He argued that changing the question\u2019s wording and introducing a write-in-only option for people of faith would introduce a new bias in favour of \u2018no religion\u2019 and \u201cweaken the accuracy\u201d of Census data.<\/p>\n
Catholic media<\/a>\u00a0has taken up the baton, suggesting the ABS wants to \u201ceffectively wipe religion out of the next Census\u201d. Archbishop Anthony Fisher has backed Costelloe, suggesting that the changes would make the question more complex and difficult for those who do not speak English as their first language.<\/p>\n So upset are Catholic leaders that they are now directly lobbying Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, seeking intervention from on high.<\/p>\n But Costelloe\u2019s criticisms don\u2019t stack up.<\/p>\n If the Catholic Church were really concerned about ensuring the accuracy of Census data, it would support the proposed change to the text of the question.<\/p>\n The question used in past censuses \u2013 “What is the person’s religion?” \u2013 is clearly flawed, presuming all respondents have a religion. This built-in bias has produced inflated results favouring religion. With governments and policymakers using Census data to inform decisions and resource allocation, religious institutions \u2013 including the Catholic Church \u2013 have unfairly benefited.<\/p>\n The ABS is currently proposing to address this problem by changing the text of the question to \u201cDoes the person have a religion?\u201d, accompanied by \u2018No\u2019 and ‘Yes’ tick boxes, and also space for people of faith to enter their religious affiliation. Clearly, this would enhance \u2013 not diminish \u2013 the accuracy of Census data.<\/p>\n Costelloe also argued that changing the text of the question would mean data could not be compared with results from past censuses. So, instead of wanting data that reflected religious affiliation as it really was, he would prefer erroneous data that could be compared with the erroneous data of past decades.<\/p>\n Regardless of whether the proposed changes end up in the next Census, the proportion of Australians identifying as not religious is on track to go well beyond 40 per cent \u2013 from 39.8 per cent in 2021 \u2013 and surpass Christianity.<\/p>\n Of 43.9 per cent of people who marked \u2018Christianity\u2019 at the 2021 Census, 20 per cent were Catholic. As the ABS noted, while Catholicism declined from 22.6 per cent at the 2016 Census,\u00a0immigration from countries of high Catholic populations<\/a>, such as the Philippines, helped to slow the decline.<\/p>\n Costelloe is surely well aware of the trends. Between 2016-21, his own diocese\u00a0witnessed a decrease of 18,542 people<\/a>. The vast majority of self-identified Catholics don\u2019t attend weekly services, with the church\u2019s own figures from 2016 showing just\u00a011.8 per cent turn up on a typical weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n Regardless of whether the proposed changes end up in the next Census, the proportion of Australians identifying as not religious is on track to go well beyond 40 per cent \u2013 from 39.8 per cent in 2021 \u2013 and surpass Christianity.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The likely driver behind the backlash to the ABS\u2019 proposal is fear of losing even more\u00a0\u201ccultural Catholics\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 those who don\u2019t buy the theology but may identify as Catholic at Census time for some tenuous reason. It\u2019s not uncommon that someone raised in a Catholic household or educated in a Catholic school may hold onto the \u2018Catholic\u2019 tag long after giving up God and moving on from the church.<\/p>\n In 2021, my organisation, the Rationalist Society of Australia, was among a number of pro-secular and non-religious groups that joined forces in a\u00a0campaign to encourage Australians to reflect honestly on their beliefs<\/a>\u00a0and complete the Census question accurately.<\/p>\n With the ABS and the federal government having previously ignored calls to remove the bias from the religion question, the campaign sought to educate the public about the problems with the question and the importance of people marking \u2018No religion\u2019 if they were no longer religious.<\/p>\n In his article, Costelloe warned that the new formulation of the question would \u201cdisengage religion from culture and identity\u201d. He wrote: \u201cThe existing question, \u2018What is your religion?\u2019, assesses religious identification as part of a person\u2019s culture and heritage, serving as an essential marker of other attributes and behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearly, the Catholic Church is willing to fight to keep cultural Catholics in its column at Census time.<\/p>\n Yet, the Catholic hierarchy has an ongoing fight just to keep many lapsed Catholics within their flock. As social researcher Neil Francis has shown in his\u00a0Religiosity in Australia<\/a><\/em>\u00a0series, large majorities of Catholics have opposed the church\u2019s conservative dogma on important social policy issues such as same-sex marriage, voluntary assisted dying, and access to safe and legal abortions.<\/p>\n If the Catholic Church\u2019s lobbying effort were to succeed, it would condemn Australia to a perpetuation of inaccurate \u2013 and, therefore, unfair \u2013 Census data.<\/p>\n It would also sabotage the two-year community engagement process which informed the ABS\u2019 decision to reformulate the religion question. Early last year, the\u00a0ABS revealed<\/a>\u00a0that the public had raised \u201cpotential bias in the question wording\u201d as a major concern, with nearly 200 submissions addressing the topic.<\/p>\n With Census data informing decisions about representation of voice and influence in government institutions and wider society, not changing the question would have the flow-on effect of continued unfair treatment of non-religious and non-Christian Australians.<\/p>\n Christianity is privileged in public life in many ways. For example, local governments and parliaments continue to impose acts of Christian worship as part of formal proceedings. Also, the ABC, with its large stable of religious programming, fails to provide equal opportunity for non-religious worldviews to be represented. On our nation\u2019s most important day of commemoration, Anzac Day, Christianity dominates the Australian War Memorial\u2019s Dawn Service.<\/p>\n When the next Census results for religion are released, we should all want them to be as accurate as possible and truly reflective of who we are as a nation. For that to happen, adopting the ABS\u2019 reformulated question is essential.<\/p>\n Published 9 June 2024.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n If you wish to republish this original article, please attribute to\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Rationale<\/i><\/b><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Click here<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0to find out more about republishing under Creative Commons.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n
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