AT the 2016 Census, 52.1 per cent of Australians, or just over 12 million, identified as Christian, led by 5.2 million Catholics and 3.1 million Anglicans.
Another 8.2 million followed other religions, led by Islam (600,000 adherents, 2.6 per cent of the population), then Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and the Jewish faith.
But the single biggest grouping was the 7 million people, 30.1 per cent of the population, reporting "no religion".
These numbers are worth remembering as we reflect on the debate over the Religious Discrimination Bill introduced into parliament in December by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to fulfil a political promise made at the 2019 election.
Although the PM and other supporters of the Bill say it simply brings religious belief into a framework that already outlaws discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, race, age and disability, the opposing view says it licences the "protected" believers and religious organisations to practice their own forms of faith-directed discrimination.
This was highlighted last week at Brisbane's Citipointe Christian College, where the principal wanted parents to sign a charter that insisted on "biological" rather than self-identified sexuality, and described homosexuality as "sinful" in the manner of bestiality, incest and paedophilia.
A subsequent backlash led him to stand aside.
Speaking to the Bill in parliament yesterday, Liberal MP for Berowra, Julian Lesser, spoke of a "growing hostility" against Christian views on "marriage, life and family". Christian teachings, he said, were "at odds with the zeitgeist".
If the "zeitgeist" is modern, inclusive, secular humanism with an increasing acceptance of human sexual diversity, and other freedoms, he is right.
And if many Christians, even, no longer believe in a supernatural Christ, we can ask why society should elevate religious bodies above any other civic organisation.
The question is, though, whether religion needs protection from the real world, and whether this Bill is the vehicle to achieve it.
As we report today, Newcastle Anglican Bishop Peter Stuart is an opponent, as are some moderate Coalition MPs.
Provided its amendments pass, Labor intends to support the legislation, removing the government's ability to "wedge" it on a Bill that critics say is anything but the "balanced and reasonable compromise" promised by Mr Morrison.
NOTE: The Bill passed the House of Representatives overnight when Labor supported the government after securing its amendments. Five Coalition MPs voted against the government in the related debate early this morning over the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill, extending protections to transgender students against discrimination by religious schools.
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