Census 2016 - Time to tick NO

Bristolscale7

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/how-will-you-answer-the-religion-question-on-your-census-2016-form-1.2620971

The question should be “Do you have a religion?” not “What religion are you?” Answering “no religion” to the first question is like answering “none, as I am not an elephant” to the question “What size is your trunk?”

Anyway, despite these undeniable truths, people in the Republic do still have some faint understanding of the distinction between Protestant atheism and Catholic atheism. The inclination to tick “Roman Catholic” may be linked to a fear that, just as Aoife has disingenuously completed her First Communion to permit entry to St Bufton’s, the authorities will inform the hierarchy of your true beliefs and condemn you to education in a hedge school.

Shrap

Bristolscale7 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/how-will-you-answer-the-religion-question-on-your-census-2016-form-1.2620971

While I like the "What size is your trunk?" analogy, he seems to have been trying to write an opinion piece on how people with a COI background really don't deserve to be calling themselves Irish. He is clearly of the opinion that sectarianism is still ok if he's doing it, and if it's just targeting ROI Protestants. If there's anything to be taken from that article about "bearing false witness" it's that perhaps he should look to himself first, as his whole take on the Irish names thing is a bit self-loathing ("Donald", not "Donal", does rather give it away).

As a Catholic/Protestant Atheist, I fail to see the point he's making, unless it's that former Catholics are afraid to own up to being atheists in case of big-brother joining up the dots and not letting their kids into schools, and former Protestants are afraid to own up to being former Protestants due to self-loathing. Pot. Meet. Kettle.

Bristolscale7

My very traditional, very catholic mother-in-law is much happier that I and her grandchildren are atheists rather than protestants so yeah...

Shrap

Bristolscale7 wrote: »

My very traditional, very catholic mother-in-law is much happier that I and her grandchildren are atheists rather than protestants so yeah...

Both my Protestant and Catholic grandparents would have been more horrified by me being the "other" religion than me being atheist, that's true enough. But sectarianism lives on in this article. I still fail to see the point he's making, except that fear and (self) loathing is a thing.

J0hnick

A lot of my friends are saying my form wont be valid because I used a tick and not a line, I know (now) its in the instructions on the first page, but are they really that anal about it ?, I did it the exact same way back in 2011 and nothing was said.

wench

J0hnick wrote: »

A lot of my friends are saying my form wont be valid because I used a tick and not a line, I know (now) its in the instructions on the first page, but are they really that anal about it ?, I did it the exact same way back in 2011 and nothing was said.

It should be fine. If the automatic scanning can't pick it up, it will be referred to a human instead.

ShooterSF

Last time my family house had 3 Roman Catholic and one No religion. This time 4 No religion. I must be a good militant atheist. Isn't Mammy supposed to convert me??

Pherekydes

It was 3-3 in our house in 2011. This year it was 5-1 in favour of the no religionistas, with the mammy of the household the lone good catholic.

Cherry Blossom

What do those truly enlightened folks put down for their kids where they let the child decide for themselves but they have not made that decision yet or have chosen parts of different religions? My sister put my niece down as COI due to having her christened to please other folks. She put no religion for herself. Mammy who has always been the lone Roman Catholic in the house has put down no religion as she doesn't want to go somewhere different than my dad did when he died - she doesn't see the irony in that at all :pac:

fisgon

Might be fun to try to estimate what the figures for "No Religion" will be this time, after the Just tick No campaign and the Marriage Referendum.

In 2011 there were 269,800 people who ticked the "No Religion" box. That was 5.87% of the population.

Anyone want to guess what it will be this time?

I would say close to 400,000. That's about 8.9% of the population, depending on what the total population is this time.

magicbastarder

it jumped from 186k to 270k from 2006 to 2011; so another 85k jump may be reasonable.

Absolam

Below is the % change in religious declaration adjusted for overall population change over the last 30 years.
My guess is, compared to a small overall population increase (less than 2%?) , traditional Christian numbers will see continuing small decreases, 'other Christian' will continue to increase due to immigration but at a lower rate than they have, as will No 'Religion', with 'Not Stated' decreasing as well. I think 'Other stated religions' is likely to return to a net positive vs overall population change.
1981 1991 2002 2006 2011
Roman Catholic -1.0% -1.6% -3.8% -1.9% -2.7%
Church of Ireland (incl. Protestant) -18.0% -8.9% 18.5% 0.4% -7.6%
Other Christian religions -23.2% -11.4% 56.8% 8.4% 230.4%
Other stated religions 30.4% 208.5% 114.6% 46.1% -18.6%
No religion 404.0% 65.1% 97.5% 26.5% 31.1%
Not stated 36.5% 15.1% -16.2% -19.3% -9.1%

magicbastarder wrote: »

it jumped from 186k to 270k from 2006 to 2011; so another 85k jump may be reasonable.

I'm going to guess to about 7% of the total population; so about 323k. Is Paddy Power giving odds?

looksee

Since it will take between 12 and 24 months to publish all the information you wouldn't want to plan a holiday this year with your winnings!

cowboyBuilder

I wonder do many people mark Jedi ...

Cabaal

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2016/05/03/early-census-information-reveals-120-of-the-nation-is-catholic/

Early Census Information Reveals 120% Of The Nation Is Catholic
:pac:

Some 120% of the Nation has identified itself a Catholic, thanks in no small part to the diligent work of parents, who have insisted on listing their children down in census forms as such even in the event of objections from their offspring.

“We’re right on track to match our 2011 total, which basically means we can keep being that seemingly benign overbearing influence in your life, whether you like it or not,” confirmed Fr. Augustine Spring, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Ireland.

robindch

There's some additional cash being provided for Census 2021 and the expectation is that the questions on religion and ethnicity will be updated:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/census-2021-set-to-include-questions-on-religion-and-ethnicity-1.3144624

Irish Times wrote:

The next census, in 2021, will have a sufficient budget to allow new questions, more than likely on religion and ethnicity. Census 2016 was unchanged from the previous one in 2011, save for one question recognising the legal status of same-sex marriage.

The reason for a “no change” census was that the Central Statistics Office did not have the resources or budget to conduct a public consultation or test new questions when preparing for the nationwide exercise. It attributed the lack of funds to the recession and cutbacks.

The Government announced on Wednesday there will be a census in 2021 and, despite advances in technology, it will be a paper-based census. The CSO is of the opinion that paper returns still remain the most reliable. To include new questions, pilot surveys are conducted involving about 12,000 dwellings.

There has been criticism that the question on religion in 2016 was too binary. People filling in the form were asked what was their religion. There are five religions stated, including Catholic and Church of Ireland. There were a further two choices, another religion (to be written in) or no religion. Some critics of that section said it should make a distinction between those practicing a religion and those who have lapsed or no longer practice a religion.

Tigger

robindch wrote: »

There's some additional cash being provided for Census 2021 and the expectation is that the questions on religion and ethnicity will be updated:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/census-2021-set-to-include-questions-on-religion-and-ethnicity-1.3144624

how often in the last 5 week have you religioned?