mark no religion in the Australian census!

[redunderthebed]

http://www.censusnoreligion.org/

A wonderful initiative by the atheist foundation of Australia.

[Aos Si]

You don't even have to answer that any more on ours. I'm sure it has some merit in terms of local government organisation but I find it fairly hard to see where? The church runs on donations (although it is of course quite wealthy in terms of property anyway) and all by itself in terms of the CoE and presumably others whilst not as wealthy look after their own affairs, not sure why it needs to be known by the government at all, and it doesn't really reveal anything about peoples beliefs anyway.

[Hermit]

Aos Si, there are many private schools run by religious denominations that get state and federal subsidies to the tune of several hundred million dollars every year. Government financed family planning services are run by catholics and the federal government sponsors christians to conduct religious indoctrination "lessons" and provide "spiritual guidance" advice in state-owned schools. All this is done on the grounds that, to use a previous Prime Minister's words, "Australia is a predominantly christian nation." Churches are also tax exempt on the same grounds. The more Australians indicate that they belong to no religion, the less such tax-payer funding of religious enterprises can be justified.

[JimC]

Aos Si, there are many private schools run by religious denominations that get state and federal subsidies to the tune of several hundred million dollars every year. Government financed family planning services are run by catholics and the federal government sponsors christians to conduct religious indoctrination "lessons" and provide "spiritual guidance" advice in state-owned schools. All this is done on the grounds that, to use a previous Prime Minister's words, "Australia is a predominantly christian nation." Churches are also tax exempt on the same grounds. The more Australians indicate that they belong to no religion, the less such tax-payer funding of religious enterprises can be justified.

As long they can stagger on till I retire...

But yes...

"Imagine no religion...

it's easy if you try..."

[Santa_Claus]

I won't fill in any religion.

hope that helps.

[redunderthebed]

I won't fill in any religion.

hope that helps.

I thought you belong to the church of masturbation on public transport?

[JimC]

I won't fill in any religion.

hope that helps.

I thought you belong to the church of masturbation on public transport?

He got thrown out for being too fanatical...

[Aos Si]

Aos Si, there are many private schools run by religious denominations that get state and federal subsidies to the tune of several hundred million dollars every year. Government financed family planning services are run by catholics and the federal government sponsors christians to conduct religious indoctrination "lessons" and provide "spiritual guidance" advice in state-owned schools. All this is done on the grounds that, to use a previous Prime Minister's words, "Australia is a predominantly christian nation." Churches are also tax exempt on the same grounds. The more Australians indicate that they belong to no religion, the less such tax-payer funding of religious enterprises can be justified.

Oh I was talking about the UK anyway.

[Santa_Claus]

I like to tick as many boxes as I can.

[Super Aguri]

It would be a huge step for secularism in this country if they can get a solid 35%+ no religion result. Less than 10% of supposed "Christians" actually go to church, yet religious organisations in this country use the census results to claim that this is a "christian country" when appealing to get special treatment from the government.

[klr]

I marked "no religion" on the Irish census last weekend.

[redunderthebed]

I marked "no religion" on the Irish census last weekend.

I would imagine Australia is a fair bit further down the secular path than Ireland is however.

[klr]

I marked "no religion" on the Irish census last weekend.

I would imagine Australia is a fair bit further down the secular path than Ireland is however.

We shall see. Irish people are very odd when it comes to this sort of thing. They resent being told what to do, despise the Church for all the child abuse and other scandals, don't give a damn about doctrine and teachings one way or another ... and yet will still describe themselves as Catholic, have religious weddings, etc.

[Hermit]

I marked "no religion" on the Irish census last weekend.

I would imagine Australia is a fair bit further down the secular path than Ireland is however.

We shall see.

We already have. In 2006 4.4% of the Irish population described itself as of no religion, compared to 18.7% in Australia. Ten years earlier the figures were 1.9 and 15.6% respectively. The trend is certainly encouraging. I don't have sufficient data for Ireland, but for Australia it looks like this:

[Hermit]

I marked "no religion" on the Irish census last weekend.

I would imagine Australia is a fair bit further down the secular path than Ireland is however.

We shall see.

We already have. In 2006 4.4% of the Irish population described itself as of no religion, compared to 18.7% in Australia. Ten years earlier the figures were 1.9 and 16.6% respectively. The trend is certainly encouraging. I don't have sufficient data for Ireland, but for Australia it looks like this:

Perhaps the lines will intersect in a few decades.