This study examines diversity in how different religious groups and people with different levels of religiosity see the value and roles of women in Australian society through an examination of their gender beliefs. This addresses a significant gap in knowledge in the Australian scholarship in religious diversity and the impact of religion in family life. Understanding the relationships between religious identity and patriarchal gender attitudes is critical to understanding certain contemporary social problems, such as the links between religion and domestic violence, and devising appropriate intervention. The analyses rely on high-quality panel data from a national sample, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Identifying with a religion is associated with stronger patriarchal attitudes, but there is remarkable heterogeneity in attitudes across religious groups. Higher religiosity is associated with stronger patriarchal beliefs. Differences in patriarchal beliefs between religious and non-religious people in Australia increased between 2005 and 2015.

This paper investigates how Islamic doctrine conceives the place of work by outlining the notion of an Islamic work ethic and by discussing a number of human resource issues in relation to Islam. Knowledge of these issues has become an urgent need given the high level of discrimination Muslim workers suffer in modern workPlaces. The paper argues that potential areas of friction between Islam and contemporary HRM practices can be managed effectively as there is not inherent conflict between Islamic doctrine and modern workPlaces. The paper concludes with an outline of the nature of the Islamic influence in Australia, a western nation in which Islam is one of the fastest growing religions.

The 2016 Australian Census reveals continued change in Australia’s religious diversity. While reviewing some of the highlights of this development–the continuing increase in the ‘no religion’ category, the first ever decline in Catholic numbers, and the rise of Hindus and Sikhs–several religious groups, which are not usually combined in the census, actually when grouped together represent most of the Pentecostal and charismatic churches and form the fourth largest religious group in Australia. These changes are set in a comparative context, internationally and intergenerationally. The religious diversity and Anglican retention rates of Stonnington–one of Melbourne’s 21 Cities–are examined as a window on local diversity and change. Finally, we discuss three main categories of religion in contemporary Australia: the ‘nones’; the spiritual but not religious; and the religious and spiritual. The data reveal a new context of superdiversity in Australia.Open access: Attribution—Non Commercial—NoDerivs / CC BY-NC-ND

As a result of post-war migration Australia has become a reUgiously plural, multicultural sod, ety. Following a careful examination of recent changes in the religious demography of Australia, a comparison of Australia with Canada and New Zealand, and adiscussion of the nature of reUgiously plural, multicultural societies, six factors (three demographic and three social structural) are identified as key inreducing the likelihood of religious intergroup conflict in Australia: The relatively smaU size of the minority groups vis,a,vis the dominant butnearly equal Catholics and Anglicans, the lack of overlap between ethnic and reUgious difference, the lack ofghettoization, the fact that religious differ, ence isnotpoUticized, a lang history of sorting outintergroup conflict through legislation and COUTts, and the existence of effective organizations promoting positive intergroup relations.

In 2017, the Australian Government commissioned a national vote on same-sex marriage legislation, which elicited substantial debates dominated by religious voices. We examine the associations between religious identification, importance of religion to one's life and frequency of attendance at religious services and support for same-sex couples in such a unique context. We contribute to knowledge by (i) systematically examining these relationships in a country other than the US (Australia) using high-quality, nationallyrepresentative panel data spanning 2005-2015 (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey; n=44,794 observations/18,384 individuals), (ii) assessing the degree of intragroup heterogeneity in views towards equal rights, and (iii) considering how religiosity modifies the effects of other socio-structural factors. We find high degrees of between-and within-group heterogeneity in support of equal rights for same-sex couples, and large religiosity gradients. Furthermore, religiosity suppresses the liberalising effects on attitudes of historical time, education, socioeconomic background, and city residence. BACKGROUND Recent debates about recognising same-sex marriage provide a site for the examination of the role of religion in the public sphere. Australia provides a unique opportunity, having recently conducted a national vote to gauge public opinion on same-sex marriage. While the presence of religious voices in public policy debates in Australia have been consistent, the 2017 Australian national ballot on marriage equality emerged as an arena where religious communities actively attempted to dictate what was to happen in the wider society. Religious groups, who in 2016 conducted fewer than 25% of weddings, actively campaigned to limit marriage to heterosexual couples for the whole of society-even though they were (and are) able to privately refuse to marry such couples. This paper offers a discussion of the role of religion in recent debates about same-sex marriage in Australia. Using a large, nationally representative panel study, it provides a detailed analysis of whether and how the views promoted by religious groups resonate with the views reported by individuals who identify with those religions. Specifically, we assess the importance of individual-level variables such as religious identification, religious participation and importance of religion as predictors of support of equal rights for same-sex couples. We make three key contributions to the literature. First, we draw detailed attitude comparisons amongst highly disaggregated religious groups in a new and interesting country context, Australia. In doing so, we question the universality of theories and findings from the US, where the bulk of the research has taken place, and tease out the importance of institutional context (Adamczyk 2017). Second, we discuss and test the degree of intra-group heterogeneity in attitudes to same-sex couples, which we take as a proxy for denominational subcultures (Gay et al. 1996). Third, using ...

Australia is a culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse country, however, learning about the religious dimensions of this superdiversity is inadequately reflected in the national school curriculum, notwithstanding recent attempts to address this at the state level in Victoria. Debates regarding the role of religion in school have raged across the country for decades and have impeded the introduction of learning about diverse worldviews and religions, and even research on this topic. Competing views of Australia's national identity, as a multifaith and/or secular and/or Christian nation continue to affect both policy and curriculum in Australia, and thereby the level of religious literacy of its citizens. Using data from a national study of young Australians and their worldviews, this research investigates levels of religious literacy and appreciation of religious diversity of 'Generation Z' Australians, for whom superdiversity is the norm. In doing so, it concludes that Australian curricula must evolve to include more content on diverse worldviews and better reflect the lived experiences of younger generations. This would in turn increase religious literacy and interreligious understanding in Australia. This study may also be instructive for those countries grappling to adjust to similar demographic and societal changes, challenges and opportunities.

Religious diversity and social cohesion have long been seen to be at odds with each other. Classical sociology, grounded in the Westphalian solution to religious conflict in Europe presumed that a single religion was necessary for social cohesion. The issue of religious diversity and social cohesion has come to the fore as once religiously monochrome societies have become diverse through migration and, to a lesser degree, conversion. While European nations question the possibility of multicultural and multi-faith societies living in productive harmony, Australia offers an example of a successful multicultural and multi-faith society. Australia has produced a multicultural society through a policy of social inclusion and mutual respect, in contrast to European policies which produce separate community development. This cross-national comparative study reveals demographic and socio-cultural differences that are likely to explain some of the comparative success of Australia in producing social inclusion and avoiding the 'othering' of religious minorities, especially of Muslims. Australia has a particular demographic that features multiple substantial minority religious communities living in ways that promote daily encounters among people of different backgrounds.

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