The move away from Christianity accelerated rapidly over the past decade after previously being in a steady long-term decline.
Sydney student Alexandra Wright,24,exemplifies the national drift away from Christianity.
As a child growing up in Sydney’s eastern suburbs,Wright was raised in a devout Irish Catholic family whose members attended church every Sunday.
Wright felt so connected to her faith that she insisted on attending a Catholic high school,St Vincent’s College in Potts Point.
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By age 15,however,she began to have an “inkling” that religion was no longer for her;a few years later she no longer identified as Catholic.
When filling out last year’s census,she chose “no religion” without hesitation.
Wright said religion undoubtedly had a “beautiful” side,as seen in the comfort her grandfather drew from the promise of an afterlife before he died. But she had seen a more negative side too
“There is the corruption in the church,the power-tripping of priests,” she said.
Wright said her siblings and many friends had moved away from religion as they grew up.
“It’s this generation,” she said. “We all grew up with religion but when you start living your life you realise you don’t identify with it.”
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The Church’s socially conservative teachings on same-sex marriage and sex before wedlock seem outdated to most young people today,she said.
The census results show that some non-Christian religions are growing in strength - even as they continue to make up a small share of the national population.
The number of people who identified as Hindu in the census surged by 55 per cent over the past five years,reflecting an influx of migrants from countries such as India and Nepal.
Around 684,000 people in Australia,or 2.7 per cent of the population,identify with Hinduism.
Islam’s share of the national population has grown to 3.2 per cent,up from 2.6 per cent in 2016. Around 813,000 people in Australia identify with Islam.
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Australian Statistician David Gruen said the religion question holds a “special place” in the census because it is one of a few topics that has featured in all 18 censuses and is the only question that is voluntary.
Despite being voluntary,the proportion of people answering the question rose from 91 per cent in 2016 to 93 per cent in 2021.
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