The place of religion in contemporary Australian society? evidence?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that 1 out of 5 Australians claims no affiliation with a religion. Even “religious affiliation is not the same as actively participating in religious activities,” says the report. Only 15 percent of men and 22 percent of women with religious affiliations profess that they actively participate in a religious or spiritual group.
The most rapid growth of followers is not among the mainline churches or even among the energetic evangelical groups. Rather, the 1986 census revealed accelerating growth in the number who stated positively that they had no religion or who left unanswered the question about religion. The census indicated that nearly 25 percent of the Australian people are in this category, or nearly double the percentage of 20 years ago. But Dr. G. Bailey, a university professor of religion, told The Weekend Australian, a Sydney newspaper, that such people nevertheless do have a “surrogate religion.” He referred to a materialistic world view, “with its emphasis on greed and enterprise and its implicit goal of salvation through material possessions and material security.”

Polls indicate that nearly 50 percent of the population say they are not religious. Another 10 percent claim to be “convinced atheists.” In 2010, a clergyman lamented that “the last 40 years or so” has seen a “wholesale abandonment of the Christian faith
For more information on this subject and others, please go to www.jw.org "online Library" search box. Also for free downloads, publications or read online.