A five-yearly Census conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS) will take place this August. The multi-question Census form collects
personal, economic and social information. The ABS prides itself on gathering
accurate and reliable statistical information. Census data is used by federal
and state governments, local councils, businesses and many others for facts
and figures, trends and changes in Australian society.
Optional 'religion' question
The only optional question in the Census is the one on religion. It
is included primarily to provide religious organisations with data on the
numbers and distribution of people of different faiths. The data however
is also used by government officials, politicians, journalists and social
researchers when citing the percentage of Australians who identify with
particular religions or no religion.
However, compared to small scaled social surveys, the Census figures on religion inflate Christian numbers and under score the No religion numbers. [See comparative data below.] This occurs because of the form and structure of the Census question encourages a positive response. So many people mark a religion they no longer have any commitment to.
Here is how the religion question has appeared in recent Censuses.
Question What is the person's religion?
( ) Catholic
( ) Anglican
( ) Uniting Church
( ) Presbyterian
( ) Greek Orthodox
( ) Baptist
( ) Lutheran
( ) Islam
( ) Buddhism
( ) Other - please specify
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
( ) No religion
1. Asked this way, the question implies that all people have a religion.
The ABS merely seeks the particular one for each person. This leads many
people, who have long departed from the religion they were brought up in,
to mark a box, rather than declare themselves to be in the negative category
of No religion. See Michael Leunig cartoon below.
2. Placing the No religion box at the bottom implies lesser value.
In contrast, the Census question on marital status, gives 'Never married'
as top or first choice.
3. Suggesting Humanism as an answer to a question on religion is misleading,
as the ABS categorises such responses as part of the No religion percentage.
Humanism as a write-in response first appeared in 2001 and has been there
in each subsequent Census.
4. The write-in 'Other' attracts well over a thousand different responses.
Many are not religions, but rather something of importance to the person
responding e.g. Jedi, Beiderneckian and Vegetarian. See Wizard of Id cartoon
in attached document.
Secular Australia
In the daily patterns of life Australia is among one of the more secular
societies. This is shown by:
Australians tend to regard a life philosophy or religion as a matter of personal choice. It is not usual for public figures to appeal to religious ideas when arguing the merits of a social or political issue, though some do. Regardless of life beliefs, Australians place high value on family and friends for support and socializing. They generally have a well-developed acceptance of difference.
Surveys show that nearly half of Australians consider religion to be unimportant or irrelevant. For example a National Social Sciences Survey (1.) from as long ago as 1993 surveyed attitudes on religion on a multi-question survey yielded these results.
| Respondents | % |
|---|---|
| Non-religious | 42 |
| Religious attenders | 29 |
| Religious non-attenders | 22 |
| No response | 7 |
From this survey 51% of Australians are religious, whereas Census figures three years later show 74%. (2.)
| Religion | % 1996 | % 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| Christian | 71.31 | 63.9 |
| Non-Christian | 3.09 | 5.6 |
| None | 25.6 [No religion 16.6 + Not stated* 9.0] | 29.9 [No religion 18.7+ Not stated 11.2] |
* Not stated are those who don't answer the question.
Humanist action on Census
Over many years Humanist and other secular organisations have written
submissions and attended consultations on the structure and uses of the
five-yearly Census; their interest being primarily concerned with the 'religion
question'. Some have argued for the removal of the religion question altogether,
on the grounds that a secular state ought not to be concerned about the
religious or non-religious beliefs of its citizens, as these are private
matters. But mostly we've argued for an altered form of wording and structure
to the question with the aim of eliciting more accurate responses.
Our preference has been for a two part question, as follows.
a) Does the person have a religion? ( ) Yes ( ) No
b) If 'Yes', what is it? [Answers to go in tick boxes + write-in
space, as above.]
The main argument used by ABS against a two-part question - in effect two questions - is that gathering and collating the responses cost twice as much as a single question. And it was cost that caused the ABS to cancel its review of the 2006 Census form, even though calls for submissions and consultations had begun. This cost saving was necessitated by budget cuts to ABS in May 2007. The overall effect will be that the 2011Census will be a near replica of the one prepared for 2006.
Humanist societies have raised concerns over the inclusion of 'Humanism' as an example of a write-in religion. [See above sample question.] The response from the ABS has been that they categorised 'Humanism' as a sub-set within the 'No religion' percentage. Despite numerous letters we were never able to elicit a satisfactory reason as to why the ABS had included Humanism as an example of a religion, when it is not usually regarded as such.
Action on 2011 Census
The aim of highlighting the 'religion' question is to encourage Australians
who no longer identify with any religion to mark the 'No religion' box.
We are hoping to boost the No religion percentage. This will remind the
governments that there is a growing percentage of Australians who have
no identification with any religion. Furthermore, these secular people
are starting to seek equal recognition with religions.
Once the Census starts to get media coverage it would be great if lots of people started to talk about marking 'No religion' on the one optional question.
Endnotes
1. National Social Sciences Survey, M. Evans, J. Kelly and C. Bean.
Data File, ANU Canberra.
2. ABS 1996 Census Report.
Further links
www.census-campaign.org.au
CAHS Census 2011 document
CAHS Census 2011 flyer
Web/technical Enquires Web Editor (web_editor@humanist.org.au)