Northern Ireland

Politics, religion, and society in Northern Ireland are so deeply intertwined that it is virtually [Page 947]impossible to discuss issues of religion and society without constant reference to the ongoing political conflict. The creation of Northern Ireland as a six-county region of the United Kingdom (as opposed to the nine Ulster counties) in 1921 was itself based on a religious headcount, since the unionist aim at the time was to ensure a Protestant-Catholic ratio that would guarantee Protestant-unionist political domination in the long term. There had been significant political, social, and cultural differences in the past between members of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterians (who were mostly represented in the northeastern counties of Ireland and thus came to be the largest Protestant group in Northern Ireland), and members of other Protestant denominations, such as the Methodists or the Baptists, but the rise of cultural nationalism in Ireland in the 19th century and its association with Catholicism led to a strategic regrouping of a majority of Protestants under the banner of political unionism, which logically persisted in Northern Ireland when the region was created. This also had clear social implications, with the perpetuation of religious segregation in various areas of society, including housing and schooling, on the basis of a Catholic/Protestant divide.

The sectarian conflict that erupted in 1969 had essentially political and social roots related to the Protestant-unionist domination over the Catholic-nationalist minority. The measure of peace that has been achieved since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 with the setting up of a power-sharing government has not put an end to the high degree of religious segregation in the region, with so-called mixed marriages still being quite rare and less than 5% of children attending integrated schools. In some ways, the celebration of cultural traditions and differences that came to be part and parcel of the peace process has further entrenched the division of Northern Ireland society into two communities, despite the comparatively high degree of cultural homogeneity among Catholics and Protestants in the region.

As in the Republic of Ireland, while weekly church attendance has fallen for all religions in Northern Ireland in the past decade, it remains exceptionally high by European standards, and the pace of secularization has been much slower than in Great Britain, although there has been a moderate shift toward more liberal attitudes to issues of family and sexual morality among both Catholics and Protestants. Again, as in the Republic, there has also been a significant increase of people who describe themselves as having no religion—up to 11.5% of the population in 2005. In sharp contrast with both Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, the number of people describing themselves as being of a religion other than either Protestant or Catholic is still very small—less than 0.5% according to the 2001 census, which did not provide for specific religious affiliations for these minorities.