http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/australians-are-older-ethnically-d...
This is an article about data from last year's Australian census. The good news that Christianity has dropped from around 90% in 1966 to just over 50% now, while no religion has jumped to 30%. The bad news is that Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism have made big gains, though they're all still around 2%, which is not much more than "Other" at 1.7%. "Other" probably includes Jedis and Pastafarians, etc.
I wonder how far the Christian population has to fall before politicians stop claiming that a country is Christian.
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Algebe - I wonder how far the Christian population has to fall before politicians stop claiming that a country is Christian.
When people stop electing them.
Good news
Makes me want to move to Australia. I would be among a lot more of my people :)
@LogicForTW: "Makes me want to move to Australia."
Try New Zealand. In the 2013 census, 41.9% ticked "no religion." Even more encouraging is the fact that ratio is highest in the younger age groups.
http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/...
Sold! Plus I get to see hobbit town! And a bunch of other scenes from lord of the rings/the hobbit.
I actually have visiting New Zealand/Australia on my bucket list, and both are high on my list to move to if things get even more crazy here in the US. (Trump et al)
@LogicForTW: "Plus I get to see hobbit town!"
And to leave Sauron far behind in Mordor D.C.
At the height of the Cold War, some scientists did a study to find out the safest place in a nuclear war. He came up with Christchurch New Zealand. It's strategically insignificant and remote. Geographically it's in the rain shadow of the Southern Alps, so most of its water is artesian and has been filtered for decades through miles of deep gravel beds. It has vast farmlands in its hinterland. Best of all, it has its own breweries and wineries. The only fly in the ointment is the occasional major earthquake.
Some of the movies filmed in New Zealand:
http://www.newzealand.com/int/film-locations/
If you like Pirates of the Caribbean, they're filmed here in Queensland, so we get the dubious pleasure of regular visits from Johnny Depp and his stupid dogs.
And here's how god takes care of his buildings in Christchurch.
Attachments
Attach Image/Video?:
Hah, love the Sauron reference.
I gotta ask, what are your thoughts on the whole: copyright lawsuit between Eminem's publishers and a New Zealand National party? Whole thing was rather humorous to me. (I have lots of respect for New Zealander's, especially because of their large atheist percentage, but have little respect for politicians pretty much anywhere.)
I like the idea of riding out a possible future World War 3 in a distant part of the world that carries little to no strategic value. With the resources to sustain it self.
I liked the original Pirates of the Caribbean quite a bit, that was long before I found out about what kind of person Johnny Depp is.
Also helps that nearly everyone there is fluent in English?
Wonder if New Zealand would have me, an American, in a country that voted Trump president.
I have an engineering degree and a fair amount of computer and programming skills! No criminal record, and I am healthy. Maybe all of that would help balance the fact that I hail from USA? :P
@!LogicforTW: "Also helps that nearly everyone there is fluent in English?"
That's debatable. Remember Churchill's quip about the UK and US being two great countries divided by a common language? That applies double to Australia.
The New Zealand National Party is weird. They've morphed back and forth between tax-and-spend control economics to free market capitalism. We used to call them "National Socialists" (but I think someone else holds the copyright on that name). What they are good at is forming coalitions to grab power. For the right price they'll get into bed with anyone.
New Zealand has a points system for immigration. You get so many points for qualifications, age, English ability and so on. There's no prejudice against Americans, regardless of who the President is. Live there for a year and you get the vote. Live there for five years and you can become a Kiwi (and still keep your old citizenship).
The current prime minister, Bill English, is a Catholic, the youngest of 12 siblings and father of six children. He has political views similar to your religious right, including opposition to gay marriage, euthanasia, abortion, medical pot, and decriminalization of prostitution. Yet in 2016 he suddenly said "I'd probably vote differently now on the gay marriage issue, I don't think that gay marriage is a threat to anyone else's marriage". So who knows?
I met him a party once when he was only the Minister of Finance. I have to say I was under-impressed by his personality and mental ability. When I mentioned that I was involved in language translation, he asked me to help him find a job for his brother.
Found the interesting article about Australia. “No Religion” Is Now Officially Australia’s Top Religion
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/06/27/no-religion-is-n...
The Christian population can be at 1% and the politicians will still claim the country is a Christian nation.
Logic for TW. Don't give up on us yet. Newest polls show 26% of americans are nonreligious. And american millennials are over 30%. We are getting there.
Australia is going like Norway Sweden etc, which is a really good thing.religion poisons the mind, it makes slaves out of people financially and intellect becomes colored.
http://www.news.com.au/national/lee-rhiannon-calls-for-parliament-to-dit...
Even though one-third of Australians have no religion, and even though the remaining two-thirds includes Muslims, Hindus, Pastafarians, Rastafarians, Jews and Jedis, every sitting of state and federal parliaments starts with the Turd's Prayer. Christianity clings like mud even in secular countries.
I always wonder if I could "swear" on a bible/god in a US court setting with a strait face.
While challenging the god concept in a court room setting will almost be universally bad for me, I just do not know if I could do it with a strait face. To me it makes a mockery of the entire justice system.
I do know if I was selected for jury duty, I would challenge it then, and be summarily dismissed as a candidate. (Attorneys want a jury they can control, not ones that can think for themselves.)
yes but time will be the determining factor here, Christianity will lose its stronghold on objectionable people who see all the problems attached to it.
....YouGov to run an online poll among a sample of 1,595 adults on 18-19 December 2016. Belief in God or a higher spiritual power was expressed by 28%, four points less than in February 2015, while avowed disbelief had risen over the same period from 33% to 38%. A further 20% believed in some sort of spiritual power but not in God and 14% were unsure what to think. Disbelief peaked among 18-24s (46%) and men (50%). Source:
http://www.brin.ac.uk/2017/counting-religion-in-britain-december-2016/
There's lots of evidence superstition and religion are declining in the UK too.
I think Patheos noted that 29% of Czechs "believed in god".
It is not just that the majority of people in many places are now non-believers. There is also significance in the fact that disbelief in god or a higher power is more common in the younger generations than in the old. Even among believers belief has probably often declined. I think that many religionists are less certain of the existence of a 'god or higher power' now than in the past. I think all of that makes humanity safer, more realistic and (hopefully) more conscious of the benefits of rejecting fervent "belief in" ideas, ideologies and especially superstitions.
Then there are a few non-believers too invested in religion to relinquish it. For example, what does a priest do if he stops believing at 40 or 50 years of age? Or a US politician who wants re-election perhaps?
finally Australia is balanced out to compensate for the things that can kill you there lol. (JK)
@Jackson Lee
The most deadly animal in Australia is an Australian in a car.