2011 census - religion

[Rabaelthazar]

 

I will put "No Religion" on my census form. I'm not an atheist, I'm an agnostic but with no option for either I believe that specifying anything in the box provided will essentially be counted as a nul-vote.

The link posted in both the census religion threads (by Tripsis on both counts, I think) does make some good points. There's clearly an agenda from the source of that article, but the point that stood out for me is that we have the potential to outweigh the standard religions in terms of % which can only help lower the perceived importance of the church in both politics and society at large.

Christianity, Judaism etc... are clearly on their way to becoming minorities. Could be 100 years away still, but whatever I can do to help speed up the process, I will.

<edit> should clarify that the video is a satire and not actually the ramblings of a Christian. Edited August 5, 2011 by Rabaelthazar

[qualia]

considering whats happening in nsw parliament atm i suppose it's even more important to signal to the government that there's a large % of people in oz what aren't traditionally religious (i.e. christian/catholic etc.).

Edited August 6, 2011 by qualia

[obtuse]

There have been some great responses to this thread, and as a result i have decided that while i think its important to represent my own spiritual values, at the end of the day i will be reporting no religion.

i have a mixed opnion about the census, as i resent the wholesale nature of data collection, but understand the importance of statistics when it comes to planning from a governmental perspective - although the problem with stats is that they can be manipulated.

but i also resent the presence of religion within politics, and also resent the presence of religion within education. especially when schools with religious focus threaten the existence of rural public schools, as is happening in my region. let alone the fact that they also get government funding - how wrong is that.

so if by reporting "no religion" we as a household can add a statistic or two to offset the people reporting christian or catholic, then im still happy.

Cheers, Obtuse.

[The Dude]

Just as literacy and numeracy are basic essentials for functioning in society, so too is a collective moral code. It's about having standards within society. How much these standards help or harm society depends on their adaptability, if they are conservative regulations that stifle growth or merely the foundations for future structures to be built.

I think religion or spirituality is a vital field of study like all other aspects of life, the problem I have is with institutions teaching training us is that it's yet another form of programming, that knowledge gathering isn't taught so much as copying old ideas. Religion is the same, it must be experienced directly, as a personal revelation of knowledge, not copying old ideas.

I think of training as in restricting and guiding the growth of a plant, and i think of schools as in fish in a massive group moving in unison as if of onemind.

Back to the original question, I'm not sure what I'd put down, Alchemy and Shamanism come to mind. Thing is, our society has been de-spirited, drained of it's enchantment so we don't have that same awe for god anymore, now we pray to the spectacle of pop culture and the high priesthood of the technocracy with their heaven sent gifts of distraction, so here's a few more ideas: Televisionism, Statism, Social-darwinism, New World Order Luciferianism...

Edited August 6, 2011 by The Dude

[synchromesh]

Televisionism

 

New World Order Luciferianism...

 

That one may be giving away a little too much.

[Torsten]

I will put "No Religion" on my census form. I'm not an atheist, I'm an agnostic but with no option for either I believe that specifying anything in the box provided will essentially be counted as a nul-vote.

 

Not so fast. I think I saw agnosticism on the census list. I will upload this here so that everyone can get a feel for how that system works and which category they would prefer to see themselves in. For example, some interesting answers that spiritual people might find appealing can sit in the same category as some not so appealing ones. In such a case it might be better to pick something similarly appealing that falls into a more appropriate category.

census religions.txt

census religions.txt

census religions.txt

[Rabaelthazar]

Not so fast. I think I saw agnosticism on the census list. I will upload this here so that everyone can get a feel for how that system works and which category they would prefer to see themselves in. For example, some interesting answers that spiritual people might find appealing can sit in the same category as some not so appealing ones. In such a case it might be better to pick something similarly appealing that falls into a more appropriate category.

census religions.txt

 

Thanks for the link Torsten. I was going from the provided form which has just:

Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Buddhism, Greek Orthodox, Islam, Baptist and Lutherian.

It was interesting to see what else was on the list you've provided... some of the other examples from that that I found interesting are:

Shamanist;

Sai Baba;

Heathern;

Infidel;

Mick???

Also, as an example of answers that could essentially be grouped together are classed individually.

Planet Earth;

Earth Goddess;

Earth Mother;

Earth Nature;

Mother Earth;

Mother Nature

Gaia;

Gaian.

If I answer "Agnostic", I'll be lumped into one of 1,826 minority groups. Given that "No Religion" has its own dedicated tick box, I feel that ticking that will have more sway in terms of trends (which is what the census is looking at).

Cheers.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Rabaelthazar

[tripsis]

Mick???

Though seriously, what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

[hebrew]

church of the subgenius

[Rabaelthazar]

Though seriously, what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

 

No idea....

I googled "Mick Religion", "Mick Cult", "Mick Belief" and "Mick Census" and couldn't get any closer to an answer.

This guy certainly achieved a god-like status in some peoples' minds.... Could it be?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUnPO9qmRuk&playnext=1&list=PL2DF976654B916AC8

[7baz]

just as when you thought things couldnt get any worse.. they just did.

not doing your census ? you risk fines of up to $110.00

this is illegal and unconstitutional.

you can basically tell them to get fucked in the supreme court of Australia.

this is why i dont vote.. nor do i get fines for not voting.

learn your rights and stand up to them.

[∂an]

I am officially an animist

[qualia]

hmm, they don't have alarmist on there,

[Francois le Danque]

Though seriously, what the hell is that even supposed to mean?

 

..it's derogatory for irish catholic, don't you proddy cunts know anything? geez...

edit: oh, also, does anyone know where i can watch that john safran thing in full? i was under the impression it would be on tonight but obviously that would make too much sense. turns out it was on A MONTH AGO so it isnt available online any more. also firefox thinks online isn't a word. wtf?

Edited August 9, 2011 by frank

[Torsten]

The ABS said today that Jedi got over 50,000 last time. On the website it says that any religion that gets over 10,000 gets its own slot. Even so, Jedi doesn't make the list. I wonder why?

[nabraxas]

not doing your census ? you risk fines of up to $110.00

we didn't get one.

i could have done it on-line i guess but the room i keep the PC in is unheated & it was cold last night.

Bit unreasonable to expect me to leave my nice warm living room to sit freezing in front ov my PC because they neglected to send me the forms.

Oh well. see what happens.

[∂an]

we didn't get one.

i could have done it on-line i guess but the room i keep the PC in is unheated & it was cold last night.

Bit unreasonable to expect me to leave my nice warm living room to sit freezing in front ov my PC because they neglected to send me the forms.

Oh well. see what happens.

 

nah you needed some numbers and codes etc from the forms they dropped off to do it online, so not your fault you couldn't do the census

[santiago]

last night was when it was meant to be done, if its not submitted or collected then they give you a second chance and if it isnt done again thats where the $110 fine comes in. Basically you do get a second chance.

[synchromesh]

Life is full of second chances... Don't fool for "their" bluffs...

[Rabaelthazar]

The ABS said today that Jedi got over 50,000 last time. On the website it says that any religion that gets over 10,000 gets its own slot. Even so, Jedi doesn't make the list. I wonder why?

 

I remember around the 2006 census there was a "stern warning" issued by the ABS about joke answers. Can't find a link to any of the news articles from then, but wiki says:

In Australia more than 70,000 people (0.37%) declared themselves members of the Jedi order in the 2001 census.[2] The Australian Bureau of Statistics issued an official press release[3] in response to media interest on the subject. The ABS announced that any answers that were Jedi-related in the religion question were to be classified as 'not defined' and stressed the social impact of making misleading or false statements on the census. An ABS spokesperson said that "further analysis of census responses has been undertaken since the release of census data on June 17 to separately identify the number of Jedi-related responses".[2] It is believed that there is no numerical value that determines a religion per definition of the ABS, but there would need to be a belief system or philosophy as well as some form of institutional or organisational structure in place.[4][5]

The Jedi Census phenomenon attracted the attention of sociologist of religion Adam Possamai who discusses it in his book Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament.[6] Possamai’s study placed Jediism in the context of a specific methodological classification (‘hyper-real religions’) and attempted to demonstrate that hostility existed towards new religions in Australia.[7]

In the lead-up to the 2006 census, there were some reports that writing Jedi on the 2006 census could lead to a fine for providing 'false or misleading' information. This is despite previous admissions by the ABS that they were 'fairly relaxed' about the issue in 2001 and that nobody had been prosecuted in at least 15 years.[8]

 

[nabraxas]

nah you needed some numbers and codes etc from the forms they dropped off to do it online, so not your fault you couldn't do the census

i got abit concerned @ the prospect ov a fine so i decided to do it on-line. You're right i needed some numbers and codes etc from the forms they dropped off to do it online, but there was an option to get the forms sent out to you if you hadn't got them so i did that.

if they bother to come round i'd rather be able to say i've tried to do the thing...