Ruqayyah Snyder
Australia is a secular country with a high degree of religious freedom and diversity. Although the state and religious groups are maintained as separate entities, religious institutions continue to play a significant role in Australian society. The country has over 120 faiths, with Christianity being the most dominant religion, introduced by British colonial settlers in 1788. However, the dominant Christian identity appears to be shifting, with a slow decline in Christian faiths and a growing proportion of people with no religious affiliation. In 2021, almost ten million Australians reported having no religion, while just under half of all Australians identified with a Christian faith.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Most popular religion | Christianity |
| Number of Christians in Australia in 2016 | 12.2 million |
| Percentage of Christians in Australia in 2016 | 52.1% |
| Number of Christians in Australia in 2021 | 11.1 million |
| Percentage of Christians in Australia in 2021 | 43.9% |
| Number of Australians with no religion in 2021 | Almost 10 million |
| Percentage of Australians with no religion | More than 30% |
| Largest non-Christian religion in Australia | Islam |
| Percentage of Muslims in Australia | 3.2% |
| Second largest non-Christian religion in Australia | Hinduism |
| Percentage of Hindus in Australia | 2.7% |
| Third largest religious group in Australia | Buddhism |
| Percentage of Buddhists in Australia | 2.4% |
| Number of Hindus in Australia in 2021 | 684,000 |
| Number of people practising Australian Aboriginal traditional religions in 2021 | 7,887 |
| Number of Baháʼí followers in Australia in 2016 | 13,988 |
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What You'll Learn
Christianity in Australia
Christianity is the most popular religion in Australia, with 43.9% of the population identifying as Christian in the 2021 census. However, this number is down from 52.1% in 2016, and 96.1% in the 1901 census, indicating a widespread decline in religiosity. This decline is particularly notable among young adults (18-25 years), with younger generations being more likely to hold negative views of the church's stances on issues such as homosexuality and gender roles.
The first presence of Christianity in Australia began with British colonisation in 1788, when the Reverend Richard Johnson of the Church of England was licensed as chaplain to the First Fleet of British convict ships that arrived in Sydney. Most of the convicts and free settlers were members of the established Church of England, with smaller numbers of Nonconformist Protestants, Catholics, and other faiths. Johnson was charged with improving "public morality" in the colony and was heavily involved in health and education. The Christian footprint in Australian society and culture remains broad, particularly in areas of social welfare and education provision, and in the marking of festivals such as Easter and Christmas.
The Catholic Church and the Anglican Church are the second-largest providers of government-funded social services in Australia, after the government itself. They are engaged in areas such as emergency relief, aged care, family support services, and help for the homeless. Other Christian denominations assist through networks like UnitingCare Australia and the Salvation Army, and around a quarter of students attend church-owned schools.
Historically significant Australian Christians have included the Reverend John Dunmore Lang, Saint Mary MacKillop, Catherine Helen Spence, Pastor David Unaipon, the Reverend John Flynn, Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls, and General Eva Evelyn Burrows of the Salvation Army.
While Christianity remains the most popular religion in Australia, the country is becoming more religiously diverse, with almost 10 million Australians reporting having no religion in the 2021 census.
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Islam in Australia
Australia is a religiously diverse country, with a decline in Christianity and a rise in other religions and those with no religion. Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in Australia, with followers comprising 3.2% of the total population as of 2021. This amounts to around 774,000 people, according to the 2021 census data, which showed a population of 13,988 Baháʼí people.
The history of Islam in Australia dates back to the 1700s when Makassar traders visited Arnhem Land (now the Northern Territory). There is evidence of this early contact in the language, art, stories, and cuisine of the Yolngu people, as well as in Aboriginal cave paintings and artefacts found in Aboriginal settlements along the west and north coasts of Australia. The Macassan traders also intermarried with the Indigenous population, and their shared history is still celebrated by Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia as a period of mutual trust and respect.
Islam was formally established in Australia in the 1860s with the arrival of Muslim "Afghan Cameleers" during the gold rush and the importation of camels. These cameleers, who came from various countries but were usually known as "Afghans," settled near Alice Springs and other areas of the Northern Territory. The Adelaide-Darwin railway is named "The Ghan" in their memory.
The Australian Muslim community is racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse, with various sects and schools of thought within Islamic jurisprudence. There are also smaller denominations of Islam in Australia, such as Ibadi Muslims of Omani descent and Druze Australians, whose religion emerged as an offshoot of Islam, with followers mainly from Lebanon and Syria. Sufi Islamic mysticism is also practised by some Muslims in Australia.
While the Australian Muslim community is diverse, it is united by a common religious identity, and organisations like the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (now known as Muslims Australia) have been established to represent the interests of Muslim Australians.
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Hinduism in Australia
Australia is a religiously diverse country, with a decline in Christianity and an increase in other religions and those with no religion. The country also has a history of freedom of religion, enshrined in its 1901 Constitution.
Hinduism is the third or fourth largest religion in Australia, with around 684,000 followers, constituting 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census. It is also the fastest-growing religion in the country, largely due to immigration, with a growth rate of 12% per year since 2011. The Hindu population in Australia is diverse, with people from various countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa.
The history of Hinduism in Australia goes back to the 19th century when British colonialists brought Hindus from India to work on cotton and sugar plantations. Many of these individuals stayed and became small businessmen, camel drivers, merchants, and hawkers, selling goods between small rural communities. The gold rush years in the 1850s also attracted many Hindus to Australia, with a notable example being the Hindu Sindhi merchant, Shri Pammull, who built a successful opal trade in Melbourne that continues to this day.
Today, Hindus in Australia are well-educated professionals in fields such as medicine, engineering, commerce, and information technology. They constitute a model minority, known for being law-abiding and highly educated, contributing significantly to various sectors of Australian society. The Hindu Council of Australia (HCA) is a prominent organisation that represents the Hindu community, fostering social cohesion, cultural awareness, and community service.
Despite their positive contributions, Hindu Australians have experienced discrimination, as evidenced by a 2019 survey where three-quarters of respondents reported facing discrimination in public spaces. Additionally, in January 2023, three Hindu temples were vandalised across the country by Khalistani extremists.
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Buddhism in Australia
Australia is a religiously diverse country, with a decline in Christianity and an increase in other religions and irreligion. Buddhism is a minority religion in Australia, with 2.4% of the population identifying as Buddhist in the 2021 census, or about 610,000 people. It is the fourth-largest religion in the country, after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, and the fastest-growing religion by percentage.
The history of Buddhism in Australia dates back to at least the mid-19th century, with the arrival of Chinese labourers in Victoria in 1848, and the first Sinhalese Buddhists from Sri Lanka in 1870. The oldest remaining physical evidence of Buddhism in Australia is two Bodhi trees planted on Thursday Island in the 1890s. The first Buddhist group, the Buddhist Study Group Melbourne, was formed in 1938, and the first resident monk arrived from Sri Lanka in the 1970s. The spread of Tibetan Buddhism to Western countries, led by figures such as Lama Yeshe, also contributed to the growth of Buddhism in Australia from the 1970s onwards.
The highest percentage of Buddhists in Australia is on Christmas Island, where they made up 18.1% of the population as of the 2016 census. Buddhism was the largest religion on the island before 2013, when Islam became dominant alongside the rise of the Malay ethnic group.
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No religion in Australia
Australia has no official religion. The country's constitution states:
> The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.
Christianity is the most common religion in Australia, with 43.9% of the population identifying as Christian in the 2021 census. However, the number of Christians in Australia is decreasing, with a loss of more than 1 million people since 2016.
The second largest group in the 2021 census response was 'no religion', with 38.9% of Australians declaring no religious affiliation. This category includes atheists, agnostics, and humanists. The number of Australians identifying as having no religion has been increasing. In the 2016 census, 30.1% of Australians selected 'no religion', and in 2011, 22.3% of Australians described themselves this way. The highest proportion of people with no religion are young adults, with 46.5% of millennials falling into this category. Tasmania has the highest rate of citizens reporting no religion, at 50%.
The increase in the number of Australians with no religion is reflected in the religious affiliation of migrants arriving in the country since the last census. Australia's Humanitarian Program, which focuses on resettling women, children, and families from Iraq and Syria, has contributed to the growth of minority religions such as Yezidi (Yazidi) in Australia.
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Frequently asked questions
Christianity is the most popular religion in Australia, with around 52.1% of the population identifying as Christian in the 2021 census. However, this number has decreased from 52.1% in 2016 to 43.9% in 2021.
Almost 10 million Australians reported having no religion in the 2021 census, an increase of 2 million from the previous census.
Non-Christian religions in Australia include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism.
Hinduism is the second-largest non-Christian religion in Australia, with about 2.7% of the population identifying as Hindu.
Some smaller religious minorities in Australia include the Baháʼí Faith, with less than 0.1% of the population, and Australian Aboriginal traditional religions, with 7,887 people recorded as practitioners in the 2021 census.
