Trust in religious leaders is dropping, but some Australians say they've never been 'closer to God'. So what's going on?
When asked whether he trusts religious leaders in Australia today, Haodong Mo does not hold back.
"If you're going to mislead people about the metaphysics of the universe, how can we trust you about anything else?" says the 20-year-old.
Haodong is attending a Friday night "atheist meet-up" at Sydney's Humanist House, a venue that's long hosted events celebrating the secular.
For obvious reasons, there's no such thing as an atheist place of worship, but this building is as close as it gets.
Loading...A framed poster of Albert Einstein is given pride of place inside the small, brick hall.
On top of a cluttered bookshelf, a sign shouts "FREE THOUGHT" as a nearby triceratops figurine stares down at visitors, presumably a nod to palaeontology and evolution.
Haodong wasn't always an atheist.
"When I was younger and more naive, perhaps, I certainly did trust religious leaders. But growing up, I found out more and more facts about them," Haodong says.
Like Haodong, many Australians — especially young people — have lost faith in religious leaders, according to new research.
The Australia Talks National Survey found 41 per cent of Australians don't trust religious leaders "at all", a 6 per cent rise since the survey was last conducted in 2019.
Among Haodong's age group, the distrust is even more significant: almost half (47 per cent) of 18–24 year-olds don't trust religious leaders "at all". That's a jump of 15 percentage points in just two years.
So what's going on?
'Science was telling the truth'
The 10 or so attendees at this meet-up say the Australia Talks data reflects a longer-term trend towards a more secular country, exacerbated by recent events.
At the last census in 2016, 30 per cent of Australians said they had no religion, compared with 19 per cent in 2006.
Twenty-one-year-old Benjamin Lynch is one of the newly irreligious at the meet-up.
He's a former Jehovah's Witness, who made the difficult decision to leave the faith after a "brutally honest" assessment of its teachings.
"Walking away was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life … but it was obvious that science was telling the truth," he says.
The internet, particularly YouTube, helped Benjamin interrogate the teachings he'd grown up with.
He says the value of science has never been clearer than during the pandemic, which could be one reason trust in religious figures has dropped since 2019.
"Which institutions were dispatched to deal with the pandemic? Medicine and science."
Twenty year-old Kieran Straub Duddy adds, "over the pandemic, people have had free time; the ability to think and question".
The atheists all point to child sex abuse scandals as fundamentally changing how Australians view religious leaders.
"It makes you lose moral trust in these leaders, who are meant to be guides and examples of how religion is supposed to be," says Sherrie D'Souza.
Like Benjamin, Sherrie was raised a Jehovah's Witness and spent decades within the "closed-off" faith community.
But she walked away after being "horrified" by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and now works with the support group Recovering from Religion.
A country of 'apatheists'
Over the phone, religion researcher Dr Ibrahim Abraham from the Australian National University confirms the atheists' sentiments are shared by many people around the country.
But he prefers to use a different term to "atheist" when talking about young Australians more broadly.
"The term to describe most young Australians would be 'apatheists' — the combination of apathy and atheism. They're just not interested in religion," he says.
"Some of the demands or the requests that church leaders are making for exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, for example, or generally to have the ear of government, are no longer appropriate in the eyes of many Australians, particularly young Australians."
As Benjamin put it at the meet-up: "the holy books don't match what is happening in society", especially around attitudes to sex, sexuality and gender.
Dr Abraham says Sherrie is not alone in stepping back from her faith following sex abuse scandals, which have seen religious leaders "lose their privilege and centrality to the lives of many Australians".
But what about those young people who've bucked the trend — what's kept their faith strong?
The young people who do trust religious leaders
According to the Australia Talks data, 20 per cent of 18–24 year-olds "somewhat" trust religious leaders and 7 per cent trust them "a lot".
Dani Sacks, Avishai Conyer and Emily Harrison fall into this small segment of young Australians.
The trio are members of the progressive Jewish youth movement Netzer and are meeting at Sydney's Emanuel Synagogue in Woollahra.
Seated on long benches emblazoned with the Star of David, they say there's no simple answer to why they trust religious leaders, but connection and communication are key.
"To me, it's the same with people generally who are in charge — if they're distant, there's more mistrust," Emily says.
"But with our religious leaders, we feel comfortable to disagree, have long conversations … and we will be listened to because we have a good relationship."
As Dani puts it, "a good relationship is where you have the capacity to learn from each other — it doesn't feel like they own the religion, but rather I can express it how I want".
In their faith community, Avishai says, "we're guided, we're given resources, but we also maintain a level of autonomy and agency with how we want our religion to be actualised".
With a laugh, Avishai mentions that his mother is herself a rabbi, likely helping on the trust front.
The group may be outliers among young Australians, but they say their lives are all the richer for it.
And they're not alone.
Where trust is increasing
While just 5 per cent of Australians trust religious leaders "a lot", that figure jumps to 15 per cent among Australians with non-European ancestry. It's an increase of 7 percentage points since 2019.
Loading...Auburn in Sydney's western suburbs is one of the most multicultural postcodes in Australia and home to the imposing Auburn Gallipoli Mosque.
After a Friday prayer session wraps up, worshippers say their trust in religious leaders has never been higher.
"Religious authorities have a special place in multicultural communities and during the pandemic that authority is given greater importance," says Ibrahim, who asked that his last name not be used.
"In multicultural communities, where English is a second language or there are other barriers … people trust what is coming from these leaders."
Ibrahim says religion has kept people going during the pandemic, especially in lockdown.
"When you're confined to the four corners of your room, you start to think about life and reflect.
"Religion is that safety net when the world collapses."
As others file out of the mosque, similar sentiments are shared.
"The government set the rules and [the imams] informed the community and made sure we would stick to these rules and have a safe community," says IT worker Khaled Shaikh.
"[They told us] the things you need to do to protect yourself during this pandemic and also how you can uplift yourself spiritually.
"This pandemic has brought a lot of people closer to their community and closer to God."
The surfing imam
Osman Boyaci says he didn't plan on becoming a religious leader — "never in a million years".
"All I was focused on was becoming a soccer player."
But after a major knee injury, he followed a family friend's curveball suggestion to study in Turkey to become an imam.
Loading..."I started questioning, 'what am I doing, where am I going, how can I live a better life, how can I help other people live better lives?'," he says.
Mr Boyaci says the imams at the mosque were inundated with questions early in the pandemic.
"People asking, 'how can I utilise my time?'
"People asking, 'are there specific supplications or invocations for this virus to end?'
"People had a lot of fear … There was an increase in people turning back to their religion."
Mr Boyaci feels the secularisation of Australia is a worrying trend.
Loading..."People don't want to answer the questions like, 'why am I here, what is my purpose' … They're numb, or oblivious to this.
"Many Australians just don't want religion in their lives anymore, but religion, like it or not, can solve a lot of problems."
He pauses, and rethinks his answer. "For some, it can also create problems, but that's people not understanding religion."
If people aren't going to believe in a religion, they should adopt the good parts, he says.
"I surf, so when I go to the Northern Beaches at the crack of dawn, there are people sitting on the beach meditating, which is a wonderful thing. They're trying to find inner peace."
Soon after, Mr Boyaci delivers another call to prayer to Auburn's faithful.
For those filing into the mosque once more, this imam is not only trustworthy, but an important leader in these difficult times.
Still, upstairs at the mosque's youth centre, staff are well aware they can't be complacent.
The future
Project manager Firdaws Karim knows trust "can't be taken for granted".
"There's a lot of effort that's needed, first and foremost from the leaders, then from those surrounding the leaders, to make sure we're on the right path."
She says religious leaders need to "work contextually to this time and space and political context" and "be very transparent about any gaps there are and what work is needed".
She hopes that welcoming the wider community can broaden trust in Muslim leaders.
"A mosque is not just for Muslims, everybody is welcome," she says.
For the mosque's youth centre manager, Osman Goreli, maintaining trust "comes from results".
"When you can showcase your work, when people see it, they respect and trust you."
But the Australia Talks data shows there's a steep climb ahead for religious leaders to regain the trust of Australians, especially younger ones.
Credits:
- Reporter and digital producer: Nick Baker
- Photographer and digital producer: Teresa Tan
- Editor: Annika Blau