Christianity in Australia

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Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, with a total of 43.9% of the nation-wide population identifying with a Christian denomination in the 2021 census. The first presence of Christianity in Australia began with British colonisation in what came to be known as New South Wales in 1788.

The Christian footprint in Australian society and culture remains broad, particularly in areas of social welfare and education provision and in the marking of festivals such as Easter and Christmas. Though the

Historically significant Australian Christians

Post-war immigration has grown the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and there are large and growing Pentecostal groups, such as Sydney's Hillsong Church. According to the 2016 census, Queensland (56.03%) and New South Wales (55.18%) had Christian majorities, while the lowest proportion of Christians were found in the Northern Territory (47.69%) and the Australian Capital Territory (45.38%).^[2]

Before European contact,

According to Manning Clark, the early colonial officials of the colony had disdain for the "consolations of religion", but shared a view that "the Protestant religion and British institutions were the finest achievements of the wit of man for the promotion of liberty and a high material civilization." Thus they looked to Protestant ministers as the "natural moral policemen of society", of obvious social use in a convict colony for preaching against "drunkenness, whoring and gambling". Chaplain Johnson was an evangelical priest of the Church of England, the first of a series of clergymen, according to Clark, through whom "evangelical Christianity dominated the religious life of Protestant Christianity in Australia throughout the whole of the nineteenth century".^[9]

Chaplain Johnson led what is regarded as his first service under a tree in Sydney Cove on the first Sunday after arrival, 3 February 1788.^[10] On 7 February 1788, Arthur Phillip was sworn in over the Bible as the first governor of the colony, and delivered a speech to the convicts counselling the Christian virtues of marriage and an end to promiscuity. Johnson celebrated the colony's first Lord's Supper in an officer's tent on Sunday 17 February 1788.^[11][12]

Johnson's successor, the Reverend Samuel Marsden (1765–1838), had magisterial duties and so was equated with the authorities by the convicts. He became known as the "flogging parson" for the severity of his punishments.^[13]

Some of the Irish convicts had been transported to Australia for political crimes or social rebellion in Ireland. This was due to the colonisation of the Irish people by the English, and resultant dispossession and cruel conditions forced on them by the English. Irish Catholics had been forced to pay tithes to the protestant churches, even though they were Catholics. Authorities were prejudiced against Catholics and Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services, with no provision or respect for Catholicism.^[14][15]

One-tenth of all the convicts who came to Australia on the First Fleet were Catholic and at least half of them were born in Ireland.

The Churches became involved in mission work among the Aboriginal people of Australia in the 19th century as Europeans came to control much of the continent and the majority of the population was eventually converted. Colonial clergy such as Sydney's first Catholic archbishop, John Bede Polding, strongly advocated for Aboriginal rights and dignity[25]

With the withdrawal of state aid for church schools around 1880, the Catholic Church, unlike other Australian churches, put great energy and resources into creating a comprehensive alternative system of education. It was largely staffed by

Sectarianism in Australia tended to reflect the political inheritance of Britain and Ireland. Until 1945, the vast majority of Catholics in Australia were of Irish descent, causing the Anglo-Protestant majority to question their loyalty to the British Empire.^[15] The Church of England remained the largest Christian church until the 1986 census. After World War II, the ethnic and cultural mix of Australia diversified and the Church of England gave way to the Catholic Church as the largest. The number of Anglicans attending regular worship began to decline in 1959 and figures for occasional services (baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals) started to decline after 1966.^[36]

Further waves of migration and the gradual winding back of the

Russian sailors visiting Sydney celebrated the Divine Liturgy as long ago as 1820 and a Greek Orthodox population emerged from the mid-19th century. The Greeks of Sydney and Melbourne had a priest by 1896 and the first Greek Orthodox church was opened at Surry Hills in Sydney in 1898. In 1924, the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand was established under the

Data for table up to 2006 from Australian Bureau of Statistics.^[3]

Christianity and

Christian missionaries often witnessed to Indigenous people in an attempt to convert them to Christianity. The Presbyterian Church of Australia's Australian Inland Mission, the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg, Northern Territory, and many Catholic missions in remote areas^[51] being examples. Many missionaries often studied Aboriginal society from an Anthropological perspective.^[52] Missionaries have made significant contributions to anthropological and linguistic understanding of Indigenous Australians and aspects of Christian services have been adapted when there is Aboriginal involvement – even masses during Papal visits to Australia will include traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremonies.^[53] It was the practice of some Missions to enforce a 'forgetting' of Aboriginal culture. Others, like Fr Kevin McKelson of Broome encouraged aboriginal culture and language while also promoting the merits of western style education in the 1960s.^[54]

Prominent Aboriginal activist

In the Torres Strait Islands, the Coming of the Light Festival marks the day the Christian missionaries first arrived on the islands on 1 July 1871 and introduced Christianity to the region. This is a significant festival for Torres Strait Islanders, who are predominantly Christian. Religious and cultural ceremonies are held across Torres Strait and mainland Australia.^[56]

Prominent Aboriginal Christians

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council[62] is the peak body representing Indigenous Catholics in Australia and was formed in Cairns in January 1989 at the first National Conference of the Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Councils. In 1992 the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference officially recognised and welcomed it as the national representative and consultative body to the church on issues concerning Indigenous Catholics.

The members of the council stand down every three years and a new council is appointed. NATSICC's funding comes in the form of Voluntary contributions from schools, parishes and religious orders. In addition, Caritas Australia provides ongoing funding.

Encouraged by Pope John Paul II's words in the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania NATSICC is determined to continue, as the peak Indigenous Catholic representative body, to actively support and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in the Catholic Church in Australia.

Christian charitable organisations, hospitals and schools have played a prominent role in welfare and education since Colonial times, when the

• Salvation Army in Australia as "Christianity with its sleeves rolled up" and which, she said, was each week reuniting 40 Australian families; assisting 500 drug, alcohol or gambling addiction affected people; providing 2000 homeless with shelter; and counselling thousands more.^[65]
• The
  Exodus Foundation, the Wesley Missions and Lifeline counseling.^[16]
• The Anglican Church of Australia has organisations working in education, health, missionary work, social welfare and communications. Organisations include Anglicare and the Samaritans.
• The
  St Vincent de Paul Society, Josephite Community Aid; Fr. Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets; Edmund Rice Camps; and the Bob Maguire Foundation. Two religious orders founded in Australia which engaged in welfare and charity work are the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and the Sisters of the Good Samaritan.^[15] Many international orders also work in welfare, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor who work in aged care and the Sisters of Charity of Australia
  , who have played a prominent role in healthcare and women's welfare in Australia since the 1830s.
• Hillsong Emerge
  is a local example in Sydney, New South Wales.
• The
  Baptist Church's Tim Costello is CEO of World Vision Australia
  .
• Other Christian
  Compassion Australia; St John Ambulance Australia
  ;

There are substantial networks of Christian schools associated with the Christian churches and also some that operate as parachurch organisations. The Catholic education system is the second biggest sector after government schools and has more than 730,000^[73] students and around 21 per cent of all secondary school enrolments. The Catholic Church has established primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Australia. The Anglican Church has around 145 schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children. The Uniting Church has around 48 schools^[16][74] as does the Seventh-day Adventist Church.^[75]

• Anglican
• Catholic
• Uniting Church
• Baptist
• Eastern Orthodox
• Lutheran
• Nondenominational

The Australian Catholic University opened in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. These institutions had their origins in the 19th century, when religious orders and institutes became involved in preparing teachers for Catholic schools and nurses for Catholic hospitals.^[77] The University of Notre Dame Australia opened in Western Australia in December 1989, and now has over 9,000 students on three campuses in Fremantle, Sydney and Broome.^[78]

Christian political parties in Australia include Australian Christians.

When taking their

• Federally:
  Governor General of Australia
  .
• State: Former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally is a theology graduate and another former premier, John Fahey, had been a seminarian. Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is a practising Catholic. The Reverend Fred Nile and the Reverend Gordon Moyes have been two long serving members of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Andrew Evans in the South Australian Legislative Council and Joh Bjelke-Petersen Premier of Queensland (1968 to 1987) were also Christians. NSW premier Mike Baird and NSW Commissioner of Police Andrew Scipione are both Christians.

The Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, also known as the parliamentary prayer group, is a gathering of Christian politicians in Parliament House, Canberra. The group organises informal prayer, as well as the ecumenical service for the commencement of the Parliamentary year, along with the annual National Prayer Breakfast.^[93][94]

The Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are marked as public holidays in Australia.

The Christian festival of Christmas celebrates the birth of

Although Christmas in Australia is celebrated during the Southern Hemisphere summer, many Northern Hemisphere traditions are observed in Australia – families and friends exchange Christmas cards and gifts and gather for Christmas dinners; sing songs about snow and sleighbells; decorate Christmas trees; and tell stories of Santa Claus. Nevertheless, local adaptations have arisen – large open-air carol concerts are conducted on summer evenings before Christmas – such as the Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne and Sydney's Carols in the Domain. The Christmas song Six White Boomers, by Rolf Harris, tells of Santa undertaking his flight around Australia hauled by six white-boomer kangaroos in place of reindeer. Christian carols such as Three Drovers or Christmas Day by John Wheeler and William G. James place the hymns of praise firmly in an Australian context of warm, dry Christmas winds and red dust. Although a hot roast dinner remains a favourite Christmas meal, the summer temperatures can tempt some Australians toward the nearest watercourses to cool down between feasts. It is a tradition for international visitors to gather en masse at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Christmas Day.^{[citation needed]}

The Assyrian Church of the East is also known to be a crowd drawer for the special Christmas Eve midnight mass. More than 15,000 faithful gather at churches in Sydney, notably the St Hurmizd Cathedral in Sydney's west.^{[citation needed]}

The Christian festival of Easter commemorates the Bible's account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Australia, in addition to the religious significance of Easter for Christians, the festival is marked by a four-day holiday weekend starting on Good Friday and ending on Easter Monday – which generally coincides with school holidays and is an opportunity for family and friends to travel and reunite. Across Australia, church services are well attended, as are secular music festivals, fairs and sporting events. One such Easter event is Easterfest an annual Christian Music Festival in Queen's Park Toowoomba and known as the largest drug and alcohol free festival in Australia.^[96]

Traditional Easter foods commonly consumed in Australia include

See also

Most towns in Australia have at least one Christian church. One of Australia's oldest is

The "mother church" of Catholicism in Australia is St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. The plan of the cathedral is a conventional English cathedral plan, cruciform in shape, with a tower over the crossing of the nave and transepts, and twin towers at the West Front, with impressive stained glass windows. 106.7 metres in length and a general width 24.4 metres, it is Sydney's largest church. Built to a design by William Wardell from a foundation stone laid in 1868, the spires of the cathedral were not finally added until the year 2000.

Wardell also worked on the design of

Tasmania is home to a number of significant colonial Christian buildings including those located at Australia's best preserved convict era settlement, Port Arthur. According to 19th century notions of prisoner reform, the "Model Prison" incorporates a grim chapel into which prisoners in solitary confinement were shepherded to listen (in individual enclosures) to the preacher's Sunday sermon – their only permitted interaction with another human being.^[104] Adelaide, the capital of South Australia has long been known as the "City of Churches" and its St Peter's Anglican Cathedral is a notable city landmark.^[105] 130 km north of Adelaide is the Jesuit old stone winery and cellars at Sevenhill, founded by Austrian Jesuits in 1848.^[106]

The oldest building in the city of

In the later 20th century, distinctly Australian approaches were applied at places such as Jambaroo Benedictine Abbey, where natural materials were chosen to "harmonise with the local environment". The chapel sanctuary is of glass overlooking rainforest.^[110] Similar design principles were applied at Thredbo Ecumenical Chapel built in the Snowy Mountains in 1996.^[111]

The

• Damien of Molokai who devoted his life to care of lepers on a Hawaiian Island
  .
• Mary (1994), directed written and directed by Kay Pavlou and starring Lucy Bell. A biopic recounting the life and works of Saint Mary MacKillop, Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church.
• The Passion of the Christ (2004) was directed, co-produced and co-written by Australian trained actor-director Mel Gibson (who was raised a Traditionalist Catholic in Australia).

Media

A number of current and past media personalities present themselves as Christian in public life, these include Brooke Fraser, Dan Sweetman, and Guy Sebastian.

Father Bob Maguire and Reverend Gordon Moyes

have hosted radio programs.

Coverage of religion is part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Charter obligation to reflect the character and diversity of the Australian community. Its religious programs include coverage of worship and devotion, explanation, analysis, debate and reports.^[113]

Aurora Community Television on Foxtel and Austar in Australia.^[114]

Literature

A Bush Christening is a popular comic bush ballad by renowned Australian poet Banjo Paterson which makes light of the sparsity of Christian preachers and houses of worship on the Australian frontier, beginning:

On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,

And men of religion are scanty...

Nevertheless, the body of literature produced by Australian Christians is extensive. During colonial times, the

Cardinal Moran (1830–1911), a noted historian, wrote a History of the Catholic Church in Australasia.^[14] More recent Catholic histories of Australian include The Catholic Church and Community in Australia (1977) by Patrick O'Farrell and Australian Catholics (1987), by Edmund Campion

.

Notable Christian poets have included Christopher Brennan (1870–1932) and James McAuley (1917–1976),^[115] Bruce Dawe (born 1930). Dawe is among Australia's foremost contemporary poets, noted for his use of vernacular and everyday Australian themes.^[116][117]

Australian literature for a long time assumed knowledge of Biblical stories, even where works of literature are not overtly Christian in character. The writings of great 20th century authors like Manning Clark or Patrick White are therefore filled with allusions to biblical or Christian themes.^[116]

Many Australian writers have examined the lives of Christian characters, or have influenced by Christian educations. Best selling author

The Thornbirds, by Colleen McCullough

writes of the temptations encountered by a priest living in the Outback.

Many contemporary Australian writers including Peter Carey and Robert Hughes; leading screenwriters Nick Enright, Bruce Beresford, Peter Weir, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner; and notable poets and authors like Kenneth Slessor, Helen Garner and Gerard Windsor attended Anglican, Presbyterian or Catholic schools in Australia.

In 2011, prime minister and atheist Julia Gillard, said that it was important for Australians to have knowledge of the Bible, on the basis that "what comes from the Bible has formed such an important part of our culture. It's impossible to understand Western literature without having that key of understanding the Bible stories and how Western literature builds on them and reflects them and deconstructs them and brings them back together."^[118]

Art

The story of Christian art in Australia began with the arrival of the first British settlers at the end of the 18th Century. During the 19th Century,

Roy de Maistre (1894–1968) was an Australian abstract artist who obtained renown in Britain, converted to Catholicism and painted notable religious works, including a series of Stations of the Cross for Westminster Cathedral. Among the most acclaimed of Australian painters of Christian themes was Arthur Boyd. Influenced by both the European masters and the Heidelberg School of Australian landscape art, he placed the central characters of the bible within Australian bush scenery, as in his portrait of Adam and Eve, The Expulsion (1948).^[120] Artist Leonard French, who designed a stained glass ceiling of the National Gallery of Victoria, has drawn heavily on Christian story and symbolism through his career.^[121]

From the 1970s, Australian Aboriginal artists of the Western Desert began to paint traditional style artworks in acrylic paints. This distinctively Australian style of painting has been fused with biblical themes to produce a uniquely Australian contribution to the long history of Christian art: integrating the mysterious dot designs and evocative circular patterns of traditional Aboriginal art with popular Christian subjects.^[122]

The

Blake Prize for Religious Art was established in 1951 as an incentive to raise the standard of religious art in Australia and was named after the artist and poet William Blake.^[123]

Music

Christian music arrived in Australia with the

Sister Janet Mead, Aboriginal crooner Jimmy Little and Australian Idol contestant Guy Sebastian

have held Christianity as central to their public persona.

Church music also ranges widely across genres, from Melbourne's

Torres Strait Islander hymn shows the influence of gospel music mixed with traditionally strong Torres Strait Islander vocals and country music.^[127]

Annually, Australians gather in large numbers for traditional open-air Christmas music Carols by Candlelight concerts in December, such as the Carols by Candlelight of Melbourne, and Sydney's Carols in the Domain. Australian Christmas carols like the Three Drovers or Christmas Day by John Wheeler and William G. James place the Christmas story firmly in an Australian context of warm, dry Christmas winds and red dust.^[95]

New South Wales Supreme Court Judge George Palmer was commissioned to compose the setting of the Mass for Sydney's World Youth Day 2008 Papal Mass. The Mass, Benedictus Qui Venit, for large choir, soloists and orchestra, was performed in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI and an audience of 350,000 with singing led by soprano Amelia Farrugia and tenor Andrew Goodwin. "Receive the Power" a song written by Guy Sebastian and Gary Pinto was chosen as official anthem for the XXIII World Youth Day (WYD08) held in Sydney in 2008.^[128]

Denominations

Christian denominations in Australia
Australian interchurch Australian Evangelical Alliance  • website National Council of Churches
Catholic Catholic Church in Australia
Anglican Anglican Church of Australia
Pietist Christian and Missionary Alliance Christian Outreach Centre Church of the Nazarene Salvation Army Seventh-day Adventist Church
Historical Protestantism Australian Friends Australian Baptist Ministries Open Brethren Christian Reformed Churches of Australia Churches of Christ Fellowship of Congregational Churches Lutheran Church of Australia Presbyterian Church of Australia Uniting Church in Australia Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia
Eastern Christian Antiochian Orthodox of Australia and New Z. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia Serbian Orthodox of Australia and New Z. Non-Chalcedonic Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia
Pentecostal and related Australian Christian Churches (AOG) Christian City Church Intl. CRC Churches International Revival Centres International Vineyard Churches Australia Worldwide Church of God
Other LDS Church
v t e

Church affiliation

The churches with the largest number of members are the

Paradise Community Church).^[129] The 2023 IPSOS Religion survey found that 22% of Australians identified as Protestant and 18% as Catholic.^[130]

Australian Bureau of statistics

As at the 2021 census, 11,148,814, representing 43.9% of the total population, declared a religious affinity with Christianity.^[131]

Christian affiliation in Australia (1986, 1996, 2006, 2016)^[132]

Affiliation	1986 census		1996 census		2006 census[133]		2016 census[134][135]
	'000s	% of all Christians	'000s	% of all Christians	'000s	% of all Christians	actuals		% of all Christians
10 Anglican	3723.4	32.7%	3903.3	31.0%	3718.3	29.3%		3,101,191		25.4%
10 Baptist	196.8	1.7%	295.2	2.3%	316.7	2.5%		345,142		2.8%
10 Catholic Catholic	4064.4	35.7%	4799	38.1%	5126.9	40.4%		5,291,830		43.4%
10 Churches of Christ	88.5	0.8%	75	0.6%	54.8	0.4%		39,622		0.3%
10 Jehovah's Witnesses	66.5	0.6%	83.4	0.7%	80.9	0.6%		82,510		0.7%
10 Latter Day Saints	35.5	0.3%	45.2	0.4%	53.1	0.4%		61,639		0.5%
10 Lutheran	208.3	1.8%	250	2.0%	251.1	2.0%		174,019		1.4%
10 Oriental Orthodoxy, and Assyrian Apostolic	427.4	3.8%	497.3	4.0%	544.3	4.3%		567,680		4.7%
10 Pentecostal	107	0.9%	174.6	1.4%	219.6	1.7%		260,560		2.1%
10 Reformed Churches	560	4.9%	675.5	5.4%	596.7	4.7%		524,338		4.3%
10 Salvation Army	77.8	0.7%	74.1	0.6%	64.2	0.5%		48,939		0.4%
10 Seventh-day Adventist	48	0.4%	52.7	0.4%	55.3	0.4%		62,945		0.5%
10 Uniting Church	1182.3	10.4%	1334.9	10.6%	1135.4	9.0%		870,183		7.1%
15 Other Christianity (defined and not defined)	596	5.2%	322.7	2.6%	468.6	3.7%		768,649		6.3%
Christian total	11,381.9	100%	12,582.9	100%	12,685.9	100%		12,201,600		100%

Christians in each State and Territory

State	2006 census		2011 census		2016 census		2021 census
	Christians (000's)	% population	Christians (000's)	% population	Christians (000's)	% population	Christians (000's)	% population
New South Wales	4,434.7	67.7%	4,462.2	64.5%	4,127.8	55.2%	3,844.5	47.6%
Victoria	2,985.8	60.5%	3,078.1	57.5%	2,839.4	47.9%	2,657.7	40.9%
Queensland	2,589.5	66.3%	2,785.0	64.3%	2,635.5	56.0%	2,357.4	45.7%
Western Australia	1,162.5	59.3%	1,300.4	58.1%	1,231.2	49.8%	1,093.7	41.1%
South Australia	906.1	59.8%	914.4	57.3%	823.6	49.1%	712.8	40.0%
Tasmania	306.1	64.2%	295.4	59.6%	253.5	49.7%	213.9	38.4%
Australian Capital Territory	195.2	60.2%	197.1	55.2%	180.3	45.4%	173.2	38.1%
Northern Territory	105.4	54.6%	117.6	55.5%	109.1	47.7%	94.1	40.5%
All Australia	12,685.8	63.9%	13,150.1	61.1%	12,202.6	52.1%	11,148.8	43.9%

Church attendance

While church affiliation as reported in the census identifies the largest denominations, there is no overarching study that shows how active the members are. Some smaller studies include the

Australian Census year and from that estimates figures for those denominations nationally.^[136]

From the survey about 8.8% of the Australian population attended a church in one of the covered denominations in a given week in 2001. The

Roy Morgan Research has found in a survey of 4840 Australians between October and December 2013 that 52.6% of Australians were Christian, while 37.6% had no religion.^[138]

2001 Weekly Attendance in Australia for 2001

Denomination	2001 est. wkly att. ('000)	% total att.	% change since 1996
Anglican	177.7	11.7%	−2%
Apostolic	9.1	0.6%	20%
Assemblies of God	104.6	6.9%	20%
Baptist	112.2	7.4%	8%
Bethesda Ministries	2.7	0.2%	na
Christian & Missionary Alliance	4.1	0.3%	na
Christian City Churches	11.4	0.7%	42%
Christian Revival Crusade	11.4	0.7%	−7%
Church of the Nazarene	1.6	0.1%	33%
Churches of Christ	45.1	3.0%	7%
Lutheran	40.5	2.7%	−8%
Presbyterian	35.0	2.3%	−3%
Reformed	7.1	0.5%	−1%
Salvation Army	27.9	1.8%	−7%
Seventh-day Adventist	36.6	2.4%	na
Uniting	126.6	8.3%	−11%
Vineyard	2.5	0.2%	−17%
Wesleyan Methodist	3.8	0.2%	−7%
Catholic	764.8	50.2%	−13%
Total Attendance	1,524.7	100.0%	-7%

Bible Belts

Several areas in Australia have been described as "Bible Belts". These include:

• mega-churches. These catered to young families. The churches became politically active in the 1980's by supporting a number of candidates based on their moral beliefs. The churches' political influence then waned when a number of the church leaders resigned for reasons that can be "linked to the weakness of giving a great deal of autocratic power to charismatic leaders with insufficient systems of accountability."^[139][140]
• Toowoomba and the surrounding rural area of Queensland.^[141]
• Melbourne's suburbs surrounding its airport.^[142]

Christianity and the wider culture

Christianity held strong influence in Australia society after British colonisation, but the influence of Christianity declined in the latter part of the 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

Marriage

See also:

Recognition of same-sex unions in Australia

The Anglican Church has said that churches are being sidelined in the wider debate on same-sex marriage.^[143]

The ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell has said, in the ACT, it will be, "unlawful for those who provide goods, services and facilities in the wedding industry to discriminate against another person on the basis of their sexuality or their relationship status. This includes discrimination by refusing to provide or make available those goods, services or facilities."^[144] During the short time that same-sex marriages took place in ACT a Uniting Church minister sought and acquired permission to perform same sex marriages.^[145]

Media

Liberal senator Eric Abetz has said that media felt comfortable vilifying Christian politicians. Conservative politicians are often described as being "extreme" or from the "Religious Right". He said that the Canberra press gallery gives, "more positive coverage to politicians and policies they agreed with".^[146]

Schools

The Anglican Church has criticised the Victorian government for cutting religious education in state schools.^[143]

Some Christians have criticised the Safe Schools program^[147] (which is used in 400 primary and secondary schools)^[148][149] as "radical sexual experimentation".^[150] The program includes information about human sexuality and sexual orientations, as well as gender identity.

Life issues

Some Christians have objected to proposals to establish buffer zones around abortion clinics in both Victoria^[151] and Tasmania saying they limit the freedom to protest.^[152]

See also

• National Council of Churches in Australia
• Separation of church and state in Australia

References

1. ^ A list of Influential Australian Christians, 2011, archived from the original on 7 January 2011, retrieved 4 November 2011
2. ^ "Census TableBuilder – Dataset: 2016 Census – Cultural Diversity". Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census 2016. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Cultural diversity". 1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 2008. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2008-02-07. Archived from the original on 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
4. ^ Manning Clark; A Short History of Australia; Penguin Books; 2006; pp. 5–6
5. ^ "Quiros, Pedro Fernandez de (1563–1615)". Biography – Pedro Fernandez de Quiros – Australian Dictionary of Biography. Adb.online.anu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
6. ^ "South Land to New Holland | National Library of Australia". Nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 6 September 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
7. ^ "Torres, Luis Vaez de (?–?)". Biography – Luis Vaez de Torres – Australian Dictionary of Biography. Adbonline.anu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
8. ^ ^{a b} Johnson, Richard (1753? – 1827) Biographical Entry – Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Archived April 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ Manning Clark; A Short History of Australia; Penguin Books; 2006; pp. 13–14
10. ^ "Richard Johnson Obelisk". City Art Sydney. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
11. ^ Manning Clark; A Short History of Australia; Penguin Books; 2006; p. 18
12. ^ "Religion, church and missions in Australia". State Library of NSW. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
13. ^ ^{a b} Marsden, Samuel (1765–1838) Biographical Entry – Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Archived April 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
14. ^ ^{a b c} Catholic Encyclopedia: Australia Archived December 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
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Further reading

• Hebart, Friedemann (1999), "Australia", in Fahlbusch, Erwin (ed.), Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol. 1, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, pp. 165–168,
  ISBN 978-0802824134

External links

• National Council of Churches
• Australian Catholic Historical Society
• Evangelical History Association