Latest News

ABS now testing proposed filter for religion question

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has confirmed it is testing the proposed changes to the religion question.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census21 campaign
Census21 campaign

Census21 – Not Religious?’ campaign outlines benefits of adopting a filter question

In a submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Census21 – Not Religious? campaign has strongly supported the proposal to introduce a two-part question for religion in the 2026 Census, saying it would go some way to ensuring more accurate and meaningful data on religion.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Submission: Phase 2 of the ABS 2026 Census topic consultation

This is the Census21 – Not Religious? campaign’s submission to phase 2 of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2026 Census topic consultation.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census21 campaign
Census21 campaign

‘Census21 – Not Religious?’ campaign welcomes proposal to amend religion question

The coalition of community organisations behind the Census21 – Not Religious? campaign welcomes the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) consideration to removing the bias from the religion question.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

ABS acknowledges concerns about bias in Census religion question

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has acknowledged concerns about potential bias in the wording of the Census question on religion.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census21 campaign
Census21 campaign

MEDIA RELEASE: Census21 – Not Religious? campaign urges the Australian Bureau of Statistics to fix problems in the religion question

The coalition of community organisations behind the Census21 – Not Religious? campaign is now urging the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to fix the problems with the religion question to ensure greater accuracy of Census data.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Submission: Review of the Australian Standard for the Classification of Religious Groups and Religious Affiliation Standard

This is the Census21 – Not Religious? campaign’s submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ review of the Australian Standard for the Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG) and Religious Affiliation Standard (RAS).

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census21 campaign
Boost to ‘No Religion’ result depends on non-religious Aussies taking the question seriously and making a wise choice

Interview: Michael Dove on ABC Radio Regional South Australia, 28 June 2022

With Australians increasingly identifying as not religious, campaign spokesperson Michael Dove says now is the time for parliaments to review the appropriateness of starting each day with Christian prayers.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

MEDIA RELEASE: Non-religious Australians deserve fair representation following continued growth of ‘No Religion’ in Census

The voices of non-religious Australians deserve representation in government institutions and in the media in proportion to their increasing number, according to the coalition of organisations behind the Census21 – Not Religious? (Census21) campaign.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census21 campaign
Boost to ‘No Religion’ result depends on non-religious Aussies taking the question seriously and making a wise choice

Boost to ‘No Religion’ result depends on non-religious Aussies taking the question seriously and making a wise choice

The number of Australians marking ‘No Religion’ would rise significantly if all non-religious people actually answered the religion question on the census seriously instead of choosing to skip it or enter joke responses.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

New polling confirms bias in census question

New national polls illustrate the effect the ‘leading’ nature of the ABS’s question on religious affiliation has on the data it collects.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Neil Francis
Historical religion

Census21 No Religion Campaign Rejects Fake News and Fearmongering

The Census No Religion campaign is aware of a particularly hateful and misleading message circulating on social media, by email and SMS text message.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Lapsed Catholics need to reflect their beliefs in the census | Monica Dux

Monica Dux encourages lapsed Catholics to “take the chance this census offers, not just to deprive the church of excessive public funding, but also to take a moral stance and repudiate a value system that you don’t share.”

Read more at The Age

Historical religion
Neil Francis

What the religion question in the census really measures | Caitlin Fitzsimmons

“The current census question doesn’t necessarily reflect religiosity – the level of importance that we invest in religion, and whether or not we practise our religion, and even belief in the faith that corresponds to that religion,” says demographer Dr Allen.

Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald

Census Privacy: requesting an individual form | Si Gladman

Australians will have more freedom to express their religious or non-religious identity at next month’s census, with the availability of an individual form empowering people to complete the ‘religion question’ privately and confidentially.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Neil Francis
Historical religion

My Story: Michael Dove

Michael Dove, a member of Humanists Victoria and leader of the ‘Census21 – Not Religious? Mark ‘No Religion’’ campaign, shares why he’ll be marking ‘No religion’ at the census.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Ignoring children’s rights leads to overstated importance of religion in census data | Si Gladman

The problem of parents and carers marking their own religion down for their children on the census is contributing to the overstatement of religion in Australia.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Neil Francis
Historical religion

Mapping ‘No Religion’ | Michael Dove & Charles Dove

Averages tell only part of the story. This brief report looks at distribution of religious responses in the capital cities of our states and territories. How does your community measure up?

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Census time to mark ‘No Religion’ | Heidi Nicholl

CEO of Humanists Australia Heidi Nicholl writes on the importance of those with non-religious worldviews marking ‘No Religion’ in the upcoming census.

Read more at The Age

Neil Francis
Neil Francis

Neil Francis on ABC Radio Sydney

Listen to statistician and Rationalist Society Fellow Neil Francis discussing the questions that everyone should be asking themselves when considering their response to the census question on religion.

Watch more on Census21’s YouTube channel

Stand up and be counted | Michael Dove

Census data overstates the importance of religion in Australia.  This article pleads for accuracy and honesty to ensure taxpayer funds are allocated fairly.

Read more at Humanists Australia

Neil Francis
Historical religion

Historical analysis of census data shows religious denominations in decline | Michael Dove

Recently released research released by the Rationalist Society of Australia uses historical census data to highlight the long-term decline of religious affiliation. But this only tells part of the story.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

The problem with the census question | Neil Francis

Neil Francis explains why the census question on religion is biased and why, if you’re not religious, you should mark ‘No Religion’.

Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au

Neil Francis
Michael Kirby religiosity report

‘Australians are very sceptical’: Michael Kirby warns against ‘excessive protection’ of religious freedoms | Paul Karp

Former justice says religious rights can’t come at expense of minorities or the 70% of Australians who say religion is not personally important.

Read more at theguardian.com

The importance of ticking ‘no religion’ in the census cannot be overstated | Shappi Khorsandi

When non-religious people skip this optional part of the census form, or write a joke answer, or write ‘other’, the less represented we are, the less our values and views are considered.

Read more at independent.co.uk

Less than half of Britons expected to tick ‘Christian’ in UK census | Harriet Sherwood

The “post-Christian era” in the UK will be cemented by data emerging from Sunday’s census which is expected to show further generational disengagement from organised religion, according to a leading academic.

Read more at theguardian.com

Latest British Social Attitudes survey shows huge generational surge in the non-religious

The latest British Social Attitudes Survey has shown that the share of the population belonging to no religion has continued to grow, now standing at 53%, with 12% Anglicans, 7% Catholics, 18% other Christians, and 9% all other religions.

Read more at humanism.org.uk

U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time | Jeffrey M. Jones

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup’s eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

Read more at news.gallup.com

The number of Australians of faith is plummeting and Christians are now a shrinking minority | Eliza McPhee

Almost half of the Australian population don’t hold any religious beliefs, new research has found, with Christians now a shrinking minority. The number of Australians that described themselves as having no religion was at 26 per cent in 2003 but this has since jumped to 45 per cent this month, data from Roy Morgan found.

Read more at dailymail.co.uk

Census will show a drop of “millions” of Christians, experts say | Tim Wyatt

Next week’s census is likely to show numbers of those claiming to be Christians falling to about 50 per cent, experts have said. Speaking during a Religion Media Centre briefing on Thursday, sociologists and demographers of religion agreed that the results of the 2021 Census, due to take place on 21 March, will show another significant decline from 2011, in which 59 per cent of people said they were Christians.

Read more at religionmediacentre.org.uk

Census 2021 – how religious affiliation determines social policy | Religion Media Center

The UK national census takes place on Sunday 21 March 2021 but the question about religion has always proved controversial. In the census, religion helps identify a social identity, but is it enough to test affiliation – what about belief?

Watch video at youtube.com