Geelong, Australia
Just a quarter of Australians say they are hopeful about the future of the world and less than half are hopeful about their own future but those who believe in a personal God are more hopeful than those who don’t.
Those are among the key findings of new research carried out for a Tearfund Australia report released today, The Global Hope Report.
GRAPHIC: Courtesy of Tearfund Australia
The report, which draws on new research undertaken by NCLS Research, shows that just 48 per cent of Australians are hopeful about their own future, 37 per cent are hopeful about the future of their local community, 34 per cent are hopeful about the future of Australia and just 24 per cent are hopeful about the future of the world.
But the study also found that Australians who believe in a personal God are broadly more hopeful than those who don’t. The data reveals that 42 per cent of those who believe in a personal God are hopeful about the future of Australia compared with 29 per cent of those who don’t, and, 45 people of those who believe in a personal God are hopeful about the future of their local communities compared with 28 per cent of those who don’t.
Some 39 per cent of Christians who attend church at least once a month said they were hopeful about the future of the world compared with 20 per cent of non-church attending Christians and just 18 per cent of those with no religion. Only 16 per cent of Australians who identify as ‘neither religious nor spiritual’ are hopeful about the future of the world compared with 37 per cent of those who identify as both ‘religious and spiritual’.
In addition, 33 per cent of people who pray at least weekly describe themselves as ‘hopeful’ or ‘very hopeful’, compared to 16 per cent of those who never pray and/or meditate. Those who agreed Christianity was good for Australian society were also more hopeful that those who didn’t.
Melody Burton, head of communications and education at Tearfund Australia, said the results revealed that “we have a bit of a hope problem that really needs some addressing and some answers”.
She said the fact that majorities of people with a faith didn’t feel hopeful about Australia or the world represented a “challenge for the church”.
“It’s confronting for the church to consider actually that even within our own Christian communities of faith, people are really struggling to find something to put their hope in when it comes to how they look at the world around us,” said Burton. “And that’s part of what’s really prompted the pulling together of this report – recognising that these questions are so real and so alive in many people’s minds. And we want to face up to them and press into them and consider…what, if anything, can we do to help people recognise the hope that’s available to them and do something with it; take action with it.”
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Burton said that includes helping people seeing the hope in situations where Tearfund partners are working around the world; situations which she said might “at first glance, seem hopeless”.
“We see and we hear from these local partners that we’re working with, so much evidence of hope as people in their daily lives are given opportunities to take steps out of poverty or to have the chance to build a livelihood or improve their family’s health through some simple but long-lasting initiatives. We want to give people the chance to see that evidence of hope that’s taking place around the world.”
Burton said the findings show Australians also don’t feel that they have any agency to change situations that might be occurring a long way away geographically. Yet, despite that, “we know that there’s actually ways that everyday Australians can take action, can come together to do things, can speak up [in ways] that can actually influence and shift the trajectory of some of these global challenges.”
GRAPHIC: Courtesy of Tearfund Australia
In other findings, the research showed that the top four concerns of Australians are war and conflict (63 per cent), the economy (47 per cent), poverty (39 per cent) and climate change (37 per cent). When it comes to climate change, two-thirds of Australians say they are at least “moderately concerned” – a figure which rises to three-quarters among people aged 18 to 34-years-old.
The data also showed that older people – those aged 50 to 64 – were the least hopeful for the future of the world and Australia.
“What we do find is that particularly the younger generations are the most ready to see change happen and be part of the change,” Burton said.
She said the data has revealed an opportunity for the church to “really take a stand and speak into these global challenges because young people…they want to see the church facing up to these things, showing what God’s Word says about it, leading by example and giving them a way to connect their faith with taking action on these global challenges”.
Tearfund Australia has established a prayer wall to help people in praying for challenges facing the world. They are also calling on people to support a fairer global economy and a safer climate future by adding their voice to the Safer World For All campaign which calls on Australian national leaders to increase investment in foreign aid.
Burton said Tearfund Australia is looking to release further editions of the The Global Hope Report in the next few years.
“We are hoping to see…if things are shifting and having bit more detail around how the church is answering this question of hope.”
