A religion is generally regarded as a set of values and beliefs by which people live their lives both practically and morally; through acknowledgement of some form of higher being or divine power. At the time of European settlement, the Aboriginal people (Australia’s first inhabitants) followed their own religious beliefs in spirits behind the forces of nature. During the 1800’s, European settlers brought their traditional religious values and churches to Australian shores. These included the Church of England (now Anglican), Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregations, Lutheran and Baptist churches. Further migration influences contributed to the re-shaping of Australia’s religious affiliations over subsequent decades. The aftermath of World War II brought upon a significant increase in numbers of the Orthodox churches, the establishment of Reformed bodies, growth in the number of Catholics and the creation of ethnic parishes among many other denominations. But more recently, immigration from South-East Asia and the Middle East has enabled the growth of Buddhist and Muslim communities; also increasing the ethnic diversity of Christian denominations. In order to get an idea of different views 26 Australian’s were selected and surveyed; 10 males and 16 females, each placed in age brackets. The inequality in sexes may skew the data slightly, but the effect would be so minor that it is almost unrecognisable.
On the following page we may see that there is a good age
spread of people surveyed.
Australian’s choose not to recognise the religious meaning behind some of the most significant Christian holidays; Christmas and Easter, which when put simply celebrates the birth and resurrection of Christ. While people may s...
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...holidays is a good thing. Family is usually the key to the upbringing of a young person. It appears that while the youth are supported and encouraged by their family, they will attend church on regular occasions. It is of a high concern that if families choose not to attend church, the children don’t go either. This is of high concern for the future as the number of young people who actually attend church is decreasing and therefore the religious community will resultantly suffer. A person’s values and morals are heavily linked to the Christian teachings. If people do not practice religion regularly or become involved in some way there will be a great decrease in a person’s morals and values and there will be a great increase in negative behavior in society. Much of the Australian society celebrates their days off; disregarding the religious aspects of the holiday.
Religion is the way a group of individuals freely choose to follow some or all set rules of a certain faith in accordance with the set shared values. People follow different religions for different reasons some are born into a religion and some choose there own religion. According to source 1, the way the Murri people prepare for Christmas is in a hybrid fashion blending Aboriginal culture and spirituality with Christian beliefs in a way that represents their Christian faith while representing their unique ancestry.22.5 % of indigenous Australians are Catholic and another 21.5% are of Anglican faith.
The first obstacle to Catholicism spreading came with the Passing of the so called, White Australia Act, 1903 which prohibited those with of non-white colour from successfully settling in Australia. After World War II, there then came a relaxing of the immigration prohibitions, the Federal Government under Prime Minister Menzies and Prime Minister Chiefly opened Australia’s doors to immigrants of European origin, which brought over 1 million Catholics in a short period of time. This period brought dramatic change to the Australian Catholic Church.
Between 1947 and 1971, even if you did not practice your religion it was still expected that you would identify yourself as being a part of your/ your family’s religion. In 1947 the ‘no religion’ category made up only 0.3% of religious affiliation in Australia. A change in social values and attitudes has since seen a dramatic increase in people identifying as belonging to ‘no religion’ with the category reaching 6.7% in 1971, “The specific instruction 'if no religion, write none' included in the 1971 Census saw an increase in this response from 0.8% in the previous Census to 6.7%.”(Australian Social Trends, 2013). The chart below is a visual representation of the growth in the ‘no religion’ category.(sourced from Australian Social Trends, 2013).
...Christ making it the most honored and important holiday in the Christian religion. But it does have its traditions that are a far cry from the original intent. It should come as no surprise to find that the Easter Bunny was not present and distributing multi-colored hard-boiled eggs to the twelve apostles two-thousand years ago.
While Christianity played a crucial part in all aspects of Australian society throughout the pre-federation years 1788 to 1900, it had a significant impact on education and public morality.
Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print
...ause people to focus on performing religious activities, rather than truly worship God. For example, in the past I went to a Lutheran Church that had a special service that basically started out in darkness, with only candles, and as the service progressed the sanctuary gets brighter and brighter (representing Jesus being raised from the dead and joining the disciples); I think that was okay, but it is not something I think is the way to go for the "average" service, so I am thinking I would feel out of place with my Eastern Christian brothers and sisters.
Out of the desolation of World War II sprang the Australian Committee for the World Council of Churches. This developed into the Australian Council of Churches which, in 1994, grew to be the National Council of Churches in Australia. The NCCA is 15 Christian churches, gathered from across Australia, who have embarked on a pilgrimage together . Each brings a widely diverse record of place, experience, and theology, but all share a mutual faith and confession in the Jesus Christ as God and Savior. All share a common future as they are confident that the future of Christians in Australia lies together, not in division. The aim of the NCCA is to deepen the relationship of member churches so as to communicate more visibly the unity willed by Christ and to rally towards the achievement of their mission of common witness, proclamation and service .
The image enforces the meaning of Christmas being lost, and that the people need to be aware of this now sacrilegious, laic time. The source displays the change from sacred Australia, which was a time of religion, to a more secular period. The source presents the contemporary cultural values of Australians today, often disassociating themselves from holy, divine objects, places or people. Losing their sacred connectedness to God or their purpose with religion. Taking Christ out of the equation presents how Jesus has been neglected by those supposed Christians of the modern day, who have forgotten the sole meaning of Christmas and their religion. This image imposes a reinforced message through an image presenting secularism of contemporary Australian Christmas with the words “missing”, and “what Jesus has become”. The view of Source 3 displays that anything of great importance in the religious sense, including Jesus, in temporal culture which exists in Australia is lost.
Ever since the 1970s, Australia has become a multicultural nation. Australia’s multiculturalism is a way to explain the variety of ethnic backgrounds within the Australian people. “It implies that there are many ways of being Australian, not just one ‘Australian way of life’” (Carter 333). Multiculturalism has majorly changed the way that people view Australian history and identity.
There can be no gainsaying, as to the fact that Australia is not only a choice destination for many, but also houses some of the most beautiful cities in the world (Bastian, 2012). As a matter of fact, Bastian (2012) continues to state that this change is strongly attributed to immigration, which continues to foster strong cultural and economic growth in Australia. As Australia continues to open its borders to an increasingly diverse population, Australians themselves continue to open their minds to accommodate diversity in the form of new lifestyles, foods, traditions, values, beliefs and so forth (Bastian, 2012). According to Henry & Kurzak (2013), the 2011 census show that 26% of Australians were born abroad and 20% have either one or both
Multiculturalism is the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists within a certain area. Different countries display various forms of multiculturalism. The most common form of multiculturalism is whereby a citizen of a certain country is born overseas, or of the parents of the individual is born overseas. English speaking countries have a lot of multiculturalism in them. Just like the United Kingdom, Australia has adopted multiculturalism as a national identity. My essay explores how Australia appreciates and accepts many different ethnicities and cultures.
Holidays are a major part of culture around the world. No matter where someone goes, the culture that surrounds them may have their own unique holidays. In the culture that has surrounded me my whole life, we celebrate 18 holidays. Every holiday has their own reason to be celebrated, whether it’s a holiday to remember something or someone who has made an impact on our society, or if it is to celebrate pagan holidays that were established back in biblical times, we always have something to celebrate. The one holiday that stands out to me the most, is Easter.
Because of the colossal impact of religion in the countries surveyed the only accurate way to peek at how these people understanding themselves and their place in the world is to first have an understanding of the major religion or religions that are at work within a given society. But that statement demands the question, how is it that through religion we define ourselves? My research relies heavily on the inte...
In the Christian religion, Easter has become a grand day of celebration in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after a specific time and varies on how the day is followed throughout. Each denomination of the faith varies on the celebration day, hosting various outings and activities. Specifically, the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox denominations of Christianity view and celebrate the Holy Day of Easter differently. In addition to the various amounts of changes throughout the denominations, Easter has become modernized to what the world now sees as a big bunny handling colorful, candy-filled eggs for little children, making smiles appear left and right. However, the real question