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Providers of Religious Services in Australia in 2016

The profile of Australian clergy provides some insights into the vitality and health of the church as a whole. However, getting a reliable picture of Australian clergy across the denominations is almost impossible. There are many hundreds of denominations, some of which keep better records than others. In some places, clergy are appointed by local churches and have no wider recognition. In many places, the leaders of congregations are lay people who may or may not have had any training. Some denominations count retired people, while others count only those in active service. Some count those in administration and teaching who could be leading a congregation, while others do not.

Personal Income in the 2016 Census
In the 1933 Australian Census, in an attempt to assess the effects of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, a question about income was asked for the very first time. It has since been included in every Census since 1976.

Catholic Religious Orders and Recruitment, 2000-2015
In February 2018, a report on a large-scale study of recent recruitment to Catholic religious orders in Australia was released. The report uncovered some common characteristics of religious orders that are attracting new members. It also corrected two common misconceptions: first, that only conservative or traditional religious orders attract new members; and second, that only people who were born overseas are entering religious life in Australia.

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Some Notes about ReligiousIdentification in 2016 Census
The overall picture of the religious identity that is given by the 2016 Census is significantly different from the picture just 5 years ago in 2011 as shown in Table 1. However, it confirms the trends that were evident in earlier censuses.

‘No Religion’ in the Australian Census
More than 7 million Australians ticked ‘no religion’ on the Census form in 2016, compared with just 3.7 million in 2006. The numbers saying they had ‘no religion’ almost doubled in that ten year period. The proportion of the Australian population describing themselves as having no religion rose from just 18.8 per cent to 2006 to 30.1 per cent in 2016. What is the reason behind this very considerable change in a short period of time in the Australian religious/non-religious profile?

Some Notes from the Conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion 2017
The conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR) was held at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland between 4th and 7th July 2017. It was attended by more than 500 people from around the world, most of whom presented papers. This meant there was an enormous choice of papers. Apart from the major plenary sessions which were held each day, there were often fifteen or more papers being given simultaneously on a wide range of topics. Any one individual could only attend a small selection of what was on offer. The following are my notes on one of the major theme of the conference: the pluralisation of religion and responses to it.

Refugees, theology and the social sciences
A review of The Refugee Crisis and Religion: Secularism, Security and Hospitality in Question edited by Luca Mavelli and Erin K. Wilson (Rowman & Littlefield) 2016 ISBN 978-1- 7834-8895-7

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Pointers Vol 27 no.1

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‘Alternative Facts’ and the Tensions between the Social Sciences and Theology
A war of words has broken out between the Trump administration and the mainstream media in the USA over  ‘alternative facts’. The initial issue was the size of the crowds at the inauguration. The mainstream media reported that there were fewer people at Trump’s inauguration than at Obama’s. Their evidence was that 782,000 people had used the Washington Metro system on the day of Obama’s inauguration compared with 570,557 on the day of  Trump’s inauguration. Mr Spicer, Trump’s new press secretary, said that 420,000 had used the Metro system on the day of Trump’s inauguration, compared with 317,000 on the day of Obama’s inauguration. The senior White House adviser, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on ‘Meet the Press’ a day later and asserted that Mr Spicer’s figures were  simply ‘alternative facts’ (Fandos 2017).

Practical Theology and Contemporary Social Issues
As people of faith, our theology should be evident in our daily lives and in particular should inform our response to contemporary social issues, including those issues that evoke controversy because of their seemingly political nature. There are some Christians who argue that church leaders should not be intervening in the political arena, strongly asserting that politics is the sole domain of elected officials. While it is safe to assume that church leaders from most denominations respect the  legitimate role of government. Nonetheless scripture exhorts Christians and Christian leaders to make the church’s prophetic voice known, particularly in matters of injustice. This includes challenging unjust laws and structures that oppress the poor and marginalised. The words of the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of Jesus make clear God’s concern for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger. This paper uses a practical theology lens to examine how the  Christian church in general is responding to one of the more critical social issues affecting humanity: how we deal with the mass migration of people and, in particular, refugees who are fleeing  persecution and conflict.