From: fun@thingy.apana.org.au (David Gerard)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Australian Census: 1488 Scns in 1996 (some data found, at last!)
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:13:01 GMT
Message-ID: <361f9baf.9113793@202.12.87.97>
HARD DATA! AT LAST!
Note that there are over 2000 Satanists, but under 1500 Scientologists.
Christian Science has 1494. Eckankar has 849. Theosophy still has 1423. I wonder what will happen to Scientology in many years' time?
(I'm very pissed off the Church of the SubGenius didn't get a listing. I certainly wrote it on my form.)
What we have here is the complete 'classification count' of Religion that I've been after for ... a while now.
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/1997-98/98rn27.htm
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Research Note 27 1997-98
Census 96: Religion
Gerard Newman
Statistics Group
3 March 1998
Background
This Research Note is one of a series presenting results from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing held on 6 August 1996.
A question on religious affiliation has been included in each national Census conducted in Australia. The question is optional - the only optional question on the Census form.
In the 1996 Census, respondents were asked to mark one of the seven specified religions (Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Greek Orthodox, Baptist, or Lutheran) or to specify a particular religion. Persons with no religion were asked to mark the no religion box.
Historical Trends
There have been significant changes in the reported religious adherence of Australians over the 25 years since the 1971 Census. Over the period Catholics have displaced Anglicans as the largest single religious denomination, although this has largely been due to the decline in Anglicans rather than an increase in Catholics. The proportion of Australians of Catholic religion has remained steady over the period (27.0% in 1971 and 26.8% in 1996) while the proportion of Anglicans has declined from 31.0% in 1971 to 21.8% in 1996.
The proportion of total Christian denominations has also declined over the 25 years, from 86.2% in 1971 to 70.3% in 1996, while the proportion of non-Christians has increased from 0.8% in 1971 to 3.4% in 1996. Over the period the number of non-Christians has increased by over 500% while the number of Christians has increased by 14.5%.
The proportion of Australians indicating no religion has increased over the period from 6.7% in 1971 to 16.5% in 1996, while the proportion not stating their religion has increased from 6.7% in 1971 to 8.7% in 1996.
1996 Findings
At the 1996 Census some 13.2 million Australians (73.8% of the population) indicated a religious belief of one form or another. By way of contrast 2.9 million people (16.5% of the population) indicated no religious adherence. Despite a significant increase in the non-Christian population, Australia remains a largely Christian country (70.3% of the population).
Religious adherence is more pronounced among females than males with over half a million more females than males indicating a religious belief. At the 1996 Census, 6.9 million females indicated a religious belief compared to 6.3 million males. Similarly more males than females indicated no religious adherence (1.6 million males and 1.3 million females).
The largest single religious denomination at the 1996 Census was Catholic with 4.8 million adherents (26.8% of the population). Other religions with a substantial number of adherents were Anglican (3.9 million, 21.8%), Uniting Church (1.3 million, 7.5%), Presbyterian and Reformed (676 000), Baptists (295 000), and Lutherans (250 000). The largest non-Christian religious denomination was Islam (201 000), followed by Buddhism (200 000), and Judaism (80 000).
The smallest religions separately identified at the 1996 Census were the Japanese religion-Tenrikyo with 46 adherents and the Faith Churches with 52 adherents. Other religions of interest were Druidism (554 adherents), Satanism (2091), and Wiccan/Witchcraft (1849).
The table on the reverse of this page provides detailed statistics on the religious adherence of Australians as reported in the 1996 Census.
Population by Religion, Australia
1996 Census of Population and Housing
Religion Persons % Religion Persons %
Aboriginal Evangelical 2 828 0.02 Macedonian Orthodox 53 152 0.30
Missions
Agnosticism 8 801 0.05 Maronite Catholic 14 148 0.08
Albanian Orthodox 68 0.00 Melkite Catholic 702 0.00
Ancestor Veneration 653 0.00 Nature Religions nec 1 617 0.01
Ancient Church of the 1 126 0.01 Nature Religions nfd 117 0.00
East
Anglican 3 903 324 21.82 New Apostolic Church 2 485 0.01
Animism 727 0.00 New Churches 504 0.00
(Swedenborgian)
Antiochian Orthodox 3 969 0.02 Oriental Christian nec 498 0.00
Apostolic Church 3 707 0.02 Oriental Christian nfd 6 0.00
(Australia)
Apostolic Church of 3 276 0.02 Orthodox nec 600 0.00
Queensland
Apostolic Church, so 4 212 0.02 Orthodox nfd 27 008 0.15
described
Armenian Apostolic 8 290 0.05 Other Christian nec 5 252 0.03
Church
Assemblies of God 61 763 0.35 Other Protestant nec 2 448 0.01
Assyrian Church of the 5 109 0.03 Other Protestant nfd 17 414 0.10
East
Atheism 7 496 0.04 Paganism 4 353 0.02
Australian Aboriginal 7 356 0.04 Pantheism 835 0.00
Traditional Religions
Baha'i 8 947 0.05 Pentecostal nec 5 517 0.03
Baptist 295 178 1.65 Pentecostal nfd 76 216 0.43
Bethesda Churches 414 0.00 Presbyterian 662 685 3.70
Born Again Christian 10 116 0.06 Presbyterian & Reformed 39 0.00
nfd
Brethren 22 063 0.12 Rastafarianism 1 023 0.01
Buddhism 199 812 1.12 Ratana (Maori) 2 348 0.01
Caodaism 964 0.01 Rationalism 1 380 0.01
Catholic nec 1 612 0.01 Reformed 9 978 0.06
Chinese Religions nfd 257 0.00 Religions Groups nec 3 063 0.02
Christadelphians 10 211 0.06 Religious Science 634 0.00
Christian & Missionary 1 682 0.01 Religious Society of 1 815 0.01
Alliance Friends (Quakers)
Christian City Church 1 081 0.01 Reorganised Church of 1 550 0.01
Jesus Christ of LDS
Christian Life Churches 1 050 0.01 Revival Centres 4 877 0.03
International
Christian nfd 181 897 1.02 Rhema Family Church 212 0.00
Christian Outreach 11 024 0.06 Romanian Orthodox 1 056 0.01
Centres
Christian Revival 4 444 0.02 Russian Orthodox 15 262 0.09
Crusade
Christian Science 1 494 0.01 Salvation Army 74 145 0.41
Churches of Christ 71 317 0.40 Satanism 2 091 0.01
(Conference)
Churches of Christ nfd 2 983 0.02 Serbian Orthodox 31 568 0.18
Church of Christ 579 0.00 Seventh-day Adventist 52 656 0.29
(Non-denominational)
Church of Jesus Christ 42 159 0.24 Shinto 524 0.00
of LDS (Mormons)
Church of Jesus Christ 1 404 0.01 Sikhism 12 017 0.07
of LDS nfd
Church of Scientology 1 488 0.01 Spiritualism 8 140 0.05
Church of the Nazarene 1 615 0.01 Sukyo Mahikari 668 0.00
Confucianism 578 0.00 Syrian (Jacobite) 1 615 0.01
Church
Congregational 6 186 0.03 Taoism 2 980 0.02
Coptic Orthodox Church 14 693 0.08 Temple Society 678 0.00
Druidism 554 0.00 Tenrikyo 46 0.00
Druse 2 040 0.01 Theism nec 1 957 0.01
Eckankar 829 0.00 Theosophy 1 423 0.01
Ethnic Evangelical 2 606 0.01 Ukrainian Catholic 4 267 0.02
Churches
Faith Churches 52 0.00 Ukrainian Orthodox 3 268 0.02
Foursquare Gospel 1 546 0.01 Unitarian 719 0.00
Church
Free Reformed 2 832 0.02 United Pentecostal 712 0.00
Full Gospel Church 2 108 0.01 Uniting Church 1 334 917 7.46
Gnostic Christians 559 0.00 Wesleyan Methodist 3 699 0.02
Church
Greek Orthodox 361 057 2.02 Western Catholic 4 778 218 26.71
Hinduism 67 278 0.38 Wiccan/Witchcraft 1 849 0.01
Humanism 4 075 0.02 Worldwide Church of God 2 492 0.01
Independent Evangelical 1 624 0.01 Zoroastrianism 1 522 0.01
Churches
International Church of 143 0.00 Religious belief nfd 35 790 0.20
Christ
Islam 200 885 1.12 Inadequately Described 18 374 0.10
Japanese Religions nfd 17 0.00
Jehovah's Witnesses 83 414 0.47 No Religion nfd 2 927 139 16.36
Judaism 79 805 0.45 Not stated 1 550 585 8.67
Liberal Catholic Church 596 0.00 Overseas visitor 139 594 0.78
Lutheran 249 989 1.40
Total 17 892 409 100.00
nec - not elsewhere classified; nfd - not further defined.
Source: CLIB Australian Bureau of Statistics
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