The overriding trend in Australia is away from
religion, especially among the more highly educated. But those drawn to WA of highly
religious South-East Asian and Sub-Saharan African ancestries diluted the
traditionally non-religious ancestries of North-West Europe, Oceania and
interestingly, North-East Asia.
Building on
a previous post about WA’s increasing multiculturalism in the wake of the
mining and resources boom, the Census gives us the chance to see how the boom
may have affected other factors – in this case, religiosity.
The boom slowed the march towards non-religiosity
In 2006,
before the mining and resources boom, WA was a notably less religious state
than Australia as a whole – 26% no religion vs. 21% for Australia. The majority
of WA residents still identified as Christians (69%), but this was lower than
Australia as a whole at 73%.
But even
though both WA and Australia became less religious over the decade, Australia’s
trend towards non-religiosity was faster. The gap between WA and Australia’s
non-religious shares declined from 5.3% to 3.5%. Now, 36% of WA residents are
non-religious, compared to 33% for Australia.
Share of No Religion
vs. Christianity and Other Religions, WA and Australia, 2006-2016
Multiculturalism dilutes extremes
Consequently,
the faster pace of increased multiculturalism in WA over the mining and
resources boom seems to have slowed down the trend towards non-religiosity
locally, allowing the rest of Australia to catch up slightly. And this pace of
convergence was fastest between 2006 and 2011, during the mining and resources
upswing.
And it also
reveals what may be obvious. When a place (like Australia) starts relatively
more religious (vs WA), multiculturalism tends to reduce that religiosity. This
makes sense – extremes get diluted by diversity.
But by the
same token, when a place starts relatively less religious (like WA),
multiculturalism can increase that religiosity (or at least slow down the trend
towards non-religiosity).
North-East Asians are the least religious
In the case
of Australia, our bias towards those of North West European and Oceanic
ancestry may also be relevant. As illustrated in my previous blog, WA is more
biased towards these ‘traditional’ ancestries than Australia. And even though
both WA and Australia increased their shares of ‘non-traditional’ ancestries
over the decade, and Australia remained more multicultural than WA, WA still
seemed to catch up to Australia in terms of non-traditional ancestries.
This is
consistent with the above findings of WA remaining less religious than
Australia, but by a smaller margin, and suggests that those of North-Western
and Oceanic ancestry are less susceptible to religious belief than other
ancestries.
The graph
below illustrates this. But what is interesting is that Australians of
North-East Asian ancestry by far are the least religious, followed
by Oceanian, North-West European and Peoples of the Americas (especially excluding
strongly-Catholic South America[1]).
So Australia’s strong growth in North-East Asian ancestry could also be driving
the downward trend in our religiosity. And WA, with its stronger growth in
highly-religious South-East Asian and Sub-Saharan African ancestry associated
with the mining and resources boom, slowed down its trend towards non-religiosity.
Non-Religiosity, by
Ancestry, Australia, 2016
Everyone is becoming less religious
It is worth
noting though, as illustrated below, that all ancestries in Australia have
become less religious over time. For example, of those with North East Asian
ancestry, the share of the non-religious increased from 39% in 2006 to 56% in
2016. Even the highly-religious North African and Middle Eastern ancestry
increased from 5.3% to 11.5%.
Non-Religiosity, by
Ancestry, Australia, 2006-2016
Australia
has become less religious across all educational attainment levels too. The
trend seems to be that non-religiosity rises with educational attainment, with
38% of those with postgraduate educations being non-religious in 2016, compared
to 22% for those with a 9th grade education or less. But the most
significant jump in non-religiosity occurs early, as people progress beyond 9th
grade, potentially suggesting that the longer a belief system is held, the harder
it is to undo with further education.
Non-Religiosity, by
Highest Level of Educational Attainment, Australia, 2016
It’s
interesting to see just how much individual religions are products of
geography, history and education, as well as religiosity in general. But even
one’s history can be discarded over time as we evolve and learn new
perspectives on the world. And with data like this, we can see it happening.
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