#census2021

Census 2022: Bible belt v nonbelievers: Qld’s religion mapped by suburb

Queensland has its very own non-Bible Belt, it can be revealed, as census statistics confirm more people than ever are identifying as atheist or agnostic. But there are suburbs where religion still dominates.

Natasha Innes@NatashaInnes

2 min read

June 30, 2022 - 9:22AM

Queenslanders living in metropolitan areas are less likely to worship a God, according to the 2022 Religion Census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Two-thirds of Queensland suburban areas observe Christianity as the predominant religion while 28 out of the 84 areas identified within the Census reveal inner metropolitan areas are in fact losing their religion.

Nationally, there are 43 per cent of people identifying as Christian, down from 51 per cent five years ago.

Although there are a few Brisbane suburbs that are still identify as predominantly Christian, its only by a few people.

For example Brisbane’s riverside suburb of Kenmore recorded 4296 Christians and 4175 with no religion. 

That’s only a 121 person difference. 

Coopers Plains recorded 145 more Christians than non believers, while Wacol recorded 175 retrospectively. 

On the contrary, there was one suburb in Brisbane where the majority of residents identify with Islam.

Kuraby showed 2813 residents favour Islam, followed by 2806 Christians and 2096 with no religion in third. 

The Census data can reveal the following standout suburbs surrounding Brisbane do not have a religion as the majority belief: Brisbane North, South, East and West, Sherwood to Indooroopilly, Holland Park to Yeronga, Jimboomba, Beenleigh, Sunnybank and Nathan.

Beyond Brisbane, the loss of faith extends to the north and south coast suburbs.

On the Gold Coast, the non-believing suburbs are within Ormeau to Oxenford, Nerang, Southport, Coolangatta, and the Gold Coast Hinterland.

This is with some exceptions, including Jacobs Well to Alberton, reporting Christianity as the majority belief with 2201 people, versus 2036 people reporting they have no religion: that’s a 165 person difference.

Murwillumbah recorded 148 more Christians than nonbelievers, Elanora had 166 while Helensvale had 370.

While some suburbs with the majority believing in Christianity were followed by nonbelievers in close second, there were some suburbs with an astronomical difference - including Burleigh Waters, which reported almost a thousand person difference in faith.

There were 7168 people who identified as Christian and 6178 people who said they did not believe in a religion. 

The Sunshine Coast had a similar result to the Gold Coast with a majority of suburbs reporting not to have a religion - including Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Glass House Mountains, Buderim South, Nambour, Noosa and Noosa Hinterland. 

This excludes a few suburbs including Bli Bli with 46 more Christians than nonbelievers. 

Like the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast had a few suburbs with significantly more people of faith - including Buderim North with 1192 more Christians than nonbelievers and Gympie South recording a 754 person difference.

According to the ABS, Christianity was the favoured religion of about 90 per cent of Australians until 1966.