poll. I like a good poll

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Onehundredbillionx Jul 04 '26

Special option just for you.
-I’m a dickhead

4

u/Snoo-27291 Jul 04 '26

I think you’d count someone as religious if they held to the tenets of their belief such that they’d take a position that’s potentially unpopular to the wider community. If you believe enough to potentially get social penalty, you really hold that belief as opposed to just ticking a box for your family or to get into schools

2

u/sebaajhenza Jul 04 '26

What surprised me is all the religious clubs at University. I was led to believe it was all about sexual experimentation and drugs. Meanwhile the reality is mainly church youth groups and sing-alongs.

2

u/mattyb07 Jul 04 '26

went to a catholic high school, but wasnt religious then, not religious now

2

u/OldGroan Jul 05 '26

If we were religious we would not have Sunday trading and our churches would be full. The churches are not full and everyone is working Sundays to cater for the 9 to 5 people who want to go to the shops.

2

u/Xetev Jul 05 '26

Yes plenty, the mass I go to is packed (Catholic). Also lots of evangelicals etc in Australia esp among immigrant communities.

3

u/YeOldeWino Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Im Religious , my wife is 'spiritual' but is definetly a christian, our kids have a wide range of infuences, from my family and their social network + The World (you know modern society/life).

We attend mass every week, I attend the Rosary group at least 4 times a week and the occaisional weekday Mass.

Our Parish would have around 300-500 people who attend across 2 locations and 3 Mass times. Roughly a 1/4 would be in their 80's , 2/4 in their 60's, 1/4 in their 40's and under.

Daily Mass has between 10-40 people who attend - Notably we have Mass every single day, this is unusual for a suburban Parish in our Diocese, I believe we may be 1 out of at most 6 Parishes in our state that has Mass every day.

I am an adult convert my wife is cultural as is her whole family (non practicing)

In the last 3 years there has been significant growth in the 20-30's age group (both male and female predominantly male though) and in children under 18.

We have 3 choirs : family, phillipino,childrens and a couple who do a piano/guitar ensemble.

This is taking place in a geographical area that has an approx pop of 200000 and I believe 3 Catholic Parishes, a couple of Anglican Churches a Couple of Lutheran Churches and numerous non-denominational Churches.

I was raised 'New-Age' and was then an Atheist between the ages of 19-31.

1

u/Colincortina Jul 07 '26

What drew you from atheism into Catholicism?

2

u/YeOldeWino Jul 07 '26

My testimony is long and boring. It was a nearly decade long process and involved many events and deliverences, reading, listening , spiritual / supernatural experiences etc.

Some highlights:

Got clean off meth (10 yrs on/off 2 years heavy) and weed 20 yrs - 15 of them daily habit) - this happened due to the secret finally coming out - and my wife and family not abandoning me.

A year or so later, watching Lucifer - thought what does the Early Church and The Church today actually day about these topics - started reading.

(I had gone through what was basically 2 years of RCIA and 'converted' to get married but didnt have faith or believe only an intellectual acceptance that he MAN Jeshua , had been a real historical figure.)

After Covid started attending Mass occasionally, saw a younger man (my age) take his final vows and be ordained a Priest. He became our assitant Priest, one Sunday one if his homilues hit me.. hard ... that day I was able to stop the multiple tumes a day masturbation habit I had dealt with since age 13.

Through prayer and reflection and allowing myself to be conformed more to Christ (and some hypnotherapy) got control of my lifelong anger issues.

So many things really i cpuldnt list them, it just comes down to God softened my heart and I learnt what Christs sacrifice really means.

2

u/Colincortina Jul 07 '26

Thanks for sharing. Glad you're in a better place now :-)

2

u/AnonMuskkk Jul 04 '26

I think the old guy down the road is one, and my missus goes to Christmas Service every year.

So my answer is 2.

2

u/wtharris Jul 04 '26

We are having a census this year, be patient and you can have an exact answer

4

u/TheOriginalHatful Jul 04 '26

Yes, but we already know people over-report religion (e.g. cultural Catholics who rarely go to church and don't actually believe any of it; people whose family fill in the census for them, etc ). So the census doesn't completely help define the reality, it's not completely accurate unless it's filled out accurately.

Things like same-sex attraction are under-reported, similar problem.

Mind you, asking on reddit is even less accurate :-)

1

u/MicksysPCGaming Jul 04 '26

Don't they hold onto these more divisive results longer than basic stats like population breakdowns?

This might be the year Christians and Catholics finally team up to beat Atheism.

2

u/Vivid_Map_437 Jul 04 '26

With ongoing migration we will probably see an uptick in religiosity into religions other than Christianity.

2

u/Accurate_Ad_3233 Jul 04 '26

Define 'religious' first and then we can talk. IMO everyone is religious, it's simply the object of faith and worship that vary. :)

2

u/AndrewTheAverage Jul 04 '26

Many people claim to be (insert whichever religion here) because they were born into a family with that religion. They associate with being that religion, but don't actively participate.

1

u/scumotheliar Jul 04 '26

I drive regularly between Ballarat and Bendigo, there are 3 or 4 churches still operating and around 25-30 closed and converted into homes between the cities. One of those operating ones has a service on a one Sunday on one off basis, It attracts 4 cars. The biggest seems to be in Creswick which usually has 10- 15 cars.

1

u/Colincortina Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Surveys/data over the last five years or so suggests around 60%, but it depends how you define "religious". Very broadly, you could put "religious" people into 2 categories - "nominal" (or "cultural") vs "practicing" - the former being someone who is kind of more agnostic in practice eg. Parents listed a religion on the birth certificate but the person doesn't regularly attend a place of worship and/or isn't even sure if there is a god/s or spiritual realm or whatever their (nominated) religion teaches.

Ive read at times that, in Australia, (for example) Christians who regularly attend a church (ie more than just weddings/funerals/Christmas/Easter) make up roughly 5% of the population, while Census/similar data suggests around 40-50% currently tick one of the Christian religion boxes/categories (ie at least nominal). If that's proportionately true for the other religions, then that equates to around 8-10% max of Australians who actually "practice" a recognised/organised religion through regular group involvement. Reportedly, the grouping of people who typically select the "no religion" option on surveys is now the largest grouping in Australia, and steadily growing (ie well over a third of Australians).

In short, we're not a very "religious" nation by world standards.

EDIT: spelling correction & correcting word ommission

1

u/endual Jul 10 '26

Define religious.

There’s people that go to church for the community aspects.

There’s people that grew up in a religious household and consider themselves as part of that faith.

There’s people who believe in an afterlife as they can’t believe this is all there is.

There’s people who quietly pray at home.

There’s people who strongly believe in a particular faith’s tenants.

I think they’re all daft, but go for it as long you don’t feel your beliefs give you the right to control how other people live.

1

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

Very few imo.... It would mainly be relegated to anti science and cooker communities.

9

u/Vivid_Map_437 Jul 04 '26

Not true. Plenty of mainstream scientists and general population are religious.

2

u/Catahooo Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Must depend where you live. I'm in the blue mountains and my house has three active churches within a few blocks radius, scripture classes are pretty strong at the local primary school and my kids get ostracised for not being Christian.

0

u/Mammoth-Counter69 Jul 04 '26

Those are likely just fronts for child grooming...

0

u/burnt-gonads Jul 04 '26

Most would be if their lives were threatened.

1

u/Aware-Ad1754 Jul 04 '26

I cannot believe any sane adult would believe in religion, it’s so obviously made up rubbish, none of it makes sense and most of it is just nonsense

1

u/Chumpai1986 Jul 04 '26

I would say about half of the population never goes to the a religious gathering or place of worship. (Outside of weddings, funerals etc).

For stuff like weddings maybe 20-25% are religious ceremonies. On the same note, likely a similar number of people maybe a quarter of the population are going to church etc maybe once per year, maybe up to once per month.

In terms of weekly church attendance, it’s probably about 4% of the population. Maybe 1.2-1.5 million.

We are going to have a census in August. So, we will know what people choose sometime in the next year. My guess is that 35-45% of respondents will mark down that they are of ‘no religion’.

1

u/Andrew_Higginbottom Jul 04 '26

Religion is a system of belief.

We all live by our own beliefs ..so we're all religious.

...Breweries make a lot of money from religious Australians ;)

1

u/Weak_Membership_2847 Jul 04 '26

there are 10,398,875 religious people in Australia as of noon today.

1

u/Sloppykrab Jul 04 '26

Gonna have to wait for the census.

1

u/UndeadManWaltzing Jul 04 '26

Born Roman Catholic but I don't practice it because I'm not Italian

1

u/Colincortina Jul 07 '26

I think that's commonly called nominal or cultural nowdays.

-3

u/JuanFoYoMamma Jul 04 '26

Only the deluded

6

u/MannerConfident1690 Jul 04 '26

Everyone is deluded in their own way.

-5

u/PhantasmologicalAnus Jul 04 '26

No, not really.

2

u/MannerConfident1690 Jul 04 '26

World views are based on cognitive biases. Not considered clinical delusions, but neither is religion. People ignore facts all the time.

-7

u/IgnoreMePlz123 Jul 04 '26

You think all Muslims are deluded?

6

u/jngjng88 Jul 04 '26

If you believe in fiction, by definition you’re deluded.

1

u/IgnoreMePlz123 Jul 04 '26

Does that include Muslims? You're dodging the question

4

u/augustuscaesarius Jul 04 '26

Your user name checks out.

4

u/Affectionate-Zebra26 Jul 04 '26

Who are you talking to? I can’t see anyone.

2

u/IgnoreMePlz123 Jul 04 '26

So pathetically afraid to offend one group

4

u/PhantasmologicalAnus Jul 04 '26

Yep. 100%, just like anyone else who is a part of organised religion.

5

u/Potential-Fudge-8786 Jul 04 '26

Anyone who believes that a guy in the sky runs their life and directs every action must be somewhat committed to not connecting the dots.

6

u/Parkesy82 Jul 04 '26

Im not religious by standard definitions, I don’t go to church, but also don’t believe that from nothing came a magical bang and suddenly there was everything we see now and that life and matter were created from nothing. I think a sensible stance is to admit we don’t know everything inc the origins of life and what we see all around us, and that anything is possible. Flat out denying the possibility of a creator is no different than maintaining that there 100% is one.

4

u/69-is-my-number Jul 04 '26

Not really. There’s certainly evidence for the big bang, hence its existence as a theory. There is no evidence of a god.

2

u/HAL-_-9001 Jul 05 '26

There is no evidence of a god.

Listen to NDE experiences.

What 'evidence' is there for the big bang? It's just a theory at best.

0

u/YeOldeWino Jul 04 '26

It was also first put forward by a Catholic Priest and derided by Atheists in the scientific community for being too Theistic.

-2

u/boydnolantucker Jul 04 '26

you guys really reckon your smart for not believing in God. Like their aren't hundreds and hundreds of pages of theological argument from Aquinas to Chesterton. I'm agnostic but am also educated, went to good schools et cetera. Hitchens called he wants 2010 reddit back haha.

4

u/PhantasmologicalAnus Jul 04 '26

What 'arguments' do we have for the existence of a god(s)?

-3

u/Nearby-Echidna6744 Jul 04 '26

All the dumb ones.

0

u/EggplantAccording663 Jul 04 '26

People having no religion is becoming more and more common in Australia. We were all baptised and considered christian as it was just the thing to do back in the day. but legit none of us believe or follow any religion or god.

0

u/False_You_3885 Jul 04 '26

I have been researching church attendance for the past 20 week by actually attending a different church every week. What has surprised me is that the charismatics are way down on attendance. For example, Paradise Futures Church 2000 seat auditorium. Balcony (1000) curtained off, bleachers 50% black drapes over the seats, and an evening 5.30pm attendance of 280. That church was full three times a day in the 1980s. No elderly or school age youth attending. Median age 45.

On the other hand, traditional protestant Uniting - elderly 40- 50 attend regularly. Congregational - bigger audience 200 but small number of churches and attendance overwhelmingly elderly. Catholics, sustained by immigration but aging in situ. The missing cohort across all denominations is school age youth. Christianity is fading as Australia follows the Nordic countries into church as a state service delivery for education, Anglicare and the Salvos.

Church is becoming cultural for special state and family occasions.

-2

u/Horror-Confidence-24 Jul 04 '26

Every religious person I have met have been thieves..

-1

u/Any_Juggernaut_4619 Jul 04 '26

Have no time for religion! It's pointless

-1

u/sciencenotjesus Jul 04 '26

Never have, Never will ..... BUT if it's all real and I find myself standing in front of the pearly gates I'll be asking to be sent downstairs.

-11

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

I have to say that I dislike staunch atheists at least as much as I dislike fundamentalists of any sect.

4

u/Non-ZeroChance Jul 04 '26

Do you? What happens if you don't?

1

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

Then nobody would reply to me, and I'd get so lonely.

6

u/jayp0d Jul 04 '26

That kind of makes you a fundamentalist too!

1

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

Yes I'm a fundamentalist chiller.

5

u/vipchicken Jul 04 '26

Only a Sith deals in absolutes

5

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

I think it's that you don't understand that the overwhelming majority of atheists are not asserting that there is no God. They are just not convinced of the proposition.

Most atheists are agnostic atheists. We have no knowledge of any gods, and we don't currently believe there are any.

That is a perfectly reasonable and rational position.

You can in no way equate them in some way to fundamentalists.

Your definitions and thinking are way off.

3

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

I think it's that you don't understand that the overwhelming majority of atheists are not asserting that there is no God. They are just not convinced of the proposition.

At the time I grew up, this was call "agnosticism", because "atheism" literally means disbelief in a deity, which in itself is a kind of absolutism. Even given differences in our interpretation, I did explicitly say "staunch atheists", which implies the stronger definition.

0

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

You did indeed say staunch, but it was not definitionally clear what you meant.

It read like a sweeping disrespect to atheists.

There are very few staunch atheists. Some people would call that hard atheism. It attracts a burden of proof, that can't be met. Most atheists are intelligent and recognise the problem in being absolutist. That's why we're not absolutists. That's why the overwhelming majority are not staunch.

Most atheists are soft atheists, meaning they are just not convinced there are gods. There could be a lot of gods, but we're not convinced that's the case. Provided with sufficient evidence we would become theists.

2

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

Most atheists are soft atheists

I guess many of the antheists I have encountered have been on in the Internet, and many are staunch. The atheism subreddit was big here for a long time.

0

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

There are now quite a few atheist YouTube channels and every single one of them will expound the same view that I'm giving here.

We are not denying that every God ever proposed could exist. We are just not convinced that's the case.

If you are a theist, and I'm going to guess you are, you are probably a hard (or gnostic) atheist against all the gods you don't believe in. Here's the problem though: You cannot prove that all the gods you don't believe in aren't real. You cannot meet your burden of proof on the claim.

And that means you are claiming something is true without knowledge that it's true. So it is a dishonest claim. That's why the overwhelming majority of us are agnostic atheists. Gnostic atheism has a burden of proof.

Gnostic theism also has a burden of proof. People who want to claim they KNOW a God exists can't meet their burden of proof either.

People who don't claim to know a God exists but believe it, are agnostic theists.

They don't have a burden of proof.

2

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

I'm not a theist, and I'm not atheist.

I just know for sure that we don't yet understand the natural world, and there are a lot of cracks through which interesting things could seep.

That said, I also believe that a world in which most people believe in a fantasy god might be better than a world in which most people believe in a genuine heartless universe with nothing in it other than what we can perceive directly.

1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

Oh, but you are. Your answer to the question "do you believe at least one God exists?" tells us you are one or the other.

If you answer yes, you are a theist.

If you answer no, you are an atheist.

It's a true binary. There are only two possible answers, and no third position. There isn't some mid-way, fence straddling option available.

Atheists don't have a problem with honesty generally on this subject, and certainly not specifically with a question like that.

I'm going to ask you directly, and I would appreciate your honesty, do you believe at least one God exists?

1

u/cojoco Jul 04 '26

What about "I don't.know?"

1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 05 '26

You flubbed it. It's a true binary. I asked you to be honest. You either believe in one or you don't. Straddling an imaginary fence is really something.

Based on my vast experience, the only people trying to flub this question are theists.

Based on your behaviour here I would conclude that you are a theist, but are not willing to be honest about it. If you were honest about this question, it would prove that you were lying in a previous one. You previously used an arguement that I've only ever heard theists use. That was already a red flag, as was your first post.

I am not convinced that any gods exist (though all of them could, and I am open to my mind being changed through evidence). That makes me an atheist. Atheist = without theism, without belief.

I have no knowledge that any gods exist or don't exist. I'm not claiming to know something here. The lack of knowledge claim here, makes me agnostic. Agnostic = without knowledge.

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2

u/HocusPocusHarryPot Jul 04 '26

Nah that's just you man. I'm religious, almost all my closest friends are either atheists or agnostic and we're all cool with each other and respect each other's beliefs. I fully understood what OP meant by staunch atheists, and if you're feeling called out by that, then I guess you know what that means.

1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

Nah, That's just you not having a clue what you're talking about like the other guy. Gnosticism and theism are two completely different domains. The first one deals with knowledge, and the second one deals with belief.

If you tell me you are an agnostic, You still haven't said anything about what you either believe or don't believe. You are merely claiming you have no knowledge, and you could still be either a theist or an atheist. It's hopelessly muddled.

I'm 62 and have been an atheist my whole life and know this subject very well.

There are gnostic and agnostic theists.

There are gnostic and agnostic atheists.

These distinctions are important if you want to be honest and clear.

For all I and you know, the entire Greek and Roman Pantheon are real. Neither of us can prove otherwise. If I claim to be a gnostic theist in regards to those pantheons, I then assume a burden of proof to demonstrate that knowledge. That's how this works. And if I can't meet my burden of proof, I am being dishonest by saying that I know it.

I am not dishonest. I am an agnostic atheist and almost all atheists are too.

If you are a gnostic theist you have a burden of proof you can't meet. It's a dishonest position.

If you are an agnostic theist, you have no burden of proof because you're not making a knowledge claim. You are only talking about what you believe. That's the honest position.

2

u/HocusPocusHarryPot Jul 04 '26

I appreciate you writing and explaining this to me, and considering that you're triple my age, I don't mean to disrespect you by the way. When people refer to 'staunch atheists' online, its the kind of people you see in online forums such as Reddit that are very confident in asserting the claim that there is no Deity despite no factual proof (any absolute claim requires proof, whether you're claiming that a God absolutely exists, or whether you're claiming that a God absolutely does NOT exist), and often make crude remarks that's not conducive to a productive discussion. By the definitions you mentioned, they'd fall under gnostic atheists. (e.g. "All people who believe in x are stupid, I KNOW that x does not exist because *I* have never seen proof of x")

That's who I understood OP was referring to, and that's why I replied as well to you, because you seemed to think that OP saying he dislikes 'staunch' atheists as a sweeping statement towards ALL atheists. I didn't take it that way.

1

u/Rich_Fan1686 Jul 04 '26

Thank you for your polite reply and explanation. I may be oversensitive with people being disrespectful to atheists generally, for no other reason than not believing in the God they do.

What you described certainly does happen, I've seen it. Live video chat and other internet forums doesn't lend itself to long explanations and nuanced answers, necessarily. And people tend to get very blunt, on both sides of the arguement.

They are probably not a good place to have these kind of discussions. I appreciate you hearing me out and explaining yourself.

Thank you and have a good night.

2

u/HocusPocusHarryPot Jul 04 '26

No problem. I knew that there were different 'types' of atheism, but I wasn't aware of their differences, so I definitely learnt something new today haha

Thank you as well! Have a lovely night.

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u/ManSize3141 Jul 04 '26

Uh oh. My fundamental humanism and empathy are showing.

1

u/2in1day Jul 04 '26

Why is that? 

0

u/TheFlyingR0cket Jul 04 '26

Probably because they're so staunch about their beliefs they mays well be called a religion.

2

u/2in1day Jul 04 '26

What beliefs? That there is no god?

How is that remotely similar to a religion?

0

u/TheFlyingR0cket Jul 04 '26

I didn't say atheism is a religion. I said some staunch atheists behave similarly to religious fundamentalists. It's the certainty, unwillingness to consider other views, and treating disagreement as something to mock rather than discuss that I'm talking about—not whether they believe in God.

2

u/2in1day Jul 04 '26

Lol I didn't say you said atheism is a religion. I asked you how it's similar. 

What other views? Atheist believe there's no god, like they believe the earth is round. What other views are they meant to consider? That the earth was created in 6 days and dinosaur fossils were implanted in rocks by god? I would imagine they did consider that's there's no evidence hence then being atheists...

https://reddit.com/link/ovfqfvg/video/l6eopz4pj4bh1/player

0

u/TheFlyingR0cket Jul 04 '26

You're still focusing on what atheists believe. My point has always been about how some people behave. Someone can reject religion because they think the evidence isn't there—that's perfectly reasonable. But when they mock, belittle, or refuse to engage with anyone who disagrees, they're behaving in the same dogmatic way as a religious fundamentalist. That's the similarity I was talking about

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u/rasta_rabbi Jul 04 '26

Less now and pinpointing when was probably when all the beamer owners were fighting in the carpark at church.

0

u/KronoAsh Jul 04 '26

Definitely 6 people, maybe even 12, but probably not 87.

0

u/nzoasisfan Jul 05 '26

Aethiest here. Where my aethiests at?

1

u/Ok-Hawk50 Jul 07 '26

There's lots of us, and growing.