IF the latest statistics on sinners and saints are anything to go by, Cairns is fast becoming a city of heathens, atheists and godless infidels. 

The Census results since 1996 paint a grim picture for Christian church leaders, who must be scratching their heads and wondering what the hell happened to faith and devotion over the past 10 years.

The number of people who identified as having no religion has skyrocketed, while the ranks of Christian believers grew by the tiniest of margins, and in some categories even declined. 

Just take a walk through one of the city's shopping centres this weekend, and compare the number of consumers with the number of worshippers at your local church.

The fall of organised religion is evident across Australia, but it's clearly more acute in the Far North.

In the Cairns local government area in 1996, there were 31,788 Catholics and 24,859 Anglicans, the largest groups under the Christian umbrella.

But despite a population explosion of 22,345 people over the past decade - a remarkable growth rate of more than 17.7 per cent - the number of Catholics and Anglicans grew by just 2270 people, or four per cent.

There are now more Buddhists than Baptists, and the number of Muslims has doubled to outstrip membership of eight sub-categories of Christianity, including Latter Day Saints.

On the ecclesiastical flipside, atheists and followers of niche religions are a burgeoning group that has surpassed the number of Anglicans and is fast closing in on the Catholics.

A decade ago there were 22,657 atheists and 1076 followers of religions outside the international mainstream of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

Fast forward to 2006, and the number of atheists grew by a whopping 28 per cent to 29022 people and belief in smaller religions nearly doubled to 2069.

In Cairns more than 21.7 per cent of Census respondents identified as atheists, compared with 18.7 nationwide.

And the percentage of Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Uniting Church followers was lower here than the national average.

What does this say about our community?
  

I called 10 churches of various denominations and locations yesterday to find the answer, but only Reverend Harry Oh from the Presbyterian Church on Sheridan St answered the phone.

His faith has lost more than 920 followers in Cairns over the past decade, a decline Rev. Oh attributes to the death of elderly members of the congregation and a population influx of non-believers.

"I worry generally about the future of churches, and in particular young people which I think is a matter of how parents are guiding children," he said.

"People are getting away from mainline beliefs and thoughts and there are more liberal and radical influences.

"People seem to be coming to church habitually, rather than through conviction."

I am not a religious person, so I strongly agree with the sentiment expressed by Nobel Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck way back in 1943.

"It may be that religion is dead, and if it is, we had better know it and set ourselves to try to discover other sources of moral strength before it is too late.''

In their heart of hearts, I wonder if church leaders like Rev. Oh believe it's already too late.