politicalowl

A troubling sign for those "It's alright to vote No" people in this week's Essential Poll. While 53% of people who attend church at least once a month are against same sex marriage, those who never attend are 71% in favour. And the never-goers are a growing group. According to the 2016 official Australian Bureau of Statistics Census there are now more people saying they have no religion than there are Catholics - 30% no religion to 23% Catholics and 52% for Christians overall. Sometimes Christian attenders split 58% saying allow same sex marriage to 34% saying no. When it comes to religion in Australia things have changed considerably over the last 50 years. Back in 1966 only 0.8% of people answered the Census question that they had no religion. And even among the Christian faithful the Essential poll suggests that all is not as it once was. Asked "How much trust do you have in the following institutions and organisations?", respondents had most trust in...

There's one clue for opponents of same sex marriage in a just released survey published by the Australian National University: don't have priests spruiking your message. Ministers of religion are held in low regard. And their contribution to society is rated the lowest among the 16 professions rated. The Australian Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Science Survey  found that the top three professions that most Australians rate as contributing a lot to the wellbeing of society are scientists (80.9%), followed very closely by doctors (80.5%) and then farmers (78.5%).  The top three profession that most Australians rated as very prestigious were doctors (72.9%), followed by scientists (62.1%) and then engineers (55.2%) Media executives might benefit from the topics people find of interest. Politics, which fills so much space and airtime, comes well down the list.