Religious+Expression+in+Australia+Post+1945+-+FAQs+Precilla

What are the changing patterns of religious aderence from 1945 to the present?

In 1945, the majority of the population were Anglo-Catholic because most of the population came from England. Factors such as Immigration and changes in how society review religious practices and involvement influence tends in the Religious Landscape. During World War II there was an increase in refugees from Italy, Germany, Greece, Malta, Yugoslavia and Netherlands. This brought other variants of Christianity which included Eastern and Western Orthodox and Roman Catholic. Then in the 1970's, the removal of the "White Australia Policy" made a dramatic increase of people entering Australia from South-East Asia. In this stage there is an increase in other religions, which mainly include Hinduism and Buddhism. Also in this time period, there was a war in the Middle East which as a result migrants from that area were coming to live peacefully in Australia. As a result adherents from the Eastern Orthodox Church and Islamic backgrounds came to Australia and change the Religious Landscape. Then at the time of the Howard Government, there was another increase of people coming from most of Asia and India. This lead to arise in Buddhism and Hinduism practices in Australia. Other factors in relation to changing pattern of Religious Landscape are the "New Age" and Secularisation. New Age means when new religions and spiritualities begin to occur, these include yoga and Tai gee. People are moving away from traditional structured religions and are seeking more spiritual answers. As people became more educated, they begin the question more about structures and traditions. This trend began around about the 1991. Secularisation is when people completely break away from religious influences. As technology advances many question the need for religion for modern day society. From the graph, it clearly shows that people that don't recognised themselves belonging to any religions increase in 1971. The Australian Religious Landscape is depended on Immigration and how society views religion and spirituality.

[|2006 Census] This link is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which clearly shows the changing patterns of religious adherence from 1996 to 2006. This website is owned by the Australian Government and has been updated since 2007. The data was collected by using census from different years. But the down fall of this source that is doesn't contain statistics from before 1996 and after 2006. And also that it hasn't been up dated since 2007. 

[|Immigrantion history of Australia] This link is from the online Encyclopaedia known as Wikipedia. The website listed down the immigration patterns within Australia starting from the Aboriginal people. It has been useful in helping with the question above as it gives historic content on immigration and the reasons for it. It is relevant because immigration was one of the reasons why there are different religions and spirituality in the Religious Landscape. The date it was late up date, November 2009, suggests that it is up to date on immigration as the census for 2010 has yet to be completed.