Survey Finds Most Christians Hiding Their Faith
Is it riskier to be Christian in Australia today?
Millions of Christians across Australia are being forced to keep their religious beliefs secret despite society “championing” other religions, according to Australia’s first comprehensive audit of Christian freedom.
The Australian Christian Freedom Index report benchmarks legal, institutional, social and cultural pressures on Christians in 2026.
Its survey of 10,808 Christians found an overwhelming majority (92%) saying it is riskier to identify as a Christian in Australia today, than it was five years ago.
Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) CEO Michelle Pearse who is one of 11 co-authors, revealed 73% of Christians felt pressured to keep their religious beliefs private at work, online and in public.
“Christians are self-censoring, their freedoms are being eroded”
The ACL boss declared that in Australia, Christian beliefs underpin our values, our democracy, our way of life and Christians should not be discriminated against, persecuted or made to hide their faith.
But they are.
“Nearly half (43.9%) of all Australians are Christians who find themselves living in a country where they are self-censoring, where institutions don’t feel protected, and our freedom of religion and speech are being eroded,” Ms. Pearse observed.
The report which analysed documented cases of persecution and scores of Acts of Parliament from nine jursidictions, was launched at a breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday May 28, with cross-party MPs and church leaders among those receiving a hand-signed copy.
Seven of the report’s 11 authors addressed the event.
“Prayer is criminalised, sermons attract vilification complaints”
According to the 108-page report, laws and regulations about healthcare referral mandates for euthanasia and abortion; rules and regulations about teaching and praying about sexuality; and vilification laws, have all contributed to a worsening environment for Christians.
It ranks Victoria as the most restrictive state in the country for Christians followed in order by the ACT, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Western Australia was the least restrictive.
Pastoral conversations and certain forms of prayer are now criminalised under Victoria’s conversion practices legislation; sermons on Biblical sexuality can attract vilification complaints; and Christian schools face narrowed hiring exemptions.
“74 Acts of Parliament restrict Christian freedoms”
Human Rights Law Alliance Principal Lawyer and report co-author John Steenhof said a legislative audit found 74 Acts restricting Christian freedoms introduced in the past 25 years.
Almost half of them in the past five years.
“Legislative overreach has tripled in the past five years, and the Index reports more than 40 cases of discrimination and persecution of Christians across Australia,” Mr. Steenhof said.
“Workplaces are among the most high-risk [environments] with education and healthcare the most pressured sectors.”
“Public servants are sanctioned for their faith, HR depts are weaponised”
“We’re seeing public servants being sanctioned because of their beliefs and HR departments being weaponised to remove Christians from the workplace,” Ms. Pearse reported..
“We heard one story of a lady who wears a crucifix to work.”
“She was told by the leadership in her workplace that it was disrespectful for her to wear the crucifix when there were Muslims in the workplace.”
“The Muslims were allowed to wear the hijab, but she was confronted about wearing the cross.”
“Inclusivity stops at the point of including Christians”
“As a society, we champion tolerance and inclusivity as the greatest of values, but what’s come through clearly in this report is that Christian belief is not tolerated.”
“Inclusivity stops at the point of including Christians,” Michelle Pearse asserted.
A majority (92%) of Christians surveyed said hospitals and healthcare workers were restricted or not free to operate according to their beliefs.
Religious freedom is “being plundered” amid attempts to remove faith from public square
“The right to religious freedom is being plundered in Australia,” said Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney Anthony Percy.
“This Index lays the ground for some rearguard action.”
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said the Index brought to light “recent attempts to minimise the role of faith in everyday life and exclude it altogether from the public square.”
Former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies said the report “carefully analyses the erosion of freedoms in our country over 40 years or more,” and called on parliamentarians and religious leaders to read it.
What action the report recommends
The Index makes 42 recommendations including a Register to document anti-Christian incidents.
Other recommendations include restoring religious hiring exemptions for faith-based schools and institutions across all jurisdictions, and ending compelled participation in abortion and voluntary assisted dying for healthcare workers and institutions with conscientious objections.
The report identified six primary drivers of discrimination against Australian Christians — four external, two internal.
Drivers of anti-Christian discrimination
- Secular progressivism has recast Biblically orthodox belief as social harm
- An expanding state apparatus has given that moral vision legal teeth
- The combined effect is a legal asymmetry in which religious freedom rests on narrow exemptions that can be litigated away or later repealed
- Islamist extremism as documented in the high-profile 2024 stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel
- Doctrinal drift where institutions accommodate secular-progressive values at the cost of legal protection for those who will not
- Misplaced meekness: The belief that Christian humility requires silence in the face of injustice.
The Index is an initiative of the Canberra Declaration which produced it with the support of the Australian Christian Lobby, FamilyVoice Australia, the Human Rights Law Alliance, CitizenGo and the Australian Family Coalition.
It will be published annually.
Article supplied with thanks to Vision Christian Media – a non-profit, follower-funded Christian media ministry taking God’s Word to every corner of Australia and beyond through broadcast, online and print media.
Feature image: Canva
