More non-believers that Christians in New Zealand

Thursday, September 26th, 2019

The number of people identifying with Christianity has dropped dramatically from 47.65 per cent in the 2013 census to 37.31 per cent in the latest one.

The data from last year’s census, released this week, shows that 48.59 per cent of New Zealanders indicated ‘no religion’ in 2018, up from 41.92 per cent in the 2013 census.

The number of New Zealanders without any religion has overtaken the number of Christians for the first time.

The findings have prompted lobby group Humanist NZ to call an end to “discrimination” that they claim non-religious New Zealanders face.

“Christianity has a privileged position in public policy today that is out of step with modern New Zealand,” said Jolene Phipps, president of Humanist NZ.

“From parliamentary prayers to classrooms ‘closing’ during the school day so that Christian groups can run religious instruction, the concessions awarded to religious organisations clash with human rights and our concept of a free and fair society.”

The latest census records that there are 663 humanists in New Zealand.

Out of the different Christian churches, Anglicans topped the list at 314,913, while 295,734 people identified as Roman Catholic, 221,199 as Presbyterian and 52,743 as Methodist.

The Census figures show an increasing number of people who follow other religions than Christianity.

The number of Muslims or those practising Islam has risen from 46,149 in 2013 to 61,455 in 2018.

Hinduism has increased to 40,908 in 2018, while Sikhs more than double to 40,908.

Satanism had 1149 adherents, more than Scientologists (321) and Druids (189), but below Wiccans (1482) and Jedi (20,409).

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