So, Australian census night is only two night away. But this entry can really apply to any country whose census has a question about religion.
The Atheist Foundation of Australia’s “Census No Religion” campaign is primarily aimed at people who don’t take religion seriously. It promotes honest responses to the religion question1 of the census, suggesting people actually mark “no religion” on the census if they are irreligious.
Why?
The census isn’t completed for no reason. Governments use responses to the religion question to justify spending of taxpayers’ money. Euthanasia and marriage laws, to name two issues, have heavy religious influence and basis. Further, I pay tax and completely object to the fact that religious instruction and school chaplains receive government funding. Teaching of comparative religion in schools by teachers would be a good thing. Not teaching of one specific religion by someone from the church.
All the Census No Religion campaign is asking, is that people consider what their religious convictions actually are, and be honest about them. I hate that the jerktards at the Australian Christian Lobby (one of my least favourite things) get to say that the majority of the country is Christian, even though less than 10% of us go to church, and more than the census figures would have us believe, don’t take religion seriously.
Who is the campaign aimed at?
It may seem obvious to mark “no religion” if you don’t have one, but there are two groups to be considered:
- Those who write joke answers like “Jedi” and “Pastafarian”. You are not a Jedi, and you are certainly not a Pastafarian. Presumably most people who write such things don’t actually have a religion or don’t take it seriously, so it simply waters down the number of people in the “no religion” category. After all, these answers are actually marked as “not defined”, so there’s no point writing it (even if you really, truly, believe in The Force!).
- Those who aren’t religious, but put down whatever religion their parents are, or the religion of the faith school they attended, or the religion they were baptised into but don’t actually follow. Pretty sure for previous censuses (censii?), I put down my parents’ religion as my own, despite having never actually had a religion in my life.
So…my advice is to GO FORTH AND SECULARISE ON CENSUS NIGHT! Or, if you are religious, that’s fine too. The campaign is simply promoting honesty.
Is the government actually taking the “Jedi” and “Pastafarian” responses seriously? I thought that most governments in a country that “separates church and state” maintained lists of recognized religions.
@Stephanie: It takes them as not defined or no response (not entirely sure if those are the same), but basically no, they’re not recognised. It’s just that the people who write those obviously don’t take religion seriously, which understates the number of people who should be in the “no religion” category.