Recent information, put out in the media shows that "the number of people who are non believers in Australia has overtaken Catholics" for the first time, with people providing census details in terms of 'no religion' rising 22.6% to 29.6%.

Christianity still was at 52% of the population, but in 1966 the figure was at 88% and 74% in 1991. It is said that 1.8m people attended a church service each week, but this is only one in seven Australian people who selected Christianity on their census form.

The only religions that have increased in numbers have been Islam, churches such as the well known Hillsong Church and 'other religions'.

There are many who question a lot of elements of society and only strive for facts. Alongside that, I would argue, some of these people are looking for a lot of detail, in fact perhaps too much detail, leaving a lot of Australians 'starved' of time in life for themselves, coming out tired and exhausted, with an addiction for more, (such as money), some sort of fact, evidence or truth.

Is this something individuals and the community need to assess and could such assessment lead to an improved society, if the number of non believers continues to increase?

Nathan, it may be a question of relevance. 50 years ago the values of mainstream Christianity in Australia was very much the values of mainstream society. Today among Christians the position of the dominant churches, Catholic, Anglican etc and their influence on society is questionable. If they are not a source of influence in your moral thinking, why would you bother attending.
I don't think the 30% who profess no religion, are necessarily atheists, many may well have a belief in a god of some sorts.

Religion killed itself. How it survived after the witch burning rubbish, then a womanising english monarch making up his own version so he could get rid of a wife every time he tired of her is beyond me.

Then there were the church run orphanges, I know a man bought up in a salvation army orphanage and there was nothing kind, caring or godly about any of it. I was raised Catholic but I had it figured by aged 10 when Abraham was told by 'god' to sleep with his wife's handmaiden because she couldn't fall pregnant. This was in scripture and I stood up and said what a load of cobblers and was smacked by the nun for my troubles. I was also chastised by my father for even daring to speak like that to a nun. And never mind the priests, pastors, brothers and vicars that thought kids were fair game for their sick sexual rot.

Aside from that, religion and any sort of god is absolute fairy tale, pie in the sky man made rubbish from start to finish and the sooner it's done away with altogether the better. These days they're money making rackets that pay no taxes, which is just wrong on every level.

Of course it's dying, and so it should. It's caused nothing but misery throughout the ages.

Yes, it's very encouraging news indeed.

In fact, we can be be sure that the number is even higher than what showed, too, for three reasons:

1. Ten percent of people didn't answer the question, and it's pretty safe to assume that most of these were non-believers.
2. Non-believers automatically checking off the religion they were baptised into is bound to still be a factor.
3. There was a dishonest scare campaign from the far-Right telling people that we'd become a Muslim country if we checked 'No religion' (which was quite successful, going by some of the comments here on OLO at the time and the number of bogans I saw sharing it on Facebook).

What I found interesting about the statistics was that religiosity drops off after the person is old enough to start speaking for themselves (age 18). I'm guessing it's a combination of the critical thinking skills kicking in and parents just checking their childrens' religion off as the same as their own.

Are we non-believers?

I certainly hope so.

It is high time we Australians put this superstitious nonsense behind us and focused on real problems in the real world without stressing about the possible wishes of a fictitious superior entity.

It sickens me to see our leaders in parliament still bending the knee to these farcical fairy tales before getting down to business. I want to be governed by clear-headed men and women who use logic and intelligence to approach problems, not weak-minded individuals whose thoughts are influenced by the self-interested clergy.

madmick,
Instead of attacking belief from ignorance get informed. Most of the institutions and welfare we have today benefiting society were developed by people of faith. Even our Westminster system of Government is based on Church based Government, including term "Ministers" a Christian identity.
Atheists prefer Dictator forms of Government, as is evident in recent and current Atheist States