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Religion In Australia Essay

1416 Words6 Pages

To begin with the history of Australia, the natives of Australia believed everything, the world, human beings, plants and animals, was created by Supernatural beings. Only after the British first settled in their lands, the natives took up Christianity. “Initially the Church of England was the most privileged religious institution in Australia but with time, the country witnessed transformation in its legal structure which assured individuals of religious impartiality. Many Irish Catholics were brought to Australia through the criminal justice system and the following years in the 19th Century, British Nonconformist Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists as well as German Lutherans put up their own churches, encouraging smaller …show more content…

A key value in Australian society is freedom of religion and equality for all. However, the major religion in Australia is Christianity with around 61% of the population identifying themselves as Christian, according to national Census from 2016. The Christians in Australia can be divided into Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Orthodox, Baptist and other Christian, with Catholic and Anglican being the largest religious affiliations. Furthermore, there are also various non-Christian religions in Australia like Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. According to the national Census, only 7% of the Australian population claim that they belong to non-Christian religions. Islam and Buddhism are the largest non-Christian religions reported. These religions “had the most significant growth between 2006 and 2016, driven by immigration from South Asia. Also, the fastest growing religion in Australia is Hinduism due to migration, in Australia current Hindu population is 27%” (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Interestingly, from year 2006, more and more percentage of Australia’s population is choosing “no religion” as their religious affiliations. Almost 30 % of the population claim to belong to this group, based on census data and this group is growing the fastest, when compared to the growth of other religions in Australia. However, this does not necessarily mean “atheism”, some people just do not want to share their religious

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