Australia is not ‘God’s own country’

When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Australia for the first time for World Youth Day this week, he will be descending on one of the least religious nations in the western world.

Although two-thirds of Australians identify themselves as Christians, religion plays an important role in the minds and everyday lives of only a minority according to the Religion Monitor, an international survey carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Europe´s biggest operating foundation.

The Religion Monitor is the most extensive and detailed international comparative study on the significance of religion in the main cultures of the world.

According to this representative international survey of 21,000 people, 28 per cent of the Australian population see themselves as not at all religious, with religious practices and beliefs barely featuring in their lives. A similar number classify themselves as deeply religious (25 per cent) whilst 44 per cent of Australians say they consider themselves religious but that religion does not play a central role in their lives.

Forty-eight per cent of Australians do not partake in personal prayer, and 52 per cent never or very seldom visit a church, mosque, synagogue or temple for religious reasons. Thirty-one per cent said that they did not believe in God or a divine power or in life after death. Religion scored lower than all other parts of daily life, with 50 per cent of Australians considering religion the least important when compared to family, partners, work/career, leisure time and politics.

In an international comparison this ranks Australians at the bottom end of the scale (ranked 17 out of 21 nations polled) in terms of their religiousness. This is a stark contrast to the US, where over 60 per cent are deeply religious and only 11 per cent are not religious. The survey finds that the only countries to show less interest in religion than Australia were Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

According to the latest population censuses, 64 per cent of Australians classify themselves as Christian, while 31 per cent classify themselves as not religious or give no information. Totalling over five million people, or 25 per cent of the population, Catholics represent the largest faith group and Christian denomination in Australia. Yet the Religion Monitor reveals that they are not the most religious group.

Religion is strongest among the small group of free-church and Pentecostal Protestants, which also includes the Charismatic Movements. According to the Religion Monitor, 50 per cent of this group is unequivocally deeply religious and 38 per cent are religious. Only 11 per cent are officially members of one of these faith communities but are, de facto, not religious. In comparison, 30 per cent of the followers of the Anglican Church are deeply religious, but almost a fifth of Anglicans classified themselves as not religious. The Catholics score in the middle with 37 per cent deeply religious people, 52 per cent religious and 10 per cent non-religious people.

Religious belief in Australia is also very much a women’s thing. While 34 per cent of Australian women are deeply religious, the proportion of deeply religious men is less than half that figure (16 per cent). 20 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men are not religious.

There is also a wide generation gap when it comes to the importance of religion. In the over 60 age group, 40 per cent are deeply religious and 37 per cent religious. In the younger age groups, only half that number are considered deeply religious. The proportion of non-religious people amongst adults aged between 18 and 59 varies between 28 and 33 per cent, about 50 per cent higher than amongst those aged over 60.

This is not to say that the Pope will be landing in a religious desert on his visit to the World Youth Day in Australia.

“One the eve of World Youth Day it is interesting to note the strong religious vitality recorded amongst the nation’s youth,” said Dr. Martin Rieger, leader of Bertelsmann Foundation’s religious project.

“Seventy-two per cent of Australia’s young adults believe in God or a divine power and/or a life after death — this is even more than in the over 60 age group. Almost half of those under 30 said that they partake in prayer on a more or less regular basis and the same proportion see God as a personal being. These figures clearly refute the assumption that religious belief is dwindling from generation to generation,” said Dr. Rieger.

Australians also have a largely positive perception of God. The majority of religious people evidently think of God as a loving, kind-hearted being. The most frequent feelings they associate with God are gratitude, hope, happiness and love. These are followed by attributes such as security, help, awe and justice. Markedly less people feel despair, fear or deliverance from guilt when they think of God. And even less people associate vengeance or deliverance from evil with God. Only amongst Anglicans did the feeling of despair make it as high as fifth place.

The majority of religious Australians are not just “Sunday Christians or believers”. Their belief is highly relevant to their everyday lives. Their belief influences the upbringing of children the most, coming next is religion’s role in providing support at special occasions such as births, weddings and deaths. At third place — and this was a surprise for researchers — was the role people’s religious beliefs play in how they treat nature. In contrast, religion has much less influence when it comes to sexuality, how they spend their leisure time and work and it has the least influence on people’s political views. Catholics especially do not let their belief influence their views on sexuality and politics. Religious Protestants and Anglicans are more influenced in these areas by their belief.

As in other industrialised countries, there is a clear trend in Australia towards a “patchwork” belief structure, one comprised of individual interpretations and belief models drawn from different faiths.

While 43 per cent of Australians envisage God as a personal being, 44 per cent said that the divine power is nature and 43 per cent said that God is “a force that flows through everything”. The same number believe that “God or the divine is only an idea conceived by humankind and has no existence of its own. 20 per cent of Anglicans shares this view. Almost a fifth of Australians (19 per cent) believe in psychic powers to a relative or large extent, however fewer believe in astrology, with only 11 per cent convinced. A similar figure (12 per cent) believe in the power of demons, but interestingly 28 per cent believe in angels – in particular young adults (32 per cent) and women (36 per cent).

Dr. Martin Rieger concludes in the run-up to the World Youth Day and the Pope’s visit “that Christianity and Catholicism in Australia are not blossoming, but equally are not in danger of losing their core roots. The big polarity between religious and non-religious people is very defined here. Typical is the trend towards a loose, perhaps seeking, spirituality that no longer has any clear relationship to the different churches and denominations. This reveals a great potential for religions and all churches that has so far been neglected and perhaps overlooked.”

July 4, 2008

http://nsw.uca.org.au/news/2008/australia-is-not-gods-own-country_ 04-07-08.htm