Census 2022 question on religion

I think certain Catholics might have an issue with having to tick a Christian box! "We are a catholic country etc etc etc"...

FWIW the answers to the religion question shouldn't matter in a secular country. But I've heard the 78% being trotted out so many times over the last few years (As a justification for 90% of schools, among other things - how does 78% get bumped up to justify 90%?) that we have to keep measuring this trend as it declines.

It would be interesting if they separated out the religious choices of parents of children of school-going age...

They do provide a religious question breakdown by age though, and under-18s identified as "no religion" got a very large boost last time out.

This. The census data over time is powerful, difficult-to-refute evidence of the growth of unbelief, and of the willingness to identify as an unbeliever, in Ireland. Anyone interested in advancing the rights or status of unbelievers in Ireland would be made to try to suppress that data, or to stop collecting it.

I agree - the question asks for Religion and then doesn't list 'Christianity' (instead opting for a series of Christian denominations) and one other religion. Many other large world religions, that must be well-represented in Ireland, are left out. I found the options very odd as they force people who consider themselves to be a Christian but who are not affiliated to a denomination, to select 'Other'.

I might put Jedi!

If one selects Other and writes Christian, what does that mean ?

Umbrella term covering all types ?

Evangelical ?

Cultural ?

It doesn't convey a whole lot, without qualification.

Exactly. If a respondent doesn't want to identify with one of the five suggested designations (which are based on popularity of responses from the previous census) then it's up to them how much more detail they want to give. "Christian", without further qualification, could mean that they don't identify with any particular denomination (non-denominational Christianity is a thing) or it could mean that they don't want, or can't be bothered, to name their denomination, or it could mean they are uncertain to which denomination their church is affiliated.

Which means that you have to exercise a degree of care about interpreting the census data. But that's generally true of census data.

You might think you'd get better data by increasing the number of options offered. But experience suggests that increasing the number of options much beyond the 5-7 range results in worse data - respondents get bored, alienated or confused; they tick the first option that might apply to them rather than reading through the list to find the one which best applies to them; they tick more than one option; they tick no option; they tick a random option. And you have to reckon that from a policy and planning point of view, identifying the number of Catholics, Anglicans, nonreligious people, etc in the country has a relevance that identifying the number of Independent Millennial Baptists (Wesleyan Connexion) may not. So the fact that the religion question isn't good at identifying the number of Independent Millennial Baptists (Wesleyan Connexion) may not be a terribly trenchant criticism of it.

No one gives a sht what her families religion is. People spend way too much time thinking other people are interested in their business.

Should that be "it lists the top ones" ?

The problem arises when some people expect their family religion to be imposed on everyone in school.

LOL, you think people in ireland are not interested in other peoples business....

There are people who make an issue where there is no issue. This thread represents that.