Time to drop the religion question? The trend is evident. If it is an important cultural marker, a Social Survey module is the right vehicle picking up on belief in God, church attendance, observance of rites, feast days, volunteering etc. Table Builder Basic wont allow cross tabulations of religious affiliation to something policy relevant such as type of educational institution attending so what is the purpose of the question? It may be interesting to some, but so is AFL/NRL/A-League affiliation to others and there is no good policy reason to start collecting that information. It has been a long time since Colonial Censuses asked the relligion question to allocate grants for church building. In those days there was little other opportunity for community than involvement in Church. It was a time when education was available to only the few and church filled in a lot of gaps. The Anglican Church in Tasmania is in the process of selling church buildings and the Catholics will undoubtedly follow suit. I submit this in the belief that dropping the item would be a positive outcome in an area of Australian life that is often divisive. I would be interested to see a demonstration of how the information - as currently collected - is actually used to improve decision making in the areas of Health, Education and Welfare .