ABSTRACT
Deeply embedded and informed by a Judeo-Christian postcolonial heritage, Australian religion is changing and increasing in diversity. Its dominant religion, Christianity, has persisted in declining since the first Census of 1911 and new religions such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, introduced subsequent to the abolishment of the White Australia Policy, have flourished. Despite an apparent marked decline in Australian religiosity when measured as an affiliation to institutional religion, particularly Christianity, this research shows the spectrum of religion remains a vital source of meaning-making for contemporary Australia. Conventional religion references were found to be significantly applied across all three episode groups where they comprise at least 65.3 per cent of references per group. References to common religion and the secular sacred make up at most 25 per cent for each episode group. Richard Dawkins demonstrated understandings about fundamental Christian concepts in this excerpted statement.
