about religious expression in Australia

Australia's constitution guarantees freedom of worship and prohibits the establishment of any churches that would compromise religious freedom. Religion is seen as a diversified institution in Australia. In Australia, Christians make up a larger portion of the population; in the most recent census, 52% of respondents to an optional question on religion identified as Christians. As a result, Christianity is now the most popular religion in Australia. In the same census, nearly 30% of respondents said that they did not identify with any religion, and about 9.6% chose not to respond. The remaining belonged to a diverse religion, those who said were Muslims were 2.6%, the Buddhists were 2.6%, the Hindus were 1.9%, the Sikhs were 0.5%, and the Jews were 0.4% (Taylor, Morhpy, Martin & Sanders, 2013).

From this census, it can be shown how the Australian citizens are a diverse group of people when it comes to the expression of their religious beliefs. The cultural elements, history, and immigration of a country can give rise to the distinct style of religious expression in a country. For instance, in Australia, many of the people express their religious beliefs based on the above things (Furze, Savy, Brym & Lie, 2011). The culture of the population of Australia in practicing religion has led to a larger percentage of people in the country joining particular religions. Archaeological evidence has shown and proved that some of the earliest spiritual and religious practices were done in Australia. There is enough evidence that shows how the people who inhabited Australia initially practiced spiritualism and religion (Brammer, Williams & Zinkin, 2007). Their religion was similar to other religions across the world. It shows that the people of Australia have been culturally religious and have been expressing their religion from time immemorial.

According to the census study, less than 10% of the people who answered the optional question did not state their religion hence making the country a powerful religious country. The ancestors practiced religion and expressed their beliefs in different ways and this modern society, the majority are religious and express their religious beliefs in a diverse way (Buckner, 2014). It shows how cultural elements have played a significant role in the giving a distinct style of religious expression in Australia. Earlier immigrants changed the traditional religious beliefs of the Australians; the first British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788. The settlers isolated the indigenous Australian religion, and this led to its extinction. The settlers were Christians, and their descendants who settled after them were Christians too (Biddle, Khoo & Taylor, 2015). Historically, the immigrants who first settled in Australia were Christians and belonged to the Church of England. In earlier years of the Australian colonization, the Church of England was given, and advantage in spreading their religious beliefs and they had managed to convert many Australians into the church (Bouma et al., 2015).

However, a framework that was legalized guaranteed that the people needed to have the freedom of choosing their religion, this framework also ensured that there was religious equality in the country. It led to the diversification of Christianity, and many Catholics moved to Australia, Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans who came from Germany set up their churches in the 18th century. People had the freedom to join any religion that they saw was better. From the census report, a majority of the Christians said they were Catholics; 22.26% represented them, the Anglicans were present at 13.3%, and other Christian denominations were represented by 16.6% (Mitrou et al., 2014).

Many immigrants entered Australia in the 19th century, even though the groups of the immigrants were small they established their churches and shared their religious beliefs with the local people of Australia. For instance, the Jewish arrived in the earlier 19th century and were keen on establishing their religion in Australia. There were also explorations that led to the Australian gold rushes; as a result, workers were brought from China, these immigrants from China established and spread their religion (Kuo & Fitzgerald, 2016). There were also immigrant workers who came to Australia from Pacific Islands; specialized workers were brought from British India and Afghanistan. These immigrants were dominantly Muslims, and this led to the spread of Islam in Australia. The Australian government offers an active secular form of governance. However, the religious organizations have been playing a significant role in the public way of life of the people of Australia. Some of the religious group have been able to play a major role in ensuring that their members get proper education and that their well being is assured (Avgoulas & Fanany, 2015). They have established schools and medical facilities that offer various services to their members. From these establishments, studies have shown that about a quarter of the Christian children attend schools that are affiliated to their churches, the same estimation of Christians also attend churches throughout the country every week and prefer seeking services from the preferred church members.

Another religion that the Australians identify themselves with is Islam; it is believed that the Muslims arrived in Australia long before the Christians settlers settled. The first Muslims who came to Australia were fishermen from Indonesia. Evidence of this is presented in the form of archaeological artifacts; the people buried their dead facing Mecca in Arabia according to the Islam tradition. Their cultural practices also proved this, they had cave paintings and performed ceremonies that depicted the Islam way of life. Later in the 19th century, many more Muslims came into Australia, the most notable ones were those from Afghanistan who used to move people around the desert using camels. It was almost impossible to navigate through the wilderness, but they made it easier with the utilization of the camels. The camel tracks later became roads and railway lines. They built the first mosque at Marree in the Southern Australia in 1861. Between the year 1860 and 1920 several out back mosques were constructed and more permanent mosques were built in more developed towns. Many people converted to Islam and through this way they expressed their religion. However, the White Australia policy was formulated, and it made it difficult for the Afghanistan immigrants to come to Australia (Bedford & Randolph, 2013). Regardless of the role that they played in the development of road networks and railway lines. They were being forgotten, and the spread of Islam suffered a blow. It could partly explain the reason why there are few Muslims in Australia. The interest in Islam was revived in the 1980s. After the World War II, the government of Australia removed the White Policy and promoted multiculturalism (Bale, 2015). Through this move, the country was able to receive Muslims immigrants and other immigrants from different cultures. The Muslim population in the country has been increasing over the lifting of the White Australian Policy, many of the immigrants who enter Australia are Muslims. Conversion of Christians to Islam has also made the population grow, Australian born Muslims account for only 36% of the total population of Muslims in the country. Australia is religiously diversified; there are more than 100, 000 Jews in the country. Initially, there were only 8 Jewish convicts who had been brought into the country by the British. However, in the recent years there has been immigration of Jewish from South Africa and the former Soviet Union states (Agnew & Duncan, 2014.). Immigration has also contributed to the fast growth rate of Buddhism in Australia. The first Buddhists to come to Australia were from China during the 1850s Australian gold rush. The growth had been slow for so long until the 1960s when the number of Asians entering Australia increased. Another fast growing religion in Australia is Hinduism; the first Indians came to Australia to work in cotton factories and the plantations of sugar. Just like Buddhism, Hinduism was also growing slowly until the number of immigrants from Asia increased. In the developed world Australia is the country that has the list number of non-religious citizens. It shows how the culture and history have played a significant role in making the people of Australia have a different distinct style of religions. It has also been made possible by the elements of the country, through the government policies and initiatives. People can now have the freedom for choosing their religion.



References

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Mitrou, F., Cooke, M., Lawrence, D., Povah, D., Mobilia, E., Guimond, E. and Zubrick, S.R., 2014. Gaps in Indigenous disadvantage are not closing: a census cohort study of social determinants of health in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand from 1981–2006. BMC Public Health, 14(1), p.201.

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