MEDIA RELEASE

A Rationalist Society and National Secular Lobby campaign has been caught coaching Australians to tick “no religion” on next week’s census, with Anglican Bishop Michael Stead and demographer Mark McCrindle accusing the groups of deliberately skewing the nation’s most important survey to accelerate the erasure of Australia’s Christian and Judeo-Christian heritage.

Family First National Director Lyle Shelton says the census stoush revealed by The Australian proves secular activists are not just campaigning against Christianity, they are trying to rig the very data that shapes government funding, school recognition and heritage protection for generations, warning the “Not religious? Mark no religion” quiz is designed to trick lapsed and non-practising Christians out of identifying as Christian at all.

“This isn’t a survey, it’s a con job dressed up as a quiz,” Mr Shelton said. “The Rationalist Society and the National Secular Lobby know most Australians who call themselves Christian don’t turn up to church every Sunday, so they’ve built a quiz designed to trick them into ticking ‘no religion’ instead of just answering honestly.”

“The ABS’s own test for this question has nothing to do with how often you pray or go to church, it’s about whether you identify with a faith — and if you identify as Christian, you are Christian.”

Family First notes the push comes as Jewish groups warn they are not even listed on the census form and “no religion” has once again been placed at the top of the options, with Rationalist Society president Victor Franco has openly predicted the manipulated result will show “no religion” overtaking Christianity for the first time.

“If you identify as Christian, under the ABS’s own definition, or you want Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage protected rather than quietly written out of our national data, don’t let a rigged quiz bully you into ticking a box that isn’t you,” Mr Shelton said.

“Tick ‘Other’, write ‘Christian’, and make sure the census reflects the real Australia, not the one secular activists are trying to manufacture. Family First will always stand up for the faith and heritage that built this country, even when the secular lobby tries to write us out of the record.”