The Reasons Why Religion Has Declined Significantly in Australia - Essay Example

The reasons why religion has declined significantly in Australia Student’s Name: Instructor’s name: Course Code and Name: University: Date Assignment is due: The reasons why religion has declined significantly in Australia Introduction The constitution of Australia defines religion as “a complex system of beliefs and practises which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence” (Tacey 2003, p. 232). The religion that the people of Australia practice has different structures of belief and practices that reflects their culture. In Australia religion is generally associated with people having faith in god. There are different religions in Australia but the major ones are Christianity, Islam and Jews. Religion is also associated with understanding of the sacred and the heavenly. The role of religion in people’s life has continued to decline considerably in Australia. According to data collected many of the Australians said that they had no religion. According this research Australians do not believe in god or gods. There are some major reasons why religion has continued to decline in Australia. The major ones include secularism, multiculturalism, and modern work- life balance. Secularism refers to people not believing in god. Multiculturalism refers to people from different cultures coming together and living harmoniously. Work-life balance refers to how people balance between their work time and private time in life (Hunt 2002, p. 235). This paper analyzes how secularism, multiculturalism and work life balance have led to the decline of religion in Australia. The first part deals with how secularism has led to the decline of religion. Secularism analyzes how science, human rights and rationalist ideas have led to decline of religion. The second part of the paper is on how multiculturalism has contributed to the decline of religion in Australia. Under multiculturalism there is an analysis of how immigration, new age religion, travel and loss of power by preachers have led to the decline in religion. The last thing the paper looks at is how work life balance has contributed to people avoiding religion. Finally there is a conclusion on how all these factors have led to decline in religion The main objective of the paper is to find the reasons for the major decline in religion in Australia. The hypothesis of the study is that secularism, multiculturalism and work-life balance have lead to decline of religion in Australia. Secularism Secularism can be defined as forming a view on a phenomenon in life which incorporates questions that can be tested using the experiences of life. Those people who practise secular humanism see a belief in a religion is unreasonable. Secularism is one of the major reasons that there is a decline in religion in Australia. Many people in Australia described themselves as having no religion during the 2006 census. Secularism has been on the increase in Australia doubling from 8.3% in 1976 to 18.7% in 2006. As more people claimed to have no religion the number of people in the conventional religions with established churches continued to fall. Secular people describe themselves as free from religion or spirituality. These people follow a system based on facts, basis and science. The main feature of secularism is that it supports people to be free from religion. Secular people belief religion and the state should be two separate things. The decline in religion due to secularism can be attributed to a number of reasons. One of the reasons leading to decline in religion due to secularization is science. Due to the discoveries that have been made by scientists in the past people no longer believe in god. Science has influenced people to get out of religion. Scientist tries to convince people that God is a myth. Some of the people who have been converted see God in a more abstract way. These people have retreated to science to provide answers to their questions about life. The other factor that has led to decline in religion in Australia due to secularism is human rights. The fight for gay rights, women rights and other rights including the right to change religion are still on the rise (Jacobs 2011, p. 168). The church groups have been on the frontline in the fight for changes in law to punish people who join various groups. Due to this more people are joining secular groups to oppose this move by the church. This has led to the decline in the religion in Australia. A good example is where the church has lobbied for gay people not to be offered jobs. More people have moved into secular groups to demand the rights for gay people. Another secular reason that has led to decline of religion is the raise of rationalist ideas. People have come up with different ideas about religion (Jacobs 2011, p. 168). This has led to a decline in religion in Australia. Multiculturalism The other reason why religion has been on the decline in Australia is due to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism mainly refers to where people from different cultures are living together in a place. The impact of multiculturalism has greatly affected the religious and traditions in Australia. Religion has increased among some groups of people while it has also declined in other due to multiculturalism. There are a number of reasons why religion has declined due to multiculturalism. One of the reasons why religion is on the decline in Australia due to multiculturalism is immigration. The white Australian policy was abolished in 1970 meaning that Australia was opened to immigrants from all over the world. These caused more Africans, Asians and people from Middle East to immigrate to Australia (Hayes 1992, p. 50). That brought new religions like Hinduism and Islam to Australia. With the coming of new religions there was more denomination switching among the people. People were more willing to switch from one churches or denomination to another denomination. This has lead to a decline in religion in Australia. The other reason why multiculturalism is causing decline in religion is rise of new age religions. Multiculturalism has made people from different culture to come together and form new groups. Some people associated with these groups believe in no religion or believed religion was not important. This has led to decline of religion. Modern means of travel have made peoples culture global. This has made the Australian cultural global (Hayes 1992, p. 51). Television, improved means of communication and literacy have made information about other religions to travel faster than in the past. Due to this people are being influenced by other culture and religions more easily. People in Australia have been influenced by people without religion. This has led to decline in religion. The societies were people used to share the same religious beliefs and morality has disappeared due to multiculturalism (Tom 2010, p. 143). In the modern societies people share very little in common. This has led to decline in religion as people are no longer bonded together. As people become more multicultural they are able to tolerate the religions of others which are incompatible with their beliefs. Some people reject these beliefs and withdraw from religion as a reaction to the competing church splinter groups leading to a decline in religion (Hayes 1992, p. 51). Multiculturalism as also taken power away from the preachers who used to argue that one group is better than the other. This allows people to change beliefs easily and religion without being influenced. It makes life easier to make choices and makes it even easier to denounce religion. Work/ life balance. The need to balance work and life has also led to a decline in religion. Many forces of modern life have led into the decline of religion in Australia. People are now leaving their private lives more independently (Gambles, Lewis & Rapoport 2006, p. 248). Religion does not take the first place like it used to in the past. People now have different priorities in life compared to what they had in the past. As people try to balance between work and life religion has lost meaning in some people making it decline. As people travel to new areas the question of work life balance is not left out. They meet new people with new cultures and cannot hold onto their religion. They leave their religion and become secular People who are away from home may find it difficult going to church. There are always other things that are happening that guys find difficult to balance between church and life. An example is when guys move to college and they are unable to continue attending church as they used too when they were at home. Another reason for decline in religion due to work life balance is rise of individualism. Australians view religion as a private affair (Gambles, Lewis & Rapoport 2006, p. 249). It’s not common for people in Australia to show their religious affiliations in public. This has led to a big decline in religion in Australia. Conclusion There is a continued decline in religion in Australia. The decline in religion can be attributed to secularism, multiculturalism and work-life balance. Secularism is leading to decline in religion by convincing people that religion is not important to their lives. Multiculturalism is leading to a decline in religion by people from different cultures influencing each other to abandon religion. Work-life balance is leading to a decline in religion in that people are finding it more difficult to balance their time to include time for religion. All these three are the major reasons why there has been a major decrease in religion in Australia. List of References Gambles, R, Lewis, S & Rapoport, R 2006, Men, women and the invasion of paid work: moving beyond "work-life balance, Wiley, Hoboken. Hayes, V 1992, Religion and multiculturalism in Australia, Australian association of study of religions, Bedford Park. Hunt, S 2002, Religion in Western Society. Hampshire: Palgrave. Jacobs, K 2011, Experience and representation: contemporary perspectives on migration in Australia, Ashgate, Burrington. Tacey, D 2003, The Spirituality Revolution: the emergence of contemporary spirituality, HarperCollins, Sydney. Tom, F 2010, Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia, University of new south Wales press, Sydney. Read More

Secularism is one of the major reasons that there is a decline in religion in Australia. Many people in Australia described themselves as having no religion during the 2006 census. Secularism has been on the increase in Australia doubling from 8.3% in 1976 to 18.7% in 2006. As more people claimed to have no religion the number of people in the conventional religions with established churches continued to fall. Secular people describe themselves as free from religion or spirituality. These people follow a system based on facts, basis and science.

The main feature of secularism is that it supports people to be free from religion. Secular people belief religion and the state should be two separate things. The decline in religion due to secularism can be attributed to a number of reasons. One of the reasons leading to decline in religion due to secularization is science. Due to the discoveries that have been made by scientists in the past people no longer believe in god. Science has influenced people to get out of religion. Scientist tries to convince people that God is a myth.

Some of the people who have been converted see God in a more abstract way. These people have retreated to science to provide answers to their questions about life. The other factor that has led to decline in religion in Australia due to secularism is human rights. The fight for gay rights, women rights and other rights including the right to change religion are still on the rise (Jacobs 2011, p. 168). The church groups have been on the frontline in the fight for changes in law to punish people who join various groups.

Due to this more people are joining secular groups to oppose this move by the church. This has led to the decline in the religion in Australia. A good example is where the church has lobbied for gay people not to be offered jobs. More people have moved into secular groups to demand the rights for gay people. Another secular reason that has led to decline of religion is the raise of rationalist ideas. People have come up with different ideas about religion (Jacobs 2011, p. 168). This has led to a decline in religion in Australia.

Multiculturalism The other reason why religion has been on the decline in Australia is due to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism mainly refers to where people from different cultures are living together in a place. The impact of multiculturalism has greatly affected the religious and traditions in Australia. Religion has increased among some groups of people while it has also declined in other due to multiculturalism. There are a number of reasons why religion has declined due to multiculturalism.

One of the reasons why religion is on the decline in Australia due to multiculturalism is immigration. The white Australian policy was abolished in 1970 meaning that Australia was opened to immigrants from all over the world. These caused more Africans, Asians and people from Middle East to immigrate to Australia (Hayes 1992, p. 50). That brought new religions like Hinduism and Islam to Australia. With the coming of new religions there was more denomination switching among the people. People were more willing to switch from one churches or denomination to another denomination.

This has lead to a decline in religion in Australia. The other reason why multiculturalism is causing decline in religion is rise of new age religions. Multiculturalism has made people from different culture to come together and form new groups. Some people associated with these groups believe in no religion or believed religion was not important. This has led to decline of religion. Modern means of travel have made peoples culture global. This has made the Australian cultural global (Hayes 1992, p. 51). Television, improved means of communication and literacy have made information about other religions to travel faster than in the past.

Due to this people are being influenced by other culture and religions more easily. People in Australia have been influenced by people without religion.

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