The process whereby religion looses its influence over social life and society is known as secularisation.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

The process whereby religion looses its influence over social life and society is known as secularisation. Secularisation is of concern to all churches in Ireland because, (Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 1) secularisation is supposedly a result of the processes of industrialisation and modernisation, both of which have occurred in the growth of the ‘Celtic tiger’ in the past four decades. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 265) Secularisation has meant that religious institutions have lost some of the predominance they used to have and lost some of the social position they occupied. However secularisation is not just an institutions process, it is also a process within human consciousness. (Berger, 1981: 10) In order to assess whether religion is still relevant in contemporary Irish society, or whether a process of secularisation is taking place, this essay will look at (INTRODUCTION)

From the most recent European Values Study (EVS), statistics show that over 8% of the Irish population can be loosely categorised as secularists, that is, they reject any denominational label. This has risen from 2.5% in the 1981 EVS survey. (Cassidy, 2002: 1) Surveys show that weekly mass attendance has declined from a figure of 87% of Catholics, to around 60% in the period 1981-1998. Only 14% of 18-24 year olds saw mass attendance as important. There has also been a huge decline in the use of religious medals, holy water and pilgrimages. (Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 3)

A further indication of the erosion of ideological power in the Irish church is the 29% decline in attendance at confession from 1984-1989. Whilst sacramental confession weakens the new issue of ‘public’ confession, in the form of phone in /write in chat shows, strengthens. The ‘radio confessional’ differs from the sacramental in its public exposure of problems, the church refuses to discuss, such as child sexual abuse. The extensive use of ‘phone-ins’ represents the search for new norms by consensus rather than church teaching. This shows evidence of the increasing irrelevance of religion in contemporary Irish society. (Clancy et al., 1995: 397)

Vocations have experienced a massive decline in Ireland. Table one shows the decline in numbers entering Maynooth seminary from 76 students in 1986 to 18 students in 1996.

Table 1.

Numbers entering Maynooth seminary

(Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 5)

Tendencies such as the latter appear to indicate processes of institutional decline and hence of secularisation. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 280) As well as a decline in practise and affiliation there also appears to be less confidence in the church by the laity. For example the proportion having a ‘great deal’ of confidence in the church has increased from 38% to 46% in the 1990’s. (Greely and Ward, 2000: 585) The trend for confidence in the church has declined in parallel with the trend in church attendance. (Crotty and Schmitt, 1988: 79) This lack of confidence in the church has been marked by changing views away from traditional to more liberal views on certain issues. For example the proportions of Irish people thinking that pre-marital sex, same sex relationships and abortion when there is a strong chance of the child having a serious defect, are always wrong have declined significantly between 1991 and 1998. The church and opposition form Rome have been unable to halt this change in opinion among the catholic population. (Greely and Ward, 2000: 586) And so if religion is seen as institutional then it seems that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant in contemporary Irish society. If the degree of religiosity in Ireland is the degree to which the church plays a part in everyday life then there is evidence of its increasing irrelevance. This is evident in the churches decline in major institutions in society. The drop in vocations evident since the late 1960’s is marked in the case of teaching orders. For example between 1970 and 1981 the number of sisters in primary schools decline by one-third and in secondary by one-quarter. This contraction occurred at precisely the time that the number of pupils, were expanding rapidly. (Clancy et al., 1995: 607) The churches control of schools had been regarded as ‘the single most important institutional means of reinforcing catholic precepts’. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 275) Consequently it is no longer a necessity for lay teachers to be religious to gain recognition and promotion. Being religious has become less relevant as a strategy employed by teachers to gain cultural and symbolic capital needed to attain and maintain their social position. (Inglis, 1998: 225)

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The ‘moral monopoly’ of the church has also been loosened in the field of health. ‘As hospital services mushroomed, the dominance of religious orders in hospital administration and staff dwindled’. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 275) Apart from religious run hospitals the church held influence on medical ethics on other hospitals, such as the prohibition of sterilisation. (Clancy et al., 1995: 672) However the main area in which the church has lost control is in the area of the promotion of artificial contraception. The fear of an aids epidemic led the Health Promotion Unit to broadcast a series of advertisements on radio and television, which promoted safe sex through the use of condoms. This was orientated to those engaging in sexual intercourse outside of marriage. The churches teaching on refraining from pre-martial sex was not mentioned. This shows the increasing irrelevance of religion in contemporary Irish society. (Inglis, 1998: 226)

Since the 1960’s the Catholic Church has fought against the liberalisation of laws regarding contraception. The first sign of departure from a dogmatic stance was in 1973 concerning Mary Robinson’s bill on contraception, where it was stated that, ‘ the state was not obliged to defend by legislation the moral teaching of the catholic church.’ (Clancy et al., 1995: 612) The two main issues on which Irish catholic voters went against the teaching of the church were abortion and divorce. In 1993 legislation was passed legalising homosexuality also. The decline in the churches influence and religion significance is due to the absence of representative of religious life in debate and discussion in the public sphere. Also politicians no longer find it necessary to be involved with members of the clergy and to have them symbolically legitimate their political position. This shows evidence, of decline in the relevance of religion, in contemporary Irish society. (Inglis, 1998: 220-222)

The mass media have played a very large part in opening up the Irish consciousness to the social and cultural changes which were taking place elsewhere. ‘The proclivity to censorship in catholic Ireland collapsed in the face of the range of developments in mass communications especially television, satellite and radio’. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 269) The catholic churches uniformity was shattered when it emerged that Bishop Eammon Casey had a son. The medial highlighted that the church, which had so long insisted on confession was not able to confess to this. It is important to recognise that it is now the media who, extracts public confessions and dominate the field of morality. This heightened in the case of Father Brendan Symth, who raped children. The sacred image of the church as a means of protecting the innocent was shattered. These scandals purposely highlighted by the media are linked to significant decreases in religious practise and to the fact that many Catholic’s ignore the churches teaching on sexual morality and as a result the catholic church became weaker as an institution leading to increased irrelevance of religion in contemporary Irish society as shown in the following. (Inglis, 1998: 211-218)

The churches decline in the latter fields can be seen, to be linked to Irish women abandoning their traditional role as mother. Between 1971 and 1996 the number of women at work increased by 130%. In the field of health, women have gained access to contraception and information on travelling abroad for abortions. The fertility of marred women has been declining whilst the fertility of unmarried women has been rising. The catholic churches monopoly on Irish morality has been broken and religion is no longer as relevant as it once was. (Inglis, 1998: 239-240)

However the decline in the influence of the church in the moral field is not matched by a similar decline in the religious field as a whole. If it is acknowledged that being religious is made up of two dimensions being moral and being spiritual, then there is evidence of less decline in the church in the latter field. Despite the scandals and the decline in the churches moral monopoly, most Irish Catholic’s still go to mass on Sunday’s, have their children baptized and confirmed and are married in and by the church. (Inglis, 1998: 242) There is evidence of a new type of catholic emerging in Ireland. The new catholic tends to think in terms of a spirit rather than a personal god, has a liberal attitude on sexual matters, has an optimistic interpretation of religion and who questions the churches right to speak out on government policy yet considers it appropriate that the church should be outspoken on social issues. It is questionable whether a decline in institutional adherence is part of the secularisation process. (Inglis, 1998: 203)

Around 95% of the population of the Republic of Ireland declare themselves as catholic. ‘It is the only predominantly roman catholic country in the English speaking world’. With the loss of the Irish language the Catholic Church became very important as a mark of Irish identity. (269) Religion also appears to be important in an ideological sense in the Republic of Ireland, as is evident in the growth of special purpose groups and the ways in which they revitalize faith. These lay-run organisations have been very successful in the Republic of Ireland in mobilising catholic’ in defence of traditional positions regarding divorce and abortion. The churches institutions role has changed from a close collaborator of the state and more as a social critic on behalf of the poor and vulnerable as a result of social and economic change. It is appropriate to regard the change as evidence of revitalisation of Catholicism and the increase of the relevance of religion in contemporary Irish society. (277-279) Also not all indicators of religious practise support a secularisation thesis. (Goldthorpe and Whelan, 1992: 283)

For example a number of reasons for the decline could be due to the previously mentioned church scandals. Also the media provides alternative ways of passing time and socialising. (Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 3) Rather than secularisation being the cause of decline in church attendance a process of social polarisation may actually be taking place. For example fewer that half of the unemployed attend church weekly. Evidence shows that the unemployed are less likely to participate in community rituals such as church attendance. Failure to attend church is not necessarily an increase in the relevance of religion, as more than nine out of ten continued to believe in god, nine out of ten thought it was important to hold a religious service for births marriages and death and eight out of ten people drew strength and comfort from prayer. (Crotty and Schmitt, 1988: 74-75) Prayer remains popular with nearly 40% of people claiming to pray several times a day. The practice of prayer on a regular basis shows support that religion is not becoming increasingly irrelevant in contemporary Irish society. (Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 3) If decline in attendance at religious services is not replicated in figures that show a decline in the frequency of prayers in ones lives, this is evidence that suggests a decrease in a belief in a communal context for the celebration of religious belief rather than any decline in religious belief itself. (Cassidy, 2002: 4)

Church attendance among the Irish has not changed in the 1990’s and there has been an increase in those in their middle years of life. (Greely and Ward, 2000: 583) Statistics seem to suggest evidence of a resistance to secularising tendencies. There is a high level of adherence to core religious beliefs as shown in table two. Beliefs such as, belief in a god, belief in life after death, belief in heaven, hell and sin. These beliefs suggest the limited appeal to an exclusively materialist philosophy such as secularisation.

Table 2.

Acceptance of Core Christian Beliefs in Republic of Ireland

(Cassidy, 2002: 2)

All of the evidence points towards the end of organised religion and the emergence of the ‘social church’, where people seek religious values without commitment. This is known as the ‘myth of secularisation’, and shows that religion is not becoming irrelevant in contemporary Irish society. (Sociology Lecture 1,1996: 1)

NO- NI

Secularisation usually comes in a package with modernisation, yet for NI, positioned in a very modernised UK, religion is of significant importance. Many writers place it at the heart of the conflict. (Mc Garry and O'Leary, 1995: 171) NI is well known for its high levels of religiosity and the importance that religion holds on aspects of everyday life. The proportion of Catholic’s has risen between 1991-1998, from 35% to 38%, mainly due to demographic factors as shown in table three, whilst a decrease in Protestantism can be explained by a growth in conservative evangelical churches.

Table 3.

Religion of respondents, 1991 and 1998 (%)

(Gray, 2002: 23)

When beliefs of the two denominations where surveyed it was found that there was a high certainty of belief in god with 58% of Catholic’s and 49% of protestants stating that the knew god really existed and had no doubts about it. Also as table four shows there is also a high belief in Christian tenants such as heaven where 53% of Catholics and 47% of protestant and even 12% of those with no religious affiliation believe in it.

TABLE 4

70% of Catholic’s, 64% of Protestants and 69% of other Christians and 16% of those with no religious affiliation believe that ‘there is a god who concerns himself with every human being personally’. (25-26) Belief is one thing, however people in NI tend to also practise their belief in church worship. 67% of Catholics, 29% of Protestants and 49% of other Christians attend church at least weekly. (27) It is noted that religiosity does have an impact on various social and moral issues regardless of denomination. Sex before marriage is always wrong for one-fifth of Catholics and Protestants and for one-third of other Christians. Adultery is believed to be always wrong by 70% of Catholics 74% of Protestants and two-thirds of other Christians. And so it can be seen that regarding sexual matters of which the church holds perhaps the greatest stance, religion is still relevant in contemporary Irish society. (31) NI doesn’t seem to be less religious than it was in 1991. The maintenance of these high levels of religious identification is usually explained by the role religion plays in the ethno-national conflict. However there is no evidence that during the decade around the ceasefires and peace negotiations that religious belief or identification weakened. (Gray, 2002: 38)

Religion is a source of ethnic differentiation and is very importantly used as a social marker in the conflict between nationalists (who are usually Catholics) and unionists (who are usually protestants). (Brewer, 1992: 352) Religion then as a social marker in NI is a very relevant phenomena in everyday life in NI. For example religion segregates the two communities in various different ways, which will now be discussed. Church affiliation, whether Catholics or protestant tends to spill into other activities such as women’s guilds, youth groups, and badminton for protestants and associations such as Saint Vincent de Paul and the legion of Mary for Catholics. Some church leaders have done all possible to block closer relations between Catholics and Protestants such as Reverend Paisley and in this sense religion is a relevant mechanism for segregation. However many church leaders have found religion relevant to engage in bridge building programmes, between the two communities. (27) The orange order plays a large part in the lives of many Protestants in NI and is a way of socialising young Protestants into the belief of their community. Catholics observe it as ‘the massive demonstration of control of territory… a demonstration of protestant power..’ The orange order is seen to be important as it divides Catholics and protestant’s (Whyte, 1991: 31) , if it is necessary to place emphasis on the division of these two religions, then religion can hardly be seen to be irrelevant in contemporary Irish society.

Religion has also been a relevant factor in residential segregation in NI. Research shows that by the end of 1972 the proportion of Catholics living in streets 91% or more catholic was 71%, whilst for Protestants living on streets 91% or more protestant it was 78%. (33) Residential segregation is a base for self-defence of cultural preservation and it can reinforce other forms of segregation such as support for different football teams and reading different papers to name but two. Segregation at work is also highly defined by religion. Results from interviews found that employers where very conscious of the religious composition of their workforce and each usually employed their own. (Whyte, 1991: 37) The introduction of religious quarters into the ‘Police Service of Northern Ireland’, shows the extent to how religion is relevant in NI. (Lecture ? 11/03/03) A number of voluntary activities in NI are also segregation by religion. These include Gaelic games, usually partaken in by Catholics (rule 42) whilst on the other side, protestants have largely played rugby and hockey. (Whyte, 1991: 38)

A further source of segregation by religion is marriage. The two communities in NI are highly endogamous – they marry within the tribe. This has been found to be the most powerful single factor in maintaining the community divide. (Whyte, 1991: 40) A survey in the 1980’s showed that only one in sixteen NI marriages were mixed and 40% of one of the partners changed their religion. ()

Segregated education is also a feature of NI society. Each community sees it important that they were schooled within their own religious system. (Whyte, 1991: 46)

YES

Ecumenists attribute the conflict to the churches stressing their differences, rather than their similarities and believe that it is no ‘holy war’ it is an actual fact profane. (176) And so if religion is defined in terms of scripture to be non-violent, religion is irrelevant in NI.

Nationalist politicians propose secular policies, such as policies for economic reforms. (192) The argument that the church is indirectly responsible for republican violence is questionable. The churches lack of control and religious relevance was demonstrated by the failure of pope John Paul 11 plea on bent knees in Drogheda for peace, in 1979. (206) If one wants to argue that there is an important religious dimension to the conflict it is more reliable to argue that the conflict is between ‘secular religions’. (Mc Garry and O'Leary, 1995: 212) For most Catholics religion is not the central feature of conflict in NI, religion being defined to issues of doctrine and practise. Catholics have tended to regard political and economic inequality as the root of the NI problem. (158) The churches in NI have mirrored the divisions of secular society and have given them an institutional shape and ideology. (165)

Other factors to suggest that religion holds less relevance in contemporary Irish society is the increase in mixed marriages from 6% in 1989 to 9% in 1998 and data from a survey of the population in 1995 suggests that conversion is now less common occurring in about one in seven intermarriages. ()

Also an article in the Belfast Telegraph showed how Sunday trading laws have revolutionised the way we spend the Sabbath. Ron Lewis, a former member of the house of commons stated,

“ We should be prepared to defend Sunday against further secularisation and commercialisation…if by our actions we pass on to the next generation a de-Christianised Sunday, they will pass on a de-Christianised Britain.” (Belfast Telegraph, April 15th 1999: 13)

(find stats for increase in integrated education.)