11 Herald facts on God and NZ

The Herald, as part of a series on religion in NZ, has these 11 facts:

1. Rich Kiwis have turned their backs on God and religion, with religious New Zealanders living mainly in poor suburbs.
2. Wellington is the “godless” capital of New Zealand, with five in 10 people there saying they have no religion. And Dunedin is the godless capital of South Island, with almost half of the city’s population declaring the same.
3. In the South Island, Haupiri in Grey District has the highest percentage of Christians, thanks to the Gloriavale Community. In the North Island, Temple View in Hamilton has the highest percentage of Christians, thanks to the popularity of Mormonism.
4. Auckland is the only New Zealand city becoming more religious, with a 1.2 per cent increase in religious residents in the 2013 census.
5. But across New Zealand, the number of people declaring themselves religious has fallen 5.5 per cent since the 2006.
6. The earthquakes in Christchurch failed to bring people back to God – Christianity lost 16.5 per cent of the flock there.
7. Nelson and the Coromandel are centres of New Age spiritualism. Both areas have recorded the highest percentages of people who follow new age religions.
8. South Auckland is one of the most religious areas in the country.
9. Auckland has the biggest Muslim population, with 2.4 per cent of its population following Islam. Walmsley and Wesley towards West Auckland are areas with highest percentage of Muslim population.
10. The number of wiccan and witchcraft covens have fallen from 2082 to 1452 followers in the last Census. And the number of people who say they worship Satan has fallen from 1167 to 843.
11. Wiccans and Satanists are most likely to be New Zealand Europeans.

So in a fight the wiccans outnumber the satanists almost 2:1.

Interesting that Wellington is leading the way for cities becoming non-religious while Auckland is becoming more religious.

You can check out on the map provided, the religious profile of your local area.

In my local area unit of Thorndon (deprivation decile 5) we are 49% no religion, 41% Christian, 2.8% Buddhist, 2,5% Hindu, 0.8% Jewish and 0.5% Muslim.