Melbourne has more than a million Catholics, up 7% over the decade to 2006. Pentecostals grew 36% to 30,000 and Baptists 10% to 51,000. Dr Hughes found there was a move away from identifying with particular churches, but this wasn't always a movement to no religion. The "Christian, not further defined" category rose 79%. A key finding of Dr Hughes' analysis, which draws on several other surveys as well as the census, is that agnostics tend to cope less well with personal crises than either religious people or atheists, and that the rise of individualism means people want to work out answers for themselves rather than accept an authority, religious or atheist. "We are finding that people who don't know what to believe about life and the world tend to have lower levels of resilience. They don't cope as well when the crises of life come, they have a weaker sense of purpose. "The challenge for our society is to help people come to some sense of clarity about what life is about, whether humanistic or religious. Without that, people fall into the immediate, the here and now, and often that's a very consumeristic way of living."

Dr Hughes said that of the 712,000 (19.8%) who said they had no religion, 34% still believed in a higher being and 4% in a personal God, 22% did not know, and 40% were atheist. "Other surveys suggest many people believe there's some sort of life force in the universe, some sort of creative power, but a personal God who came to us in Jesus doesn't make much sense to them," he said. "Younger people, but even those in their 40s and 50s, are not going to just accept the authority of a community, whether atheist or religious. They want to work it out for themselves, but some feel they don't have the capacity to work it out." Monash University demographer Bob Birrell said the figures reflected the changing nature of Australia's migration program. "We're now drawing large numbers from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent as well as east Asia, and as far as the no-religion side of the coin is concerned, they reflect the secular trend in Australian society," he said.

"We have two ends of the spectrum, that migration is fuelling the ranks of religious groups, and yet at the other end, the secular trends are diminishing the ranks of people committed to religious faith." MUSLIM Nisa Terzi, 19 BEING born and raised Muslim and being able to practise it freely in Australia, it's almost natural. Islam allows me to know my creator and it allows me to live in accordance with the standards that make me a good human being. And it teaches me to respect others because we're all God's creation, irrespective of faith, race and nationality. It helps me in a social way as well; it teaches me to be a contributing citizen to make Australia a better place. This is basically what my sacred text the Koran and Hadiths  (sayings and accounts of) the life of the Prophet  tell me to do and this is what I value most. It gives me a great sense of identity too. Who am I? I'm an Australian-born Muslim with a Turkish background.

HINDU Adhiti Bhide, 21 IT'S difficult for me to pinpoint exactly where my religion fits into my life, because it's so densely intertwined into every aspect of my daily routine, whether it be just removing your shoes when you enter the house, or using only your right hand to give and receive gifts, or making an offering to the deities every time my mum cooks something sweet in the house. For me Hinduism focuses on fairly simple and basic values like respect and honesty and often I cannot even tell that I act a certain way because of my religion, or because that's all I've ever known. JEWISH Michael Shafar, 17

PERSONALLY, I am not a very devout or religious Jew so my religion appeals to me from a more traditional sense. My Judaism gives me a strong sense of connectedness with my parents and grandparents because Judaism is a very family-oriented religion and much emphasis is placed on promoting a strong family environment. Judaism also connects me to the Jewish community around the world, especially in Israel where I have family and to which I will always feel a strong connection. CATHOLIC James Whelan, 12 I JUST think you should treat others like you want to be treated. Being Catholic means that if something bad is going on I can pray, or just maybe be nice to that person or help them. Most Catholics feel a connection to God. We don't go to church every week, but I think it's a place where you just get a bit closer to God and Jesus. It's like their home. It's like reflecting. Praying is like taking a step forward and hoping that person does well, and hoping that something comes to them. I think God and Jesus taught us to do good things for others. BUDDHIST

Sumudu Perera, 15 I WAS born into a Buddhist family, and since I was young I started going to the temple. But once I started getting older I started learning about it and making my own decisions. The good thing about Buddhism is it's a little bit of a religion but it's more like a philosophy. Buddhism gives you freedom to think, query and question, so it's more like a scientific approach. To me, it's better to believe in something after you've proved it than to just believe it as a faith, and that's what's really interesting to me about Buddhism. COMPILED BY DEWI COOKE