Review of 2021 Census Topics

The wording of the question of religion confuses the concept of religion with denomination. For example, Anglican or Baptist are a denominations of Christianity, not religions. People are given the opportunity to say they are Muslims or Buddhists but they can't say they are Christians. Many Christians identify primarily as Christians rather than a particular denomination and move between denominations. The census advertising also confuses faith and belief with attendance.

It is incorrect to imply that different Christian denominations are different religions. On the whole they share the same scriptures and the same core beliefs. Many denominations exist mainly because they emerged in different parts of the world at a time when travel and communication was slow and difficult. (Anglicans emerged in England, Presbyterians in Scotland, Lutherans in Germany, Church of Christ in USA etc.). These days, Christians, and even clergy, move readily between denominations but would not think they are changing religions. Personally I have done work for many of these denominations but I have not changed religion in doing so.

A simple solution to this would be the use of a drop-down menu. Having selected “Christian”, a respondent would be prompted to select which denomination they adhere to; similarly, a person selecting “Muslim” could choose which branch of Islam they identify with, etc. The option “Other” should also be given for each religion. The options “Other Religion” and “No Religion” should also be given.

Census advertising also gave problematic messages because it tended to equate religious faith with attendance at places of worship but the two are not necessarily connected. Many Hindus and Buddhists don’t (or can’t) attend the temples but have shrines in their homes where they perform religious duties. Temples have a purpose but ordinary Hindus and Buddhists don’t necessarily have to access them to consider themselves devout believers. Similarly some committed Christians don’t attend church. Recent research (by the Barna Group: findings were published in an article in Christianity Today, June 2017, page 15) conducted on Americans who identify as “Christians” but don’t attend church found that a significant group strongly agree with Christian theology, pray as much as church attenders and score significantly on other faith indicators. I personally know people like this in Australia who are committed to their faith but have not found churches to be helpful (especially in country areas where choice is limited) or believe their time would be better spent helping and serving people than sitting in church meetings. Such people would readily declare themselves as Christians on the census but could not tick any of the current census options: they are not ‘no religion’ but they don’t belong to any of the denominations either.

Furthermore, there are non-Christians who go to church because their families and friends attend or they want to find out what it is about. After some time some commit and become Christians, others decide against and drop out, while some keep coming as non-Christians because they value the pastoral support and fellowship. The situation is much more complicated than whether people attend church or not as some people don’t attend but are committed Christians, while others do attend but are not Christians.

To explore how serious people are about observance of their nominated religion, a follow-up question could ask how often they engage in some faith based activity. E.g. pray, meditate, read scriptures or religious literature, attend a place of worship, or help others out of religious motivation.

A simple solution would be the use of a drop-down menu. Having selected “Christian”, a respondent would be prompted to select which denomination they adhere to; similarly, a person selecting “Muslim” could choose which branch of Islam they identify with, etc. The option “Other” should also be given for each religion. The options “Other Religion” and “No Religion” should also be given.

The current question is not easily answered by many Christians because it confuses their faith and beliefs with the denomination they attend. Christians who attend independent churches or one of the many home churches really can't provide an accurate answer. Many such people have told me they tick a denomination that they don't attend because that is the best they can do, but that skews the data. I expect the ABS also ends up with lots of denominational names with a small number of adherents. There is also the issue of committed Christians who don't attend church for whatever reason but they are not "no religion". They cannot even say they are Christians.

Apart from Australia, North America is now the continent that has the smallest Christian population with only 12% of the world’s Christians. Africa (23%), Latin America (23%) and Asia (17%) each have more Christians than North America and collectively have 63% of the world’s Christians. India (where Christianity is a minority religion) has about twice as many people who identify as Christians as the United Kingdom. Furthermore Christianity is growing much faster in Africa, Latin America and Asia than in Australia and the West. Many African and Asian Christians belong to groups with names most Australians have never heard of. They are from indigenous churches and many were not planted by westerners but emerged spontaneously, and new groups with new names keep emerging. If these Christians migrate to Australia, they can’t tick any of the denominations listed in the census form and are not given the opportunity to tick Christian.

The current wording is not appropriate and I don't believe it leads to accurate answers. I believe that if people can state their religion as a first priority and their denomination or religious branch as a secondary question, more accurate data will result.

A drop down menu will make this easy.

The changes will be more relevant with continued immigration and the continued growth of informal, non-denominational expressions of Christianity.