Christian Growth and Decline
Overall, the population grew by 5.4% during the five years from 1996 to 2001. During that time the numbers identifying with Christianity grew by just 1.4%. In other words, the growth in those identifying with a Christian group did not keep pace with population growth.

Many Christian denominations declined in actual numbers, including the Uniting Church, the Presbyterian and Reformed, The Salvation Army, and, to a lesser extent, the Anglican Church. The greatest decline was in the Churches of Christ and the Brethren, the former by 22% and the latter by 14%.

Of some surprise was the decline in the numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group which grew strongly between 1991 and 1996.

Several Christian groups grew, but not quite at the rate of the population. These included the Catholics, for whom it was the first percentage decline since the 1970s, the Lutherans, and the Seventh-day Adventists. The Baptists just about held their own as did the Orthodox. The only groups to show significant growth were the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which grew slightly and the Oriental Christians which grew at 13%, significantly down on the growth between 1991 and 1996.

A Glitch in the Pentecostal Figures
According to the Census, the Pentecostal numbers fell by 46%. However, it is most unlikely these figures are accurate. It appears that the leaders in the Australian Christian Churches, formed in 2000, encouraged their members to write in Australian Christian Churches. However, the Census has not coded that category under Pentecostals. It is not clear whether it has been included under ‘Other Christian’ (which rose strongly) or under ‘Inadequately Described’ (which also rose strongly). It is quite possible that up to 70,000 people have ‘disappeared’ because of this glitch in the Census coding, which would mean that there was some growth in the Pentecostals, rather than a decline.

Other Religions
There was remarkable growth among the Buddhists. In 1996, there numbers were similar to those of the Islamic community. But the Buddhists have grown much more rapidly and are now close to 2% of the population. It would seem likely that this rate of growth is not just a product of immigration as has been the major factor in the past. Thus, it would seem likely that there have been an increase in the number of Australians of Anglo-Celtic background describing themselves as Buddhist.

The Hindu community also grew strongly and outstripped in the numbers on the Census the Jewish community. However, Jewish numbers are always somewhat ambiguous, Judaism being both a culture and a religion. Members of the Jewish community have consistently argued that the Jewish religion figures understates the size of the Jewish community and it would seem likely that the Jewish community as a whole remains a little larger than the Hindu community.

The Islamic community grew by 29%, a similar rate to the Hindu community.

Overall, the proportion of Australians identifying with a religion other than Christianity grew from about 3.5% in 1996 to close to 5% in 2001.

No Religion and Not Stated
One of the biggest surprises was that the ‘no religion’ numbers actually declined. Given that the ‘no religion’ group tends to be a little younger than average in age, and the general trend in not identifying with an organised religious group, this result was not expected. Indeed, it was expected that the ‘no religion’ group might be similar in size to the Anglicans.

The decline in ‘no religion’ may be partly off-set by a small increase in those not responding to the question (about 10%). It should be noted that ‘no religion’ and ‘not stated’ cannot be added, however. Some very religious people choose not to state their religion on the Census.
          
One of the fastest growing groups is the ‘Inadequate Described’. Perhaps all the ‘Jedi’ followers were put here by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Perhaps this category holds some of the keys to the decline in the ‘no religion’ group.

Philip Hughes