According to the survey, just over a third of New Zealanders describe themselves as religious, even though the last Census has more than 50% of people saying they have a religious affiliation, be it Christian or Buddhist or Muslim and so on.
As always it would be good to know what questions were asked of the respondents. We can get some idea from these 'results': Fifty-three per cent say they believe in God (although half of those say they have doubts), 20 per cent believe in some form of higher power and about third say they don't believe or don't know.
However, 60% (of parents, presumably) say they would prefer children to have a religious education in state primary schools - with strongest support for teaching about all faiths. Hmm, your children can be religious, but you as an adult don't have to be.
In the media release, Professor Philip Gendall, who led the research team, says the view that
Professor Gendall adds, “There is evidence that New Zealanders have become less religious over the last 17 years; however, most New Zealanders believe in God and there has been no change in the proportion of those who say they believe in a higher power.” So that bit about the 'sharp rise' was a bit of a headline rather than a reality? New Zealanders have become less religious but most still believe in God: does this mean that believing in God doesn't mean you're religious? I guess it could well do...
“So perhaps the apparent decline in religiosity reflects a decline in traditional religious loyalties - rather than a decline in spirituality as such.” And that may be much closer to the truth, a truth which churches are finding everywhere. People may not align themselves so readily to a particular denomination these days, and there is evidence that many people still regard themselves as Christians (as others probably regard themselves as Buddhists) without actually going to a church (or a Buddhist temple).
The study found that significant numbers of New Zealanders believe in the supernatural with 57 per cent believing in life after death, 51 per cent believing in heaven and 36 per cent believing in hell.
A quarter of those surveyed think star signs affect people's futures, 28 per cent say good luck charms work and 39 per cent believe fortune-tellers can foresee the future.
If religion is 'dead,' superstition is alive and well!
2 comments:
Hi Mike,
I've seen a copy of the survey in question and a summary of the results. Just a couple of comments on what you've written:
just over a third of New Zealanders describe themselves as religious, even though the last Census has more than 50% of people saying they have a religious affiliation
Before I became a Christian I wouldn't have described myself as religious, but in the Census I would have identified as Presbyterian, as that was our family's traditional religion. This may be where the difference arises from.
As always it would be good to know what questions were asked of the respondents.
Generally the questions were of a 'pick one of the following options' variety. For the belief in God question, the options were along the lines of: "I know God exists and I have no doubts about it" [27%], "While I have doubts, I feel I do believe in God" [18%], "I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others" [8%] etc. The 53% is a combination of these three categories.
60% (of parents, presumably) say they would prefer children to have a religious education in state primary schools
This is 60% of respondents.
Hmm, your children can be religious, but you as an adult don't have to be.
This comment doesn't make sense. How does learning about religions in schools decide whether or not you (or your children) will be 'religious'? I know atheists who would like to see children learn about all religions because religion is a large part of the world we live in, and informs how we interact with each other. Why shouldn't children learn about what other people believe?
The survey shows that God is not dead. Well, that's good for God to know!
This is obviously a reference to the Nietzsche quote, "God is dead", and is probably not intended to be taken quite as seriously as some people are taking it.
So that bit about the 'sharp rise' was a bit of a headline rather than a reality?
Actually, the survey was also conducted in 1998, and I believe the proportion of NZers with no religious affiliation was similar to 1991, so we're basically looking at an increase of 10% over 10 years.
However you want to look at it, there has been a definite increase in the number of people in NZ with no religious affiliation. In my opinion, the real issue here is not the accuracy of the survey or the reaction of atheists/skeptics, but, as Christians, what should our response to these findings be?
Thanks for your comments, and your clarification on some of the points. It always helps to check the source, but on this occasion I hadn't been able to see the original survey, so had to pick up on what was in the media release.
As regards the 'more than 50% religious affiliation in the Census' the figure includes all Christian denominations - even Presbyterians! :)
I take your point about children learning about religions in schools. Though I must say my (perhaps limited) experience of atheists is that they're dead against all religions (but particularly Christianity, of course!) I may have only come across some especially virulent atheists, perhaps.
Yes, I agree that our (Christians') response is the main point, which is in part why such things appear in this blog (along with the tongue-in-cheek remarks scattered throughout).
Thanks again for responding.
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