New Age Religion And Secularism

1011 Words5 Pages
Introduction My chosen factor on the topic of ‘Religion in Australia post 1945 to present day’ is ‘The rise of New Age Religions and Secularism’. To begin my report I started of with a historical overview of the religious landscape in Australia, and then gave a definition of what New Age religion and Secularism is. Finally I analysed the contributions New Age Religions and Secularism has had on Australia’s religious landscape today. Historical overview of Australia’s Religious landscape World War II ended in 1945 leaving many displaced persons, by 1947 Australia agreed to house 12000 immigrants per year from the war torn country, Europe. The leniency of the White Australian policy allowed for an increase in immigration and by the 1960’s and 1970’s Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and other Protestant Groups had reached high numbers. When the policy finally came to an end in 1973 there was a total of 90 000 refugees, many from Vietnam with Buddhist and Christian backgrounds. In the 1980’s, Pentecostal and Christian movement reached Substantial numbers, also many Muslims from war zones in Europe took sanctuary in Australia as a result of poor immigration law. Australia embraced multiculturalism as immigration continued to expand. Today, immigration has shown inflation in religious diversity, although, there has been a considerably noticeable drop in traditional Christianity e.g. Anglican, and a rise in the less traditional Christian churches and non religions. The reason for decline can be based on the aging population, low birth rate, denominational switching, and the upshot of no religion. In the 1960’s the disorganisation of political and cultural mayhem saw growth of New Age Religions and Secularism. What is New Age Religion? New Age religion is not a religion at all. It does not consist of sacred texts, organizations, formal meetings,

More about New Age Religion And Secularism

Open Document