The changing religious landscape of Australia post-1945: HSC Studies of Religion

What this dot point is asking

The syllabus asks you to outline changing patterns of religious adherence from 1945 to the present using census data and to account for the present religious landscape in Australia in relation to five named factors: Christianity as the major religious tradition, immigration, denominational switching, the rise of New Age religions and secularism.

This dot point is common to Studies of Religion I and II (Section I Part A) and is the most frequent source of multiple-choice questions in that part: the 2025 paper alone asked about denominational switching, why Australia became multifaith, a New Age response, a secular activity and 2021 Census findings. The 5-mark Question 11 has also used it (2020). "Outline" needs accurate trends with census years; "account for" needs causes, so you must explain why each change happened, not just give numbers.

The answer

Changing patterns of adherence: the census record

The Census asks a voluntary question on religious affiliation (in 2021, 93.1% of people answered it, up from 90.9% in 2016). Always quote a figure with its Census year.

Sources: ABS, Year Book Australia 2006, Table 12.26 (1947 and 1966, and denominations to 2001); ABS, Religious affiliation in Australia, 2022 (Christianity, other religions and no religion from 1971 to 2021; the ABS revised earlier "no religion" figures when it expanded the category in 2016, so use the 2022 series for those years).

Reading the patterns

1. 1945 to the 1960s: a Christian, largely Anglo-Celtic society. Christianity was close to 90% and the Church of England was the largest denomination. Methodists and Presbyterians were significant, and Jews were the largest non-Christian group.
2. Catholic growth. Post-war migration from Italy, Malta, Croatia and elsewhere, plus higher Catholic birth rates, pushed Catholics past Anglicans at the 1986 Census (NESA 2020 Q9: the 1980s).
3. The sharp rise of "no religion" from 1971. Part of the jump from 0.8% (1966) to 6.7% (1971) came from the ABS adding instructions to the question telling people to write "none" if they had no religion. After that, "no religion" climbed steadily, and in 2016 the ABS placed "No religion" first on the list of options.
4. Growing diversity. "Other religions" rose from under 1% in 1971 to about one in ten Australians by 2021.
5. 2016 to 2021: a turning point. Christianity fell below half for the first time, dropping by more than one million people; Anglicans alone fell by about 604,900 and the Uniting Church by 196,900.
6. A generational divide. In 2021, 69.4% of the Interwar generation were Christian, while 46.5% of Millennials reported no religion (ABS). The median ages of Islam (28), Sikhism (30) and Hinduism (31) are low, which means these traditions are likely to keep growing.

Accounting for the present landscape: the five factors

1. Christianity as the major religious tradition

Christianity remains the largest tradition (43.9% in 2021) and still shapes Australian life:

• Institutions. Catholic, Anglican and other church schools educate a large share of students; churches run major hospitals, aged care and welfare agencies (for example St Vincent's, Anglicare, Uniting and the Salvation Army).
• Public life. Christmas and Easter are public holidays; parliaments open with the Lord's Prayer; many civic ceremonies retain Christian elements.
• Changes within. Catholics became the largest denomination (1986). The Uniting Church was formed on 22 June 1977 from the Methodist Church, most of the Presbyterian Church and the Congregational Union. Orthodox churches (Greek, Serbian, Macedonian, Antiochian, Coptic) grew through migration.
• Decline. Affiliation has fallen steeply, and regular attendance is much lower than affiliation. Catholic decline has been slowed by migrants: almost 191,000 people who arrived between 2016 and 2021 were Catholic (ABS).

2. Immigration

Immigration is the main reason Australia is multifaith (NESA 2025 Q2: "Post-World War II immigration"):

Between 2016 and 2021, the main contributors to the growth of other religions were Hinduism (243,700), Islam (209,150) and Sikhism (84,500), "largely a result of recent migration from Southern and Central Asia" (ABS). Of Hindu migrants who arrived in that period, 91.9% were born in India or Nepal.

3. Denominational switching

Denominational switching is moving from one Christian denomination to another (NESA 2023 Q4: Roman Catholic to Pentecostal).

• Direction. The main movement has been from mainline Protestant churches (Anglican, Uniting, Presbyterian) towards Pentecostal and independent evangelical churches, which attract younger people (NESA 2019 Q7) with contemporary worship, strong community, youth ministry and an emphasis on personal spiritual experience.
• Reasons. To find "a spirituality that aligns with an adherent's values" (NESA 2024 Q5 key); marriage to a member of another church; moving house and joining the nearest lively congregation; disagreement with a denomination's decisions.
• A caution. Switching reshapes Christianity rather than growing it. NCLS Research data used in NESA's 2020 Q7 showed that switchers into Pentecostal churches were more likely to come from another Pentecostal church, and the 2021 Census actually recorded a small fall in Pentecostal affiliation (down about 4,700 people). Pentecostal vitality shows more in attendance than in Census affiliation.

4. The rise of New Age religions

New Age religions are eclectic and individualised spiritualities drawing on meditation, yoga, astrology, crystals, tarot, holistic healing and nature-based and Eastern ideas. NESA's 2024 key summarises their emphasis as "individualism, spiritual transformation, personal morality". Their adherents often describe themselves as "more spiritual than religious" (NESA 2025 Q8). They share with the major traditions "a spiritual dimension" (NESA 2020 Q1) but reject institutional authority and fixed doctrine.

They have grown because of individualism and consumer choice, disenchantment with traditional religious institutions, ecological awareness and the search for personal fulfilment. They are hard to measure in the Census, because many people who practise them report "no religion" or retain a nominal Christian affiliation. They are not a product of immigration (NESA 2019 Q10).

5. Secularism

Secularism means both the separation of religion from government ("the separation between government affairs and religion", NESA 2023 Q3) and, more broadly, the declining influence of religion on society and individuals. The rise of "no religion" from 6.7% (1971) to 38.9% (2021) is its clearest sign. Causes:

• Individualism: belief as personal choice, not inherited identity (NESA 2022 Q9 key: "The rise of individualism within society").
• Education and science, offering alternative explanations of the world.
• Affluence and the welfare state, reducing reliance on religious communities.
• Loss of trust in institutions, especially after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013 to 2017).
• Changing social values on sexuality, marriage and gender; 61.6% voted yes in the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.
• Generational change: Millennials 46.5% no religion (2021).

Signs of secularism include civil ceremonies: NESA's 2020 key names "the number of marriages being conducted by civil celebrants", and in 2023 civil celebrants conducted 83% of marriages (ABS, Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2023). NESA's 2025 Q6 used attending a graduation ceremony as the example of a secular activity.

A caution. "No religion" is not the same as atheism. The ABS category includes secular beliefs (atheism, agnosticism, humanism) and "other spiritual beliefs", and many New Age practitioners tick it.

How the factors interact

• Immigration offsets secularism in two ways: it grows non-Christian religions and it slows Catholic decline.
• Secularism is concentrated among Australian-born and younger people, which is why "no religion" is highest among Millennials.
• Switching moves Christians between churches but does not add to their total.
• New Age spirituality catches people who leave institutional religion without becoming atheists.

The result is a multifaith, increasingly secular society in which Christianity remains the largest tradition but is no longer the majority.

Evaluating the evidence

• Strength of census data. It covers almost everyone and goes back to 1911, so long-term trends are reliable.
• Limits. Religion is a voluntary question (6.9% did not answer in 2021); affiliation does not measure belief or practice; changes to the form (1971, 2016) affect results; New Age belief is poorly captured.
• Use other sources too, such as the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes and NCLS Research, to measure belief and attendance.

In one sentence

Since 1945 Australia has changed from an overwhelmingly Christian, Anglican-led society (88.0% Christian in 1947) to a multifaith and increasingly secular one (Christianity 43.9% and no religion 38.9% in 2021), because immigration diversified it and sustained Catholicism, secularism drove the rise of no religion among the young, switching reshaped Christianity from within, and New Age spirituality attracted those seeking meaning outside institutions.

Try this

Q1. Describe TWO changes in the pattern of religious adherence in Australia since 1947, using census data. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Two trends with Census years and figures.

Q2. Account for denominational switching within Christianity in Australia. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Definition, direction (mainline to Pentecostal), reasons, and the caution that it does not grow Christianity overall.

Q3. To what extent has immigration shaped the present religious landscape in Australia? (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. A judgement, migration waves with Census evidence, and a weighing against secularism and switching.