How Does Religion Change Australia

Religions across the globe have their own distinctive rites and rituals, idols, traditions, and values. Each have in common a desire to explain something unexplainable by common wisdom, or attributing some aspect of life to some higher power. Many religions have at their heart etiological stories, which explain some sort of natural phenomenon through the physical manifestation of their deity or deities. From high winds and thunderstorms to love, fertility, and the sun, such religions focus on the physical world in this life. Other religions try to explain the "next" life or the afterlife. These religions usually give a moral code to live by, with stricter adherence to this code offering a better afterlife.

When Christianity arrived in Australia by the colonisation of the Irish and British, it then became the most dominant religion of Australia. The arrival of the first fleet in 1788 and the era of ‘Modern Australia’ beginning in the same year saw matters of little religious education throughout some of the population, sectarianism between the Irish and the Catholics and little support for the outback of Australia. Saint Mary Mackillop and Bishop William Broughton were two individuals who helped shape Australia’s image of religion through Christianity pre-1945, impacting sectarianism, sectarianism and Outback Australia. Their life stories and efforts made to assist Australia’s growth and knowledge of Christianity connected the country to God in

Post WW2, under the growing mindset that Australia must ‘populate or perish’ in order to maintain and grow the nations security, workforce and economy, 3million migrants from Italy, Greece, and other European countries immigrated to Australia, in accordance with the ‘White Australia Policy”. Majority of these immigrants were adherents of either the Catholic or Orthodox Church, therefore whilst new religions were introduced, they did not have as much of a significant impact of the religious landscape as the immigrants post 1972 did.

The first obstacle to Catholicism spreading came with the Passing of the so called, White Australia Act, 1903 which prohibited those with of non-white colour from successfully settling in Australia. After World War II, there then came a relaxing of the immigration prohibitions, the

The immigration policy of Australia has been in a constant state of flux ever since Federation in 1901, when the first legislative piece, the Immigration Restriction Act, was introduced. The Immigration Restriction Act has become infamous in Australian history and throughout the world, more nefariously as the ‘White Australia Policy’. The White Australia Policy was Australia’s seemingly indestructible way of ensuring a White Australia. However, the immigration of European refugees after World War II, which aimed to defend the nation from Japanese invasion, challenged this policy. From 1901, Australia held a strong belief that coloured people, specifically Asians, were inferior and detrimental to the Australian way of life, and did all in it’s

There was many religious bias in pre 1945 Australia, the church of England’s values, rules and morals were integrated into Australia’s law, and those who did not follow the church of England faced endless sectarianism at the time.

Christianity is the major religious tradition today and has been since around 1945. Many of the British who first came to Australia, either as convicts or free settlers were Christians. They formed the huge base for Christianity to rise to the top religion in Australia before they began to let more immigrants enter. In the 1947 census, 88% of the population (not including Aboriginals because they were not considered in the census) stated they were Christian. The remaining 12% was mostly people who didn’t respond to the question. Today not much has changed the percentage of Christians has slightly decreased because of a rise in new religions. In the census of 2011 it is seen that out of 21.5 million people just under half, 42% classed themselves as Christian and around 8% said they were of a different religion. The number of people who said they had no religion was hugely increased at around 25%per cent. Today, even with the growing amount of Islam Buddhism and Hinduism, Christianity still remains the major religious tradition.

Firstly, the existence of multiculturalism must lead to some differences. But to be respected and enhance the freedom of others can reduce conflict of culture. Sometimes, religion faith can decide lifestyle and ideology of others. Every religion has their faith and rites. Based on the Australia bureau of statistics’ survey (2011), there were above five hundred diverse tribe group or nation around the state,

This article summarized the effects of immigration on Australia from several aspects, include the economic and environment. Also the census data in 2012 shown that Australian culture become more and more diversified due to migration’s population increase (Mercer 2012). The data show that Australia as a new economic center was raising, the refugees and migrations contribute effort for pushing economic positively, though the development was slightly (Williams 1996). Although during the financial crisis, the report found that Australians did not have serious influence. on the contrary, Australians get rich and have more assets (Mercer 2012). The census data also show there is a quarter of Australian was born in overseas, the secondary common spoken language is Chinese in Australia, and the number of migrations from Asia become the biggest (Mercer 2012). It means the multicultural in Australia is more and more

Australia is a settler nation which is now made up of many ethnic groups who share similar cultural traditions, common language, shared history and a shared identity (ABS, 2016). These groups contribute to what is referred to multiculturalism. Australia has a higher proportion of people born overseas than the US, Canada and the UK, with 49% of Australia’s population (or a parent) being born overseas (Census of Population and Housing, 2016). Compared to other Western nations, Australia has one of the most diverse immigration populations (Collins, 2013, p. 145). The meaning of multiculturalism in Australia has changed significantly over time. Today, Australia is a culturally and ethnically diverse country and therefore is a multicultural society. In terms of public policy, multiculturalism can be defined as policies and practices implemented by the Australian government that aim to manage cultural diversity to benefit the whole of society (Department of Social Services, 2014). Although Australia is a multicultural society, there are criticisms of public policy surrounding multiculturalism.

The concept of being a ‘nation of immigrants’ is at the center of Australian identity.

Australia has always been a multicultural country, the first immigrants that came to Australia were the British in 1788. During this phase of European settlement various policies were created to address cultural diversity. One of the most infamous policies was that of assimilation that forced Australian Aboriginal people and migrants to give up their own culture and heritage and assimilate to colonial Australian culture. Eventually this policy was revised to Multiculturalism. That as a policy in Australia refers to handling the ramifications of diversity, bearing in mind that all Australians have the right to a cultural identity, all citizens must be able to express their cultural inheritance. Whether Multiculturalism is advantageous for Australia or not is a very controversial topic. There is a side that argues that multiculturalism could threaten the lifestyle of many Australians. On the other hand, research demonstrates that from an Australian perspective it has been mostly advantageous. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of multiculturalism in Australia, with regard to economical, historical and social perspectives.

Although the New Age worldview and the Christian worldview have some aspects in common, they are extremely different worldviews. The most significant difference is New Age believers do not worship the one and only God, that Christians worship. New Age movement believe you can worship any God or participate in any spiritual act as long as it helps you find your inner divinity. The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God and he should be the only God you worship or acknowledge; “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3, King James Version) and “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” (Exodus 34:14, KJV). The New Age also believe that they are their own gods and do not belong to any higher power or they believe they are equal to said higher power. This is opposite of what the Christian worldview is, that humans and all creation belong to God; “For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.” (1 Corinthians 10:26, KJV) and “The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.” (Psalms 89:11, KJV). Furthermore, the New Age movement believe we

Religion has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Where years ago, it was limited to a few specific set of beliefs in which the majority of people conformed to and few people deviated. Nowadays, religion is immeasurable and varies depending on where you live. Despite all the changes, there are a few basic elements that every religion follows such as; a set of stories, sacredness, community, belief of a higher power, rules/ethics, offer hope and a way to connect with the divine. Although the building blocks are the same, each organizations, religious practices and beliefs are unique.

Australia is a nation of immigrants. It has become a vibrant & diverse place where tolerance & equality are both accepted & expected by its people as part of their way of life. It is also considered as one of the world’s most culturally diverse countries. In fact, it was the egalitarian streak in Australia’s national character that facilitated the development of contemporary multiculturalism of Australia.