澳大利亚论文.doc

澳 大 利 亚 论 文 姓名:陈雪云 班级:11级英师（2）班 学号：2011021206 Religions in Australia Australia is a religiously diverse nation with over 25 major religious denominations represented. According to 2001 census the religious belief which existed in Australia approximately 100 kinds of many. Meanwhile, almost 5%of the population identify themselves with a religion other than Christianity, including Judaism, Hinduism，Buddhism and Islam. And people in the 18-24 years age group were the most likely to state that they had no religion. Christianity is the major religion in Australia. Although the first public Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in 1803, regular services did not begin until the arrival of the first two official Catholic Chaplains to the colony in 1820. In 1821 Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone of St Mary’s Chapel in Sydney but the first Catholic Church was mot completed until 1833 in Parramatta. Presbyterian settlers came from Scotland and Ulster and built a church on the Hawkesbury River near Windsor in 1809. Methodist classes began in Windsor in 1812 and the first church was built in Castlereagh in 1817. The first Orthodox Church service in was celebrated on board a Russian ship moored in Sydney Cove during Easter 1820. Regular Orthodox parish life began in Sydney and Melbourne in 1895. The first Congregationalist church was established in Tasmania in 1822. The first Baptist services were held in Sydney in 1831. In 1838 Lutherans suffering religious persecution in Germany arrived in South Australia. Salvation Army meetings began in Adelaide in the late 1870s and the first ministers arrived in 1881. In 1977 the Uniting Church was formed by people from the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches. Today, many denominations of Christianity are represented in Australia. The three largest groups are the Roman Catholic, the Anglican and the Uniting churches. Christianity has had a significant influence on the development of Australia, on its politic