Religious Diversity in Australia: Rethinking Social Cohesion

Douglas Ezzy,Rebecca Banham,Lori Beaman,Robert Jackson,Anna Halafoff,Gary Bouma,Greg Barton

doi:10.3390/rel11020092

Abstract

This paper argues for a reconsideration of social cohesion as an analytical concept and a policy goal in response to increasing levels of religious diversity in contemporary Australia. In recent decades, Australian has seen a revitalization of religion, increasing numbers of those who do not identify with a religion (the “nones”), and the growth of religious minorities, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. These changes are often understood as problematic for social cohesion. In this paper, we review some conceptualizations of social cohesion and religious diversity in Australia, arguing that the concept of social cohesion, despite its initial promise, is ultimately problematic, particularly when it is used to defend privilege. We survey Australian policy responses to religious diversity, noting that these are varied, often piecemeal, and that the hyperdiverse state of Victoria generally has the most sophisticated set of public policies. We conclude with a call for more nuanced and contextualized analyses of religious diversity and social cohesion in Australia. Religious diversity presents both opportunities as well as challenges to social cohesion. Both these aspects need to be considered in the formation of policy responses.

Highlights

While social cohesion is often raised in relation to ethnic diversity and other forms of social division and inequality, in this analysis we focus primarily on religious diversity
Policies and practices informed by the pursuit of cosmopolitanism, deep equality, and reasonable pluralism can create discomfort and even distress among some sections of society, which could be interpreted as undermining social cohesion, and this may be part of the process of moving to new forms of respectful engagement with an increasingly diverse society
We surveyed Australian government websites to identify what they said about religious diversity and the strategies they describe as responses to this diversity

Summary

Introduction

We argue that the significant changes to Australian culture and social structures wrought by increasing religious diversity can be understood as an opportunity to form new social relationships and ways of engaging with that diversity. The use of the term social cohesion appears to have come as a response to growing diversity in an increasingly globalized world and the idea that there was the potential for a clash of cultures, between Western and Islamic values (Markus and Kirpitchenko 2007). Furseth et al (2018) trace the growing diversity of religion in the Nordic countries, mostly as a consequence of changed immigration beginning in the 1980s Calhoun, in his preface to this work, links this trend to social cohesion, “In some of the most interesting and important passages of this book, the authors trace the loss of cohesive values and a shared framework for public discourse” We turn to a consideration of the literature on social cohesion and alternative concepts to understand the consequences of increasing religious diversity

Social Cohesion

Australian Government Policy Responses to Religious Diversity

Findings

Discussion