Religion In Australia Research Articles

Decolonising Studies of Religion in So-Called Australia: Truth-Telling, Collective Reflections and Future Trajectories

ABSTRACT Studies of religion in the lands now called (by some) Australia have thus far focused mainly on so-called Abrahamic traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the southern states of New South Wales and Victoria and on theories from the global North. This is despite the fact that Australia is a religiously and spiritually diverse nation, and that diverse worldviews in Australia have long been and continue to be shaped by First Peoples, and South–South flows of migration across the Pacific and Indian oceans, particularly in Australia’s far northern regions. This article begins with truth-telling of the historical and contemporary reality of the religious and spiritual composition of Australia, challenging the myth of a White Christian nation. It then includes a series of scholarly and personal reflections, by the paper’s authors, on why and how there is a need to decolonise studies of religion in Australia. These author narratives, recounting lived experiences from their diverse positionalities including their First Peoples, Indonesian, Chinese, African, and/or European backgrounds, further reflect Australia’s multifaith and ‘multicultural Real’ (Hage 1998). The paper concludes with an analysis of these narratives and posits ways forward to dislocate coloniality in the study of religion across the Asia-Pacific region.

Hans Mol and the Empirical Study of Australian Religion

This article examines the Religion in Australia survey (RIA) that was conducted in 1966. Led by sociologist Hans Mol, this was the first major survey of religion in Australia. Mol’s findings were published in his landmark monograph, Religion in Australia (1971), which is arguably the most comprehensive work ever written on the religious lives of Australians. To reveal the varieties of Christian belief and practice, Mol developed a typology that categorised Australians into different kinds of believers (not unbelievers). However, Mol’s efforts were circumscribed by the computational, statistical and practical limitations of the time, and he barely engaged with the secularisation literature or other social developments. Using cutting-edge statistical procedures (latent class analysis), this article re-examines Mol’s empirical study of Australian religion and offers deeper and more complex insights into the ‘religious patterns of the Australian population’ in the 1960s. The article highlights Mol’s pioneering empirical sociology of religion and the contribution that he made to the understanding of post-war religion in Australia.

Buddhism in the Far North of Australia pre-WWII: (In)visibility, Post-colonialism and Materiality

Buddhism was first established in Australia through flows of migrants in the mid-nineteenth century, and is currently Australia’s fourth-largest religion. Yet Buddhists have received significantly less scholarly attention than Christians, Jews and Muslims in Australia. Previous research conducted on Buddhism in Australia has also largely centered on the southern states, and on white Buddhists. This article shares findings of archival research on Buddhism in the far north of Australia, focused on Chinese, Japanese, and Sri Lankan communities working in mining, pearling, and sugar cane industries, pre-WWII. It documents the histories of exclusion, resistance and belonging experienced by Australia’s Buddhists in the far north of Australia pre-WWII, during times of colonial oppression and Japanese internment. In so doing, this article challenges dominant narratives of a white Christian Australia, and also of white Buddhism in Australia, by rendering Asian communities in scholarship on religion in Australia more visible.

Everyday Religion and the Complexity of Islamic Space

The turn to ‘everyday religion’ has disrupted the so-called ‘Muslim problem’, suggesting modes of multiculturalism located not in abstract principles of citizenship but grounded in the concrete practices of local communities. In this article, however, I offer two critiques of the literature on everyday religion in Australia. First, the literature has limited itself to discursive methodologies, largely ignoring material aspects of the everyday. Second, I show how studies of everyday religion assume multiculturalism’s location in a given public space. Drawing on ethnography from the Shia Muslim community of Sydney, I show how Shia practices of visual pilgrimage leverage an understanding of complex space that transforms everyday experience. I argue that allowing for diversity requires not merely an attentiveness to different discourses in the public sphere; it requires an allowance for difference at a deeper level, where everyday religion can generate complex alternative experiences of space itself.

The Liberal and Post-Liberal Futures of Law and Religion in Australia

The Liberal and Post-Liberal Futures of Law and Religion in Australia

Religious Print in Settler Australia and Oceania

A distinctive feature of the study of religion in Australia and Oceania concerns the influence of European culture. While often associated with private interiority, the European concept of religion was deeply reliant upon the materiality of printed publication practices. Prominent historians of religion have called for a more detailed evaluation of the impact of religious book forms, but little research has explored this aspect of the Australian case. Settler publications include their early Bible importation, pocket English language hymns and psalters, and Indigenous language Bible translations. As elsewhere in Europe, Australian settlers relied on print to publicize their understanding of religion in their new context. Recovering this legacy not only enriches the cultural history of Australian settler religion, it can also foster new avenues through which to appreciate Australia’s multireligious and Indigenous heritage.

‘Our diggers would turn in their graves’: nostalgia and civil religion in Australia’s far-right

ABSTRACT Commemorating wars plays an important role in reinforcing a sense of national identity in many countries. Bellah’s (1967) work on civil religion argues that such commemorations have a quasi-sacred character and can have cohesive-inclusive and coercive-exclusive effects. This article examines how references to the Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) are incorporated into far-right messaging online where the Anzac legend is typically discussed with the purpose of conveying a nostalgic image of a narrowly defined, exclusionary national identity. Unconditional glorification of Anzac is used as a benchmark of acceptance, often linked to anti-Muslim messaging and sometimes embedded in a White supremacy agenda. The official Anzac commemorations remain mute to far-right attempts to use Anzac for their own political mobilisation.

Pluralism versus Separation: Tension in the Australian Church-State Relationship

Abstract The relationship between the state and religion in Australia exists in a state of tension. On the one hand the “non-establishment” clause in section 116 of the Australian Constitution points to the separation of religion and state. On the other hand there is a high level of cooperation between the state and religion in the public sphere, most visible in the funding of religious schools by the federal government. These two visions of the Australian state-religion relationship are in tension. One requiring the removal of religion from the public sphere while the other calls for a plurality of religions to be accommodated in public spaces. This article seeks to resolve this tension by proposing a new way to understand the Australian state-religion relationship as non-establishment pluralism. Non-establishment in the sense that the Australian Constitution prohibits the establishment of any religion—be that a single state church, multiple state religions, or religion generally. Pluralism in that the state via ordinary legislation, public policy, and government action cooperates with religion in numerous areas of state and religious interest in the public sphere.

Religious freedom in ‘the most godless place under Heaven’: making policy for religion in Australia

abstract ; ?>The appropriate role of religion in Australian society has been debated since colonization. Recently the Australian government has proposed legislative changes which, it is argued, will protect the right to religious freedom. These proposed changes have been criticised from all sides, providing evidence of ongoing division with the Australian public regarding the appropriate relationship between religion and the state. While history does not offer any easy answers to these complex challenges, in this article I suggest that understanding the historical relationship between religion and government in Australia can clarify the choices that face contemporary policymakers. I suggest three directions for policy (and law) reform in relation to religious institutions: protection of the rights of Indigenous people to practice Indigenous spirituality; protection of religious minorities; and greater limits on the presence of religious institutions in the ‘third sector’ of welfare provision.

Freedom of Religion in Australia

This paper evaluates the legal protection of freedom of religion in Australia by examining legislation and key cases in the light of international human rights standards. A focus of the paper is to examine how conflicts between religious freedom and other rights are resolved and to unpack the underlying conception of religion evident in both legislation and relevant cases. While at face value freedom of religion is afforded significant protection in Australian law, the legislation and cases demonstrate that there are significant pressures on religion, stemming in particular from situations where religious freedom conflicts with other rights. The legislation and cases reveal an underlying conception of religion and its relation to other rights which will likely lead to further incursions on religious freedom unless legislative changes are made to address the issue. In light of the well understood principle that there is no hierarchy of rights, it is argued that there should be greater acknowledgment in Australian law that the right to freedom of religion is of equal importance to other rights, with implications for the way in which religion is defined, conscience is protected, and the manner in which the harm principle is deployed in resolving conflicts between rights. The crucial task facing courts and policymakers is to develop a principled basis upon which to resolve conflicts of rights. In undertaking that exercise a more balanced and accurate understanding of international human rights is needed, including recognition that all rights are of equal importance and that limitations on the free exercise of religion are the exception and not the rule, and may only be imposed where strictly necessary, in a proportionate manner.

Strange Gods in a Great Southern Land

Between 1960 and 2000 Australia witnessed four waves of “cult controversy.” This article provides a historical overview of these controversies. The four historical vignettes presented demonstrate the significance of Australia in the wider global history of the “cult wars” and some of the local societal reactions occasioned by various home grown and international new religious movements that have proved controversial. This article identifies a series of the key episodes and periods that might serve as historical landmarks for the writing of a more fulsome history of new religions in Australia, introduces to a scholarly audience some of the important individuals involved in these Australian controversies, and highlights the key new religions and cult-watching groups whose interactions have collectively shaped the Australian societal response over this period.

Media Representations of Religion, Spirituality and Non-Religion in Australia

Despite predictions of decline, religion has featured prominently in the public sphere and the media since the events of 11 September 2001. Previous research on media and religion in Australia post-September 11 has focused largely on its negative impacts, particularly on Muslim communities. This article, in contrast, examines media representations of religion, spirituality and non-religion on an ‘ordinary day’, of 17 September, over a three-year period in the city of Melbourne. Its findings reveal that religion, in its myriad forms, permeates many aspects of Australian public life, but in ways which do not always reflect the actual religious composition and lived experiences of worldview diversity in Australia.

A Personal and Scholarly Reflection on Sociology of Religion, Peacebuilding and Spaciousness

This invited paper is a personal and scholarly reflection on how I, AnnaHalafoff, became a sociologist of religion in Australia and also presents anoverview of my and my colleagues' contributions to this field. I begin withproviding some background about my upbringing in a Russian household,and my education at Methodist Ladies College and Wesley College, in Melbourne,Australia. I then recount my formative early adult years of exploringspirituality, nature and activism in Northern New South Wales andQueensland and how it led me to enrol in a Master of Letters at the Universityof New England, focusing on religion and peacebuilding. The nextsection discusses our work at Monash and Deakin Universities researchingreligious diversity, countering violent extremism and worldviews education,including our international collaborations. Finally, I describe my currentinterests in Buddhism in Australia and my continued commitment toapplied research that makes a positive difference to society.

Law And Religion In Western Australia: Cooperation or Conflict?

This paper examines the relationship between law and religion in Australia, with a particular emphasis on Western Australia. Australia’s common law and legal system have lengthy and deep Christian roots. Whist there have been sectarian tensions, the historical dominance of Christian faith among the population led to a basic agreement on many areas of morality and behaviour. The paper recognises that the cooperation between law and religion in Australia is under severe strain and considers the causes of this tension. It argues that as conflict between law and religion is increasing religious freedom now requires greater protection in law.

Christianity And The Law: Trial Separation Or Acrimonious Divorce?

The article considers the relationship between Christianity and the law in Australia beginning with the arrival of the First Fleet and the declaration of the Swan River Colony. It examines in some detail the influence of the Western legal tradition and of Christianity on the jurisprudence relating to one elemental aspect of Western society marriage. It considers the make-up of contemporary Australia, contemporary attitudes to religion and the relationship between law and religion in Australia. The article concludes that the once close relationship between law and religion may be better described today not as a trial separation but as an acrimonious divorce. The article argues that conflict between Christianity and the law is increasing to the extent that there is a need for law reform to provide greater protection of religious freedom. At the time this article was written the legislative protection of religious freedom remained in a state of flux. Following the redefinition of marriage on 15 November, 2018 a review into religious freedom, the Ruddock Review, has taken place but the Report has not been publicly released. Instead the recommendations have been initially selectively, mischievously and manipulatively leaked to the press. Despite the evidence presented in this article of a need for a more adequate legislative framework for the protection of religious freedom, the response to the recommendations of the Ruddock Review to date can only cause scepticism as to the likelihood that any such framework is likely to be introduced in this county in the near future.

'His Garden a Wilderness' - The Balance between Equality and Freedom of Religion in Australia and Canada

This paper analyzes Australian and Canadian approaches to rights conflict focusing on challenges between freedom of religion and equality in public life. The first section involves an historical and doctrinal analysis of rights frameworks in Australia and Canada and a comparative analysis of cases that test public boundaries of freedom of religion and equality. This section concludes that the Australian framework is an imperfect mechanism for resolving disputes about freedom of religion. A comparison to the Canadian framework demonstrates that principles of reconciliation and limitation of rights provide a more satisfying answer to challenges between religious freedom and equality rights. The argument put in the second section is that both states assert freedom of religion and equality as fundamental rights but in fact their competing scope remains unresolved. The second section applies political theory to the question of freedom of religion, building on the presumption that neither Australia nor Canada (as modern liberal states) has an agreed public ‘place’ for religion. This thesis proposes a theoretical solution of adopting a more inclusive definition of religion within an egalitarian liberalism framework and prefers the test of ‘ethical independence’ proposed by Ronald Dworkin for responding to claims of religious expression rather than a ‘special rule’ or exemption approach.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND APPREHENDED BIAS: SKIRTING MAGNA CARTA PROTECTIONS?

The significance of this paper is in discussion of the wholesale obliteration of religious and other rights among Australian Aboriginal people, constituting a subspecies of continuing genocide. The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia states its directive on religion as follows.‘The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.’This constitutional section prohibits the making of laws, as stated, but does not prohibit administrative action imposing religious procedures. Neither does it prohibit official administrative action to restrain the free exercise of religion in Australia.

Religious Freedom in Australia

In this paper I discuss how the law protects freedom of religion in Australia. While as is well known there is no overarching “Bill of Rights” in operation across our country, protection of this “fundamental right” takes place, even in a fragmented way, under a number of laws. The paper discusses the protection provided by the Federal Constitution, the impact of international treaties, the effect of the common law, domestic charters in specific States, and the “balancing” provisions of discrimination legislation.

Illegitimate Online Newspaper Representations of the Chaplaincy Program

Illegitimate Online Newspaper Representations of the Chaplaincy Program

Religion, “Non-Religion” and Indigenous Peoples on the 2011 Australian National Census

The 2011 Australian National Census revealed trends in the religious identities and affiliations of Australians that demonstrated wide cultural and religious diversity amongst the population, including a dramatic growth in the percentage of respondents who ticked the “no religion” box. This might suggest an increasingly secularised population, although this conclusion is not as straightforward as it may seem, particularly in light of the growth of religions other than Christianity and evidence that many “non-religious” people identify as “spiritual”. One surprising result, which calls for more investigation and analysis, is that a higher percentage of indigenous people declared themselves as having no religion than the general population. This article examines the overall results of the 2011 census on religion and non religion in Australia and then offers some preliminary interpretations of the census responses of Australian Aboriginals in light of two pilot studies conducted by the authors in 2013: one in the urban setting of Mount Druitt, near Sydney and the other in the remote village of Ampilatwatja around 325 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory