Results of a YouGov survey concerning religious belief and citizenship

A 16 April 2026 survey by YouGov on behalf of the Secular Association of NSW found that:

• approximately one in twenty (6%) identifying as Catholic said their religious belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 36% ofCatholics thought their religion was of equal importance to their citizenship.
• 16% of people identifying as Other Christiansaid their religious belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 39% of Other Christians said their religion was of equal importance to their citizenship.
• 13% of people identifying as Other Religions said their belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 44% of Other Religions said their religion was equally important to their citizenship.

These findings come with the qualification that the questions were not graduated to measure degrees of favourable/unfavourable responses.

A further finding was that :

• 24% of citizens aged 18-24 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor religious belief was important to them;
• 17% of citizens aged 25-34 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor religious belief was important to them;
• 21% of citizens aged 35-49 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor their religious belief was important to them;
• 13% of citizens aged 50-64 said that neither Australian citizenship not their religious belief was important to them and 4% over the age of 65 said the same

Overall:

• 53% of people claimed that their Australian citizenship was the most important to them
• 29% claimed that their citizenship and the religious belief were equally important
• 15% claimed that neither were important
• 6% (including the 6% of Catholics) claimed their religious belief was more important to them than their Australian citizenship
• 3% preferred not to reply.

Some analysis:

The 2021 Australian Census found there was approximately 25.5 million Australians; at the 2026 Australian Census in August this year that is likely to climb to well over that figure.

6% of Australians who value their religion more than their citizenship, would have amounted to approximately 1.5M citizens in 2021, with the qualification that the survey questions were not graduated for degree of commitment to a religious belief; 15% of current Australians who declined a religious belief and their citizenship as important would have amounted to approximately 3.8M citizens.

Those without a religious belief – understandably – were the group that most identified with their Australian citizenship being the most important to them. The findings of this survey will make an interesting comparison to what the August 2026 Census will find about religious belief, or lack of it, in Australia.

With respect to the 6% who value their religion more than their citizenship, without further identification of which religions they identify with, we can only speculate as to their reasons for their commitment to their religion at the expense of their citizenship.

Profoundly pious citizens, many of whom may be members of religious orders, would be an obvious category. Others with a deeply felt spirituality would seem to be next. That spirituality could be more personal than expressed publicly.

One thing we know for sure, as Graham Young points out in On Line Opinion5 February 2026, there is a distinction between Christianity and Islam in that passages in Islamic texts can be read as justifying terrorism.

With that said, we must also remember that a white-supremacist Australian citizen massacred about 50 citizens in mosques in Christchurch in 2019.

The former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Chris Sidoti, has detailed the beyond dreadful treatment of innocent Palestinians caught up in the Hamas-initiated war disaster in his report for the Independent International Commission of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

No belief system has got clean hands when it comes to violence.

So, even a very small proportion of those who state their religion is more important than their citizenship could pose a threat to Australian civil society, as discussed recently by ASIO 's Mike Burgess. He said 14 "significant terror-related cases" have been resolved since the Bondi terror attack in December last year.

The 2026 Census will be next month. If we redo this religion/citizenship question again after the results have been tabulated there may be an increase in the percentage of citizens who state their religion is more important than their citizenship.

If there is an upward trend, that would join the upward trend of minority religions in Australia and the main group of citizens who opt for the 'no religion' category as mainstream religions will likely continue their downward trend.