When the Census data was released, I can't say I was surprised.
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I was not surprised that the number identifying as Christian dropped to 43.9 per cent at the same time that those claiming no religious affiliation rose to 38.9 per cent. Both numbers followed a trend that has been evident in the census for some time.
Nor was I surprised that many media outlets saw this as the big story from the census results. Although I find it curious that this seemed to get greater media focus than trends of increasingly poor mental health and growing numbers of broken families, which the census also highlighted.
But what could these numbers mean?
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What I don't believe it proves is that people are any less spiritually hungry or curious than they may have been in the past. I am sure that some who have shifted away from Christianity to no religion have done so because they have decided that there really is no supernatural after all. However, I bet that this is a small part of the shift.
If anything, the uncertainty of events such as COVID, war in Europe, and a more assertive China seems to have shaken off any spiritual apathy which may have existed in some people. I've personally never found more people who are so keen to have serious conversations about matters of faith.
Data from the National Church Life Survey also suggests a growing spiritual hunger. From 2016 to 2021, those who attended a church service at least once a month actually rose from 18 per cent to 21 per cent of respondents. Furthermore, two in 10 non-church-going adults reported seeking to become involved in a church after the emergence of COVID.
In other words, in the period in which the census shows a decline in belief, there has actually been an increase in those practising their faith! So what is going on?
The factors which people speak to me about are many and complex. However, it seems to me that one of the most significant factors is that culturally we are far more suspicious of institutions than we once were. Many of us have lost trust in authority figures or anyone who seems to claim a monopoly on the truth.
I can't say that I blame anyone who feels this way. After all, we have seen corruption uncovered in many long-time pillars of our society, such as government, banking and aged care.
In many ways, the failings of institutional churches are even worse because, too often, we can't even see an effort to live up to the lofty moral standards which they espouse. Can we really blame anyone who sees this and no longer feels that being dunked as a baby in an Anglican Church, or spending your childhood in a Catholic school, is reason enough to want to tick a box on census night?
But despite these failings, and despite the census, I'm still hopeful because of my experience with the local church. When I have come together with the other Christian believers, whether in this town or others, I have seen the truth of Jesus in action. It is there that I have seen people so caught up in what Jesus has done for them that it overflows in love, joy and hope as I've never seen anywhere else.
Many of us find ourselves racked with uncertainty and jaded by the failures of those we had placed our trust in. Yet it is in the local church, with all its imperfection and beauty, that many people continue to meet Jesus and continue to find the truth, meaning and hope for which they are so hungry. I, for one, am glad to be part of a beautiful local church family.