Australian census 2016: young people looking to science over faith

[GF Edward]

He was baptised as a baby, confirmed as a child and was a Catholic school kid — but, like a growing number of young people, Nick Nohreiter says he has no religion.

The census shows “no religion” as the most common category of religious belief for the first time — accounting for 29.6 per cent of the population — overtaking Catholicism, which was at 22.6 per cent.

For those aged 18 to 34, the figure is more striking: 39 per cent have no religion.

Mr Nohreiter, an 18-year-old studying commerce and economics university in Brisbane, said he had “gone through the whole Catholic thing”, but doesn’t think he ever believed in God.

“My family’s not very religious but I did go to a Catholic school, so I always used to have mass and stuff,” he said. “It was just (a) general lifestyle. It’s sort of a stereotype of our modern society, that we always go to a Catholic school because that’s how everyone else had.”

 

Losing our religion

 

For the first time in history the number of people who claim no religion at all have overtaken Catholics as a proportion of the population.

 

 

He said he had pondered the big life questions and wondered about the existence of a creator, but had never believed. “I always just come back to: This is what I find more plausible. With growing science and technology, it makes sense,” he said. Most of his friends felt the same.

One friend, 18-year-old primary education student Brooke Hayes, said Mr Nohreiter was typical of others in her circle who did not share her Catholic beliefs.

“It’s a social trend,” she said. “If I said (to) my group of friends, come to church with me on a Sunday, everyone’s going to be like ‘no thanks’. I think it’s because there is a lot of unanswered questions when you do believe in God. And I think because science is such a strong topic, these days everyone wants to have an answer.”

Ms Hayes said many of her friends had drifted away from Catholicism in their teens.

 

 

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/census-2016-young-people-looking-to-science-over-faith/news-story/17012a68fb569cb20fb7b6a3b38745db

Edited August 18, 2017 by South Edward

[Elena]