Jesus romps home on the donkey vote

Sydney, Australia - More Australians would tick the "no religion" box on the Australian census form - if only they could find it, according to the director of the Australian National Secular Association.

Almost 20 per cent of Australians ticked the "no religion" box in the 2006 census form. But Max Wallace believes the proportion would be more like New Zealand's 32 per cent if the box were better placed on the form.

On the eve of the secularists' annual conference in the State Parliament theatrette today, Dr Wallace said Christianity had been on the decline in Australia since at least 1971.

"With the fuss about World Youth Day you could get the impression Christianity is on the rise," he said. "People need to get a better grip on what's happening."

Since 1996, the proportion calling themselves Christian in Australia had declined from 71 per cent to 64 per cent a decade later. But this was still well above the mere 50 per cent who call themselves Christian in New Zealand.

Dr Wallace said the "no religion" box in the Australian census was placed at the end of a list of 10 religions, starting with Catholic and Anglican, and including Lutheran, as well as a box for "Other - please specify".

"You could miss it," he said.

In the New Zealand census form, the "no religion" box appeared at the top. Beneath was a list of six religions, starting with Christianity. Dr Wallace said this was a fairer layout.

"I think a lot of Australians absent-mindedly tick the Christian religions because these are first thing they see - they went to a Catholic school or their mother was Church of England," Dr Wallace said. "It's a bit like the donkey vote."

Secularist organisations also consider the question in the Australian census "What is the person's religion?" to be biased because it implies everyone has a religion. The Victorian Humanist Society has argued that the wording leads many who have lost their faith to mark down the religion in which they were raised, thus underestimating the number of "no religions".

At the conference, which will address the issue of whether Australia and New Zealand could be called "Christian nations", Dr Wallace will also highlight the lack of constitutional separation of church and state in Australia.

He said this was one reason Australian governments had contributed $160 million to World Youth Day, about four times the amount contributed by the Canadian and German governments when the event was held in those countries.