The Census: Football as your religion

[wikipediaAFLproject]

Anyone putting football down as their religion for the census?
I put AFL.

 

[Higs]

It's actually a pretty important part of the form. If you don't belong belong to any organised spiritual religion and consider yourself atheist, let them know

 

[Arwib]

You might as well leave it blank if you're going to do that, it doesn't get coded to anything except "undefined". The only person who will ever see it is one data entry person at the ABS.

 

[krisholio14]

It would be the most appropriate choice for me

 

[vapours]

Anyone putting football down as their religion for the census?
I put AFL.

Thats all very well, but just don't complain when a Mosque/Church/Synagogue is built in your street because of the skewed results.

 

[alfy!]

what a terrible, terrible idea

 

[WakeUpPies]

Love to, but I am already a Jedi, sorry.

 

[Wanbli]

Stupid. If you're an atheist or agnostic, let them know.

 

[Rack Watts]

Stupid. If you're an atheist or agnostic, let them know.

It's pretty obvious we're one of the two, probably athiest if we're listing it as AFL.

 

[The Smaller Warrior]

Will be listed as 'Undefined' in the results.

Will be listing mine as Atheist thank you very much.

 

[handy point]

 

[Lemma]

"Unlisted"

 

[CrimsonRaven]

Not a great idea, as it puts you into the undefined catagory which is basically ignored when people bring up these stats when reviewing the census.

If your not religious, put that down and get religion out of politics.

 

[Jesus Baulks]

It's actually a pretty important part of the form. If you don't belong belong to any organised spiritual religion and consider yourself atheist, let them know

The Atheist foundation actually encourage you not to write atheist, as atheism isn't a religion. They'd prefer people simply to check 'no religion'. I had a link to the media release about it, but it seems like the site is down at the moment.

 

[Admiral Byng]

How exactly does one believe in AFL football?

I mean I believe it exists, but at the end of the day it is no more than two groups of 22 men chasing after an inflated leather ball for a couple of hours. A distraction and entertainment, but hardly a system of belief.

 

[Arwib]

The Atheist foundation actually encourage you not to write atheist, as atheism isn't a religion. They'd prefer people simply to check 'no religion'. I had a link to the media release about it, but it seems like the site is down at the moment.

Atheism is a subset of "no religion" in the classification, so it is all the same for the count. The point of the campaign is to get people to stop, think, and accurately report their current beliefs - rather than what it says on your birth certificate or whatever. The assumption being that religion in general and Christianity in particular is currently over-reported.

 

[melbournemartin]

You are an idiot if you:

a) Put a joke answer because it is "funny". This obviously includes Jedi and any sport or celebrity. It doesn't count and isn't funny or original.
b) Write "athiesm" in the "other religion" section. Athiesm is not a religion.

Unfortunately the question is not laid out as it should be.

It should be:

"Are you religious?" - yes/no

If yes, then select from some popular fairy tales, I mean religions, or specify other.

Do this properly guys. Should have been about 30% last census if it were filled in correctly, and I feel Australia is growing up as a nation so we should hopefully hit 40% if done correctly

Let's get these neanderthalic ways out of politics and the general running of the country.

 

[Mr Eagle]

Aside from putting football as your religion, the crayon will probably be the other big giveaway that you're a moron.

 

[joeyavalanche]

How exactly does one believe in AFL football?

I mean I believe it exists, but at the end of the day it is no more than two groups of 22 men chasing after an inflated leather ball for a couple of hours. A distraction and entertainment, but hardly a system of belief.

as a freo fan i see your reason for lack of faith

 

[Admiral Byng]

as a freo fan i see your reason for lack of faith

Hey, no cheapshots.

.. what if the Census year just happened to fall last year?

 

[MightyHawks]

Thats all very well, but just don't complain when a Mosque/Church/Synagogue is built in your street because of the skewed results.

Yeah like that's how it works...

The Imams of Melbourne get together and say where should we put a new mosque?

I'm sure they wouldn't talk to any people who currently attend a mosque and travel a bit.

No... they'll wait until the census results come out and ask the Government where they should put one because of census results.

 

[bombers_4_ever]

I haven't received mine yet. And it's on tomorrow.

 

[NTRabbit]

Yeah like that's how it works...

The Imams of Melbourne get together and say where should we put a new mosque?

I'm sure they wouldn't talk to any people who currently attend a mosque and travel a bit.

No... they'll wait until the census results come out and ask the Government where they should put one because of census results.

It's about skewing funding allocation - various religious lobby groups use census results, both in broad national strokes and for smaller areas, to lobby for funding and other special concessions.

It's not about building a mosque or a synagogue, it's about the government seeing enough numbers in a small area for them to grant funds for any small, special interest project, from a Sunni daycare centre to carparking arrangements at a Sikh temple. When it comes to Christianity, they're entirely about the broad strokes - they use the large census numbers, amongst other things, to bully members and parties at the policy level.

This campaign in particular is aimed at gathering a genuine idea of just how many Christians there genuinely are in this country, and try and cut away some of the disproportionate weight the ACL likes to throw around.

I'll be putting 'No Religion' on mine, a joke answer is just a waste.

 

[Geelong_Bisons_#36]

Love to, but I am already a Jedi, sorry.

Me too.

 

[cobbly]

Its one of the more important questions, just be honest.

In response to on going questions about the AFA's Census Campaign, President David Nicholls has released the following statement on the issue of answering 'Jedi':

“It was a wonderful display of anti-religious sentiment when thousands of people wrote ‘Jedi’ in a previous Census. It was very funny but unfortunately, that joke is over. Writing ‘Jedi’ on the Census is now recorded by the Bureau as ‘Not defined’. Writing ‘Jedi’, in fact, helps religion have greater numbers than ‘No religion’. If you wish to help in controlling the interference of religion in Australian politics, mark the ‘No religion’ box. We don’t get many chances at doing something positive, don’t waste this one."

David Nicholls
President AFA

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=188360374520180

AFA is the Atheist Foundation of Australia