Irreligion in Australia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, agnosticism

Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

, deism

Deism

Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...

, scepticism

Religious skepticism

Religious skepticism is a type of skepticism relating to religion, but should not be confused with atheism. Religious skeptics question religious authority and are not necessarily anti-religious but are those skeptical of a specific or all religious beliefs or practices. Some are deists, believing...

, freethought

Freethought

Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...

, secular humanism

Secular humanism

Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...

or general secularism

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

is increasing in Australia. Post-war Australia has become a highly secular

Secularity

Secularity is the state of being separate from religion.For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them...

ised country. Religion does not play a major role in the lives of much of the population.

In the 2006 Australian census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, 18.7% of Australians (or 3,706,555 people) described themselves as having "no religion." This was three percent higher than in the 2001 census, and was the largest growth in total number of any religious option in the census with 800,557 people. A further 2.4 million (11.9%) did not state a religion (or inadequately described it). So just over 30% of Australians did not state a religious affiliation in the 2006 census. According to Norris and Inglehart (2004), 25% of Australians do not believe in a god or gods.

History

Before European settlement, the Aboriginal Australians followed a spiritual system

Australian Aboriginal mythology

Australian Aboriginal myths are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia....

known as the Dreamtime

Dreamtime

In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...

.

European settlement in 1788 brought with it mostly Christian denominations.

Since the 1901 census, the "No Religion" percentage of the population has grown from 0.4% of the population to just over a quarter of the population. This question has been emphasised as "optional" since 1933. In 1971 a further clarification was made instructing "If no religion, write none" which saw "a seven-fold increase" in the figures from previous years for those declaring lack of religious beliefs.

Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

hosted the 2010 Global Atheist Convention

2010 Global Atheist Convention

The 2010 Global Atheist Convention was an international meeting of atheists in Melbourne, Australia, sponsored by the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Atheist Alliance International. It took place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 12 to 14 March 2010...

(branded as the largest event of its kind in the world), sponsored by the Atheist Foundation of Australia

Atheist Foundation of Australia

The Atheist Foundation of Australia, Inc. was established in South Australia in 1970, when The Rationalist Association of South Australia decided upon a name change to better declare their basic philosophy, namely atheism....

and Atheist Alliance International

Atheist Alliance International

Atheist Alliance International is a global network of atheist organisations around the world. AAI was founded in 1991.AAI's vision is "to transform society into one that understands and respects atheism; that supports and respects a worldview based on the values of reason, empiricism and...

. It took place at the Melbourne Convention Centre from 12 to 14 March 2010. Over 2,000 delegates attended, with all available tickets selling out more than five weeks prior to the event.

In 2010 The Australian Book of Atheism was published as "the first collection to explore atheism from an Australian viewpoint." The book was prompted by the disparity between Australia's increasing secularism versus the increasing political and educational influence and funding of religion in Australia, and contains essays by 33 authors (including Leslie Cannold

Leslie Cannold

Leslie Cannold, PhD, is an author, academic ethicist, columnist, activist, and high-profile Australian public intellectual....

, Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams AM is a science journalist and broadcaster resident in Australia who has hosted the Science Show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 1975, Ockham's Razor and In Conversation .-Background:Robyn Williams was born in Buckinghamshire, England, and educated in Vienna and...

, Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin

Timothy David "Tim" Minchin is a British-Australian comedian, actor, and musician.Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia,...

, Graham Oppy

Graham Oppy

Graham Robert Oppy is an Australian philosopher whose main area of research is the philosophy of religion. He currently holds the posts of Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at Monash University and serves as Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, and...

, Philip Nitschke

Philip Nitschke

Dr. Philip Nitschke is an Australian medical doctor, humanist, author and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Australia's Northern Territory and assisted four people in ending their lives before...

, Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter (politician)

Ian Keith Hunter is an Australian politician, representing the Australian Labor Party in the South Australian Legislative Council since the 2006 state election...

, Lyn Allison

Lyn Allison

Lynette Fay "Lyn" Allison is an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria. She was the last federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats....

, Russell Blackford

Russell Blackford

Russell Blackford is an Australian writer, philosopher, and critic, based for many years in Melbourne, Victoria. He was born in Sydney, and grew up in Lake Macquarie district, near Newcastle, NSW. He moved to Melbourne in 1979, but returned to Newcastle to live and work in 2009.-Writing career:As a...

and Ian Robinson) on atheism-related topics in areas including history, law, education, philosophy and neurobiology.

Irreligion in politics

Australians tend to be very suspicious of religion being intertwined with politics. Critic and commentator Robert Hughes

Robert Hughes (critic)

Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...

stated "Any Australian political candidate who declared God was on his side would be laughed off the podium as an idiot or a wowser

Wowser

Wowser was originally a slang expression, most commonly heard in Australian and New Zealand English. It originated in Australia, at first carrying a similar meaning to 'lout', i.e. an annoying or disruptive person, or even a prostitute. In around 1900 it shifted to its present meaning: one whose...

(prude, intrusive bluenose)." Conversely, Australia has had many openly atheist or agnostic political figures elected to high positions, including prime ministers

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...

(whose philosophical position has been called "post-Christian"), John Curtin

John Curtin

John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...

, John Gorton

John Gorton

Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...

, Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke

Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....

, and Australia's current Prime Minister Julia Gillard

Julia Gillard

Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...

. Governor-general

Governor-General of Australia

The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...

Bill Hayden

William George "Bill" Hayden AC was the 21st Governor-General of Australia. Prior to this, he represented the Australian Labor Party in parliament; he was a minister in the government of Gough Whitlam, and later became Leader of the Opposition, narrowly losing the 1980 federal election to the...

was voted as the Australian Humanist

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies

Council of Australian Humanist Societies

The Council of Australian Humanist Societies is the national umbrella organisation for Australian humanists. It is affiliated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union...

. Politicians Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans (politician)

Gareth John Evans, AO, QC , is a former Australian politician from 1978 to 1999 representing the Australian Labor Party, serving in a number of ministries including Attorney-General and Foreign Minister from 1983 to 1996 in the Hawke and Keating governments. He was president and chief executive...

, Olive Zakharov

Olive Zakharov

Alice Olive Zakharov was an Australian politician. Zakharov was elected as an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate relatively late in life, in 1983....

and Lionel Murphy

Lionel Murphy

Lionel Keith Murphy, QC was an Australian politician and jurist who served as Attorney-General in the government of Gough Whitlam and as a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1975 until his death.- Personal life :...

have also received this award.

A 2010 survey by The Sunday Age asked all 30 members of the First Rudd Ministry

First Rudd Ministry

The Rudd Ministry was the 65th Australian Commonwealth ministry. It was led by Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party.The Ministry was sworn in by the 24th Governor-General of Australia Major-General Michael Jeffery on 3 December 2007, following the 2007 election, and it ended on 24 June 2010...

about their religious beliefs. Fifteen declined to comment, ten said they were "Christian" and three stated that they were atheists: Health Minister Nicola Roxon

Nicola Roxon

Nicola Louise Roxon is an Australian politician, and is the Minister for Health and Ageing. She has been a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the Division of Gellibrand, in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.-Early and personal life:She...

, Defence Personnel Minister Greg Combet

Greg Combet

Gregory Ivan Combet AM MP is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He was Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions between 2000 and 2007...

and Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen

Chris Bowen

Christopher Eyles "Chris" Bowen , an Australian federal politician, is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, initially elected to represent the seat of Prospect in western Sydney for the Australian Labor Party at the 2004 federal election...

. The remaining two, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner

Lindsay Tanner

Lindsay James Tanner is a former Australian member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Melbourne, Victoria, for the Australian Labor Party, having first won the seat at the 1993 federal election. He was a member of the Australian Government from 3 December 2007, serving as...

and Treasurer Wayne Swan

Wayne Swan

Wayne Maxwell Swan is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1993 to 1996, and then re elected in 1998 till today , representing the Division of Lilley, QLD...

, both described themselves as agnostic Christians, with Swan believing that "values, rather than religion, are important in public life". Tanner added, "I doubt whether it would make much difference to a political career for someone to describe themselves as atheist."

Irreligion in popular culture

Many of Australia's most famous satirists and comedians have criticised religion

Criticism of religion

Criticism of religion is criticism of the concepts, validity, and/or practices of religion, including associated political and social implications....

, including Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin

, who has written several songs about religion and creationism

Creationism

Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...

; Wil Anderson

Wil Anderson

William James "Wil" Anderson is an Australian comedian, writer, performing stand-up, and television and radio presenter and personality.- Early life :...

, whose 2006 stand-up comedy tour "Wil of God" dealt with intelligent design

Intelligent design

Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...

; The Chaser

The Chaser

The Chaser are an Australian satirical comedian group, known for their television programmes on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation channel. The group take their name from their production of satirical newspaper, a publication known to challenge conventions of taste...

, who are highly popular in Australia for their irreverent, larrikin humour; John Safran

John Safran

John Safran is an Australian documentary maker and radio broadcaster, known for combining humour with explorations into religion and other issues...

, whose television show John Safran vs. God won the 2005 Australian Film Institute

Australian Film Institute

The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

award for Best Comedy Series, and many more.

Polls, surveys and statistics

Although many Australians identify themselves as religious, the majority consider religion the least important aspect of their lives when compared with family, partners, work and career, leisure time and politics. This is reflected in Australia's church attendance rates, which are among the lowest in the world and in continuing decline. In explaining this phenomenon, writer and broadcaster Paul Collins

Paul Collins (Australian religious writer)

Paul Collins is an Australian historian, broadcaster and writer.-Doctrinal investigation:The Vatican’s investigation centered on his 1997 book Papal Power, which was said to imply that “a true and binding revelation” does not exist; to deny that the Church of Christ is identified with the Catholic...

said "Australians are quietly spiritual rather than explicitly religious", and famous historian Manning Clark

Manning Clark

Charles Manning Hope Clark, AC , an Australian historian, was the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume A History of Australia, published between 1962 and 1987...

defined Australian spirituality as "a shy hope in the heart .... understated, wary of enthusiasm, anti-authoritarian, optimistic, open to others, self-deprecating and ultimately characterized by a serious quiet reverence, a deliberate silence, an inarticulate awe and a serious distaste for glib wordiness."

Donald Horne

Donald Horne

Professor Donald Horne was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals....

, one of Australia's best-known public intellectuals, believed rising prosperity in post-war Australia influenced the decline in church-going and general lack of interest in religion. "Churches no longer matter very much to most Australians. If there is a happy eternal life it's for everyone ... For many Australians the pleasures of this life are sufficiently satisfying that religion offers nothing of great appeal," said Horne in his landmark work The Lucky Country.

In a 2008 global Gallup poll, nearly 70% of Australians stated religion as having no importance, much higher than their American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

counterparts, and on par with similarly secular countries such as Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Only a few Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n countries (Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

) and post-Soviet states (Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

) are markedly less religious.

The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

, an Australian newspaper, asked its readers "Would the world be better off without religion?". 81% responded in the affirmative.

A 2006 study by Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

, the Australian Catholic University
Australian Catholic University
Australian Catholic University is a national public university. It has six campuses and offers programs in five faculties throughout Australia.-History:...

and the Christian Research Association
Christian Research Association
The Christian Research Association was founded in 1985 to study the Christian faith in Australia. Its work consists of major research projects, overviews of research on religion in Australia, and contract research for Christian organisations, including local reports based on Australian Census...

found that 52 per cent of Australians born between 1976 and 1990
Generation Y
Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation , Generation Next, Net Generation, or Echo Boomers, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when the Millennial generation starts and ends, and commentators have used birth dates ranging somewhere...

have no belief in a God.

A 2008 Christian Science Monitor survey of 17 countries reported that youth from Australia and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

were the least likely to observe religious practice or see any "spiritual dimension" to life.

Secular marriages in Australia have increased. They accounted for 41.3% of marriages in 1988 but overtook religious marriages in 1999. In 2010, 69.2 per cent of marriages were celebrated by civil celebrants. This is slightly higher than the rate in England and Wales in 2009.

A survey of 1718 Australians, conducted by the Christian Research Association at the end of 2009, found that 16 per cent attended a religious service at least once a month, compared with 23 per cent in 1993. More than 40 per cent of those brought up as Anglicans or Lutherans, 36 per cent of those brought up in the Uniting Church and 28 per cent of those brought up as Roman Catholics now described themselves as having no religion. 33 per cent of 15 – 29 year olds identified with a Christian denomination in 2009 compared with 60 per cent in 1993.

History

Irreligion in politics

Irreligion in popular culture

Polls, surveys and statistics

See also