Religion in Australia

Paper Summary:

A discussion of the reasons for the decline of the mainline denominations from the 1960s to the 1980s in Australia. The paper explores how the churches have responded to this phenomenon. The major religions discussed include Chrisianity's streams of Anglican and Catholic, as well as Methodist and Protestant.

From the Paper:

"After experiencing a period of steady growth and an ongoing important place in the Australian community during the 1950s and the 'remembered 60s' the mainline denominations found themselves losing numbers and influence from this point on, beginning a decline that would last throughout the eighties. According to Hilliard The 'remembered sixties' are from1964 or 1965 to 1972 in Australia (p.210). In 1961 Protestants including Anglicans accounted for 65 per cent of the population, by 1986 this was 40 per cent (Breward p.226) and by 1996 had dropped a further 2%. In the state of Victoria from 1961 to 1986 the percentage of Anglicans in the total population fell from 6.11 per cent to 4.40. Likewise Methodists and Presbyterians combined dropped from 5.28 per cent to 3.70 in the same period. (Australians: Historical Statistics, Wray Vamplew (ed.), Sydney 1987, cited in Hilliard, 1997). As for the Roman Catholic Church, Australian Sunday Mass attendance figures fell from 55 per cent to 37 per cent in the period 1966 to 1981. (Campion p.248)."

More papers on Religion in Australia:

• Term Paper # 111968 : "Religious Education in Australia"
• Research Paper # 45413 : "Church Attendance in Australia"
• Term Paper # 146421 : "Catholic Education in Australia"

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