“No Religion” Is Now Officially Australia’s Top Religion

[Moloch]

“No Religion” Is Now Officially Australia’s Top Religion

Australian citizens chose “no religion” more than any listed specific denomination on the nation's 2016 Census, making this the first time the “Nones” have overtaken Catholics in the country.

In 1966, only 0.8% of Australians chose "no religion".  In 50 years "no religion" has climbed from 0.8% to 29.6%! (plus another 9.6% who did not answer the religion question?)



The census data comes at an interesting time, when people all over Australia (and Europe and the U.S.) are worried about being overtaken by Muslims. In fact, some right-wing groups actually warned all citizens not to select the “no religion” option as it may lead to Australia becoming a “Muslim country” (somehow).

But not even a conservative fear campaign could stop non-believers in Australia from being heard. About 29.6 percent of Australians chose the “no religion” box — up from 22.6 percent in 2011 — and 9.6 percent chose not to answer the religion question at all.

   The godless in Australia is a huge force to be reckoned with. Whether you’re an atheist, agnostic, humanist, rationalist, a free-thinker or even someone who considers themselves spiritual but not religious, you’re part of a powerful voting block [sic] that deserves to be heard.

    Our political, business and cultural leaders must listen to the non-religious when we demand public policy that’s based on evidence, not religious beliefs. This includes policy on abortion, marriage equality, voluntary euthanasia, religious education in state schools and anything else where religious beliefs hold undue influence.

[coolcoinz]

Actually according to youch chart Christianity is still the main religion, because Catholics and Anglicans belong to the same big Christian family

Some right-wing groups actually warned all citizens not to select the “no religion” option as it may lead to Australia becoming a “Muslim country” (somehow).
Yes, because it's that simple. If you come to an atheist and tell him to praise Allah, because it's better than believing in nothing, he'll convert just like that. Some people seem to think that there's a place reserved for a religion in our minds and it must be filled by one or another eventually.

[BADecker]

^^^^^ That's because Aussies come predominantly from English stock. A Spaniard might be offended if he thought that Catholic was being clumped with Christian.

[audaciousbeing]

Where the issue of liberalism is getting to we might have to lose the moral values religion instill in is at some point because this 21st century has grown with so much knowledge that almost every thing that seem unanswered to and solace is taken in religion, has mostly been answered by virtue of advancement in science and technology and also the emergence of Artificial Intelligence has equally give credence to it. I hope we can find out path

[TheCoinGrabber]

I'm fine with them being irreligious but I hope they take precautions to be not hijacked by the religious with raging hormones. Let's face it, better live in a secular "Christian country" then in some Muslim sharia land. Christians are more accommodating to infidels.

Let's hope Australia don't go the way of Europe. They do take some "immigrants" in but the only close Muslim country to them is Indonesia.

[Okurkabinladin]

Moloch

The specific technique used in CBT is called exposure and response prevention (ERP) which involves teaching the person to deliberately come into contact with the situations that trigger the obsessive thoughts and fears ("exposure"), without carrying out the usual compulsive acts associated with the obsession ("response prevention"), thus gradually learning to tolerate the discomfort and anxiety associated with not performing the ritualistic behavior. At first, for example, someone might touch something only very mildly "contaminated" (such as a tissue that has been touched by another tissue that has been touched by the end of a toothpick that has touched a book that came from a "contaminated" location, such as a school.) That is the "exposure". The "ritual prevention" is not washing. Another example might be leaving the house and checking the lock only once (exposure) without going back and checking again (ritual prevention). The person fairly quickly habituates to the anxiety-producing situation and discovers that their anxiety level drops considerably; they can then progress to touching something more "contaminated" or not checking the lock at all—again, without performing the ritual behavior of washing or checking.

ERP has a strong evidence base, and it is considered the most effective treatment for OCD. However, this claim was doubted by some researchers in 2000 who criticized the quality of many studies.

It has generally been accepted that psychotherapy, in combination with psychiatric medication, is more effective than either option alone. However, more recent studies have shown no difference in outcomes for those treated with the combination of medicine and CBT versus CBT alone.

Actually according to youch chart Christianity is still the main religion, because Catholics and Anglicans belong to the same big Christian family

Some right-wing groups actually warned all citizens not to select the “no religion” option as it may lead to Australia becoming a “Muslim country” (somehow).
Yes, because it's that simple. If you come to an atheist and tell him to praise Allah, because it's better than believing in nothing, he'll convert just like that. Some people seem to think that there's a place reserved for a religion in our minds and it must be filled by one or another eventually.

You might be onto something. Chesterton famously said, that refusal to choose God, doesnt mean the person in question is not believer. Rather it means he might start to belive anything (Moloch here being prime example). Religion is not so much about rituals as it is about complex value system.

I'm fine with them being irreligious but I hope they take precautions to be not hijacked by the religious with raging hormones. Let's face it, better live in a secular "Christian country" then in some Muslim sharia land. Christians are more accommodating to infidels.

Let's hope Australia don't go the way of Europe. They do take some "immigrants" in but the only close Muslim country to them is Indonesia.

You are completely correct. Australia wil be swarmed by muslims. You know why, right? As its people lose their value system, there wont be enough force behind door to keep it closed. When millions of muslims ask the locals to let them in, the universalist rhetorical question will go: "Why not?"

[merchantofzeny]

Christian are still the majority, since all those 3 groups are considered Christian. You just wait when the Muslims become majority. You're gonna love it. Good times. Tremendously. Believe me.

When millions of muslims ask the locals to let them in, the universalist rhetorical question will go: "Why not?"

Aw, don't you just love "cultural enrichment"? It really does do wonders for the host country. "Diversity" is always good, no?

[Moloch]

If you come to an atheist and tell him to praise Allah, because it's better than believing in nothing, he'll convert just like that.

You're so dumb

Do you really think atheists have never heard of religion and will convert to the first one the hear about?

Australia didn't go from <1% atheist to 30%+ because nobody heard of Jesus or Allah... come the fuck on dude... use the brain that nature/evolution gave you

[Moloch]

Actually according to youch chart Christianity is still the main religion, because Catholics and Anglicans belong to the same big Christian family

Christian are still the majority, since all those 3 groups are considered Christian.

The problem is that the various sects of christianity don't agree with each other on pretty much anything...

Would a protestant be happy with a catholic pope running the show?  No

Would catholics be happy with a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness in charge?  No

The only reason anyone lumps them all together as "Christian" is to outnumber Muslims (only America does this AFAIK)... other countries aren't stupid and keep the denominations separate, because they are separate

[darkangel11]

Actually according to youch chart Christianity is still the main religion, because Catholics and Anglicans belong to the same big Christian family

Christian are still the majority, since all those 3 groups are considered Christian.

The problem is that the various sects of christianity don't agree with each other on pretty much anything...

Would a protestant be happy with a catholic pope running the show?  No

Would catholics be happy with a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness in charge?  No

The only reason anyone lumps them all together as "Christian" is to outnumber Muslims (only America does this AFAIK)... other countries aren't stupid and keep the denominations separate, because they are separate

AFAIK Muslims also don't agree with each other and in their case not agreeing is trying to murder other sects or ethnic groups. An example might be the relations between Sunni and Shia. I think Muslims are pretty much outnumbered anyway, there's maybe 3% of them in Australia, not enough to make a difference even if all of them decide to blow themselves up in public places, which seems to be their favourite way of making a point.

[Sithara007]

There are two main reasons for this. First, as the education levels increase, the religiosity declines in general. This has been seen in Western Europe and North America as well. And secondly, a large part of the migration to Australia comes from East Asian nations such as China and Vietnam, were most of the people are either atheist or non-religious. 

[Netnox]

Worryingly, the number of Muslims have increased by more than 6 times, from 109,500 in 1986 (0.7%) to 604,200 in 2016 (2.6%). At first it doesn't look like too threatening, but knowing what is happening in countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, this increase bothers me.

BTW, surprising to see the Jews declining in number. The other Oriental religions also increased, with Australia now home to 440,300 Hindus, 125,900 Sikhs and 563,700 Buddhists.

[squatz1]

Wow, at first I fully thought that this was one of those bullshit pieces that people try to go on every so often to try to belittle religion on this forum. But, no this is actually a true fact and is something that is true. While the wording may be the part that got me, I had thought as if you added all the other religions together NO RELIGION would still come out on top. This part isn't true, but insane to see people going against the norms of society and not believing in what everyone else has done SINCE THE START OF TIME.

GO AUSTRALIA!

[Vishnu.Reang]

Nice to see the number of Hindus and Buddhists increasing. Immigrants who belong to these two religions have proved themselves to be the most law abiding and hardworking group. Also, nice to see Australia getting more diverse.

[digaran]

Good for them, honestly every body is free to choose their own religion and whenever some body wanted to force you to convert to a specific religion then you should really kill them, if God wanted all the people have faith He could've forced them to submit or force every body to submit to whatever He desired.
People should take the hint when it comes to freedom of choice and respect others and their choices.

[Mometaskers]

Worryingly, the number of Muslims have increased by more than 6 times, from 109,500 in 1986 (0.7%) to 604,200 in 2016 (2.6%). At first it doesn't look like too threatening, but knowing what is happening in countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, this increase bothers me.

BTW, surprising to see the Jews declining in number. The other Oriental religions also increased, with Australia now home to 440,300 Hindus, 125,900 Sikhs and 563,700 Buddhists.

I don't find anything worrying about Buddhists. Better encourage more migration from countries like Vietnam and Thailand than South Asia and Middle East. East Asians in particular would make more attractive immigrants. They are almost always considered model immigrants, even having better educational and economic levels than natives.

If you come to an atheist and tell him to praise Allah, because it's better than believing in nothing, he'll convert just like that.

You're so dumb

Do you really think atheists have never heard of religion and will convert to the first one the hear about?

Australia didn't go from <1% atheist to 30%+ because nobody heard of Jesus or Allah... come the fuck on dude... use the brain that nature/evolution gave you

Can't help but laugh at the comment you are replying to. Many people who go atheist were formerly religious and has heard about another religion other than the one they escaped. That none of the other existing religion convinced them enough should make it clear they're unlikely to just convert unless coerced.

[BitBite5]

When you see how many bad things have been done in the name of religion, different ones, maybe no religion option is the best.option. At least when all this crazy situation in the world doesn't come down.

[contactmi]

Probably most of those that selected 'no religion' are not proud to be identified as Christians...Australia is still largely a Christian country

[merchantofzeny]

Actually according to youch chart Christianity is still the main religion, because Catholics and Anglicans belong to the same big Christian family

Christian are still the majority, since all those 3 groups are considered Christian.

The problem is that the various sects of christianity don't agree with each other on pretty much anything...

Would a protestant be happy with a catholic pope running the show?  No

Would catholics be happy with a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness in charge?  No

The only reason anyone lumps them all together as "Christian" is to outnumber Muslims (only America does this AFAIK)... other countries aren't stupid and keep the denominations separate, because they are separate

I don't see many people differentiating between Sunnis and Shias. Having these these Christian sects as the majority groups in a country is still safer. I mean, save for a few places, Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox are no longer slashing each other's throats. I've never seen Mormons or JWs go on a religious war against other Christian sects.

[Ucy]

Bigotry is the problem not Religion. Our laws need to protect people from bigots not Religious people.
North Korea is an athiest country yet her leader could get people killed for disrespecting him. How about Cuba?


The most brutal leaders in history weren't even Religious:
Stalin
Hitler
Kim Jon Wu
etc..


My theory:   Narcissists tend to hate the belief in God. Very few(maybe 20%) are athiests for the Good reasons like religion being too rigid, not approving extreme Religious texts plus other abuses...