Abstract

New Zealand is a multi-faith country that is becoming increasingly secular, with the mainline Protestant churches losing tens of thousands of adherents each census. The purpose of this study is to get a clearer understanding of New Zealand’s secularisation process. The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) questionnaire was used to capture the religious landscape. A random selection of 2040 New Zealand adults yielded 1027 valid responses, and the data were weighted for age and gender. The results showed a decline in adherence to religious institutions, coinciding with a reduced faith in the traditional monotheistic view of God. However, reports of religious experience increased. Additionally, 30.5% agreed with the statement, “I don’t follow a religion, but am a spiritual person interested in the sacred/supernatural.” The results draw attention to the ineffectiveness of census results and church attendance surveys as a measure of how religious a population is.