RITE AND REASON: THE CENSUS looms and included in it
we have Question 12, which deals with religion.
“What is your
religion?” it asks boldly, assuming everyone has one.
It lists the
options: Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Islam, Presbyterian,
Orthodox; it then gives a space, two rows of boxes, for “Other, write in
your religion.”
Then, under these two rows of boxes, comes option 7:
“No religion.”
One would have thought a more sensible way of
framing the question might have been to start by asking: “Do you have a
religion?”
This could have been followed by a number of options for
those marking the Yes box whereas those opting for No would go straight
to the next question.
But this suggestion, made by the Humanist
Association of Ireland (HAI) following an invitation by the Central
Statistics Office (CSO) for suggestions regarding possible improvements
in the census, was rejected on the basis it would make historical
comparisons difficult.
This must certainly mean not many suggestions
would be adopted.
Anyone who has spent time looking at the 1911
census on the web will tell you how fascinating and absorbing this can
be.
But quite apart from simple statistics and general interest, the
census performs an important and valuable function: it provides
information that is used to help plan for the future.
As it says on the
census website: “When you fill in your census form on Sunday, April
10th, you’re giving us the information we need now to understand what
Ireland needs for the future.”
What information is this and how will it
be used? One piece of information must be that of religion.
And how it
might be used must surely be in providing appropriate schools for the
future.
The vast majority of primary schools in this country are
run by one or other church, mainly Roman Catholic.
Archbishop Martin has
said this should change to reflect the Ireland of today.
In order to
plan what sort of schools are most appropriate for the future, it would
be useful to have an accurate picture regarding the population’s
religion, or lack of it.
And so we have question 12 on the census form.
But will this work?
People who come from a religious background
but no longer practise any religion and have no religious belief would
most likely answer No to the question “Do you have a religion?”
But when
asked “What is your religion?”, followed by a series of options
including the one the person was born into, that person may tick the box
of the religion they were brought up in but no longer practise.
But
if people are in doubt, won’t they be helped by their enumerator, the
person hired to distribute and collect the forms and answer questions
about the census?
Well, they’ll be helped all right; but on the question
of religion the enumerators have been instructed to guide people to
fill in the form to reflect their background rather than their current
position.
How does this help us plan for Ireland’s future?
Now I
know people’s religion is not the only determining factor when it comes
to schools.
Many religious parents send their children to Educate
Together schools because they believe it’s better than separating
children.
Some non-religious parents send their children to religious
schools for academic or other reasons.
Many would argue that a good “all
children together” education system should be a basic right.
Having
said this, it would seem that the more people who truthfully state on
their census form that they have no religion, the stronger the argument
for a shift towards a more secular approach to education.
And it is
likely that the way the question is framed will not deliver as accurate a
result as it should.
I’ll use an analogy: imagine a survey on car
ownership. The question “Do you have a car?” is not asked; the survey
goes straight to “What type of car do you have?” And then, someone who
has no car is encouraged to say they have a Morris Minor because, way
back, it was the traditional family car. What use would this information
be?
The HAI is running an awareness campaign with advertisements
on Dart carriages to make this point.
The message is simple: if you
don’t practise any religion, then mark the “No Religion” box.
It’s
important.
Brian Whiteside is director of the Humanist Association of Ireland. Census day is April 10th