AUSTRALIANS with no religion are among the fastest growing population groups and their number is expected to increase in this year's census. The Atheist Foundation of Australia has launched a campaign urging people with no religious affiliations to tick the ''no religion'' box on their census form next month. Billboards featuring the campaign have been erected around NSW, with a prominent one on busy Parramatta Road at Annandale. David Nicholls, president of the foundation, said he expected a higher uptake of the no religion option this year. ''People are leaving traditional religion in droves,'' he said. ''I think that will become clear in the census this time around.'' No religion has been an option on the census form since 1971. In the 2006 census, 18.7 per cent of respondents stated they had no religion, up 25.7 per cent on 1996. This puts the growth of the non-religious on par with the Pentecostals, which also increased by 25.7 per cent over the same period. At the same time, the number of people identifying as Catholic increased by 6.8 per cent, Eastern Orthodox by 9.5 per cent and Baptist by 7.3 per cent. Non-Christian religions seeing growth over the same period included Hinduism (up 120.2 per cent), Buddhism (up 109.6 per cent), Islam (up 69.4 per cent) and Judaism (up 11.3 per cent). Across the whole population, 63.9 per cent identified as Christian, 5.6 per cent were non-Christian, 18.7 per cent had no religion, 11.2 per cent did not state their beliefs and 0.7 per cent of answers were inadequately described.

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