1.Religion This teaching and learning resource has been produced by the Irish Qualitative Data Archive as part of the NUI Maynooth/NDLR Learning Innovation Community Support Project, Teaching and Learning Through the Archive. The presentation includes short interview excerpts from the Life Histories and Social Change Project, http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th- century-ireland where the respondent have given their consent to be identified.Irish Qualitative Data Archive, 2012 Additional teaching resources are available at http://www.iqda.ie/content/teaching- resources Development of this resource funded by National University of Ireland Maynooth / National Digital Learning Repository Attribute as follows: Irish Qualitative Data Archive [distributor], 2012.

2. Religion 3. Concepts:Religion as a social structure Ideological controlSegregation and sectarianism Secularism 4. 1. Defining religion 5. 1. Defining religionReligions ...are the long-term outcome of historicalprocesses that have seen the development ofspecialised and limited rites and cults intolarger and more organised andinstitutionalised bodies of knowledge andpractice (Restivo cited in Share, Tovey &Corcoran, 2007, pg. 400) 6. 1. Defining religion Key aspects of religion are sacred symbols rituals and special behaviour a feeling of reverence a community of believers(Share, Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 399) 7. 2. Religion as asocial structure 8. 2. Religion as a social structureSociology has contributed to the study of religionby mov[ing] beyond the common senseunderstanding of religion as dealing with mysteryand the supernatural and *by emphasizing+ its social nature.(Share, Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 399) 9. 2. Religion as a social structure*R+eligion was of key importance to the earlysociologists [Compte, Marx, Weber,Durkheim], both in terms of the influence andimpact of forms of religious beliefs on societyas a whole and in terms of the power and roleof religious institutions in everyday social life(Share, Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 400) 10. 3. Religion inTwentieth CenturyIreland 11. 3. Religion in Twentieth Century Ireland Writing in 1987, Inglis remarks; One of the first impressions of [Ireland] that marks it out as different from other Western societies is that the [Catholic] Church is a strong and active force in everyday life (Inglis, cited in Share, Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 403)Image courtesy of The National Library of Ireland 12. 3. Religion in Twentieth Century Ireland During the Twentieth Century religionplayed such a central part in thedaily lives of Irish people that othersocial events were oftenconstructed around prayer times orstructural worship.Image courtesy ofThe National Libraryof Ireland 13. Think about... Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slide and think about the following questions.Q1. In the following excerpt the interview participant describes how, the rosary had to be said every night. How did the rituals of religion shape everyday practices in the family home?Q2. The interview participant describes say[ing+ the rosary every nightand attending mass every Sunday as examples of religiousdevotion. To what extent were these social as well as religiousevents?Q3. This excerpt describes religious practices in an early 20th centuryIrish family. In what ways have religious practices in the homechanged in recent times and what has brought about thesechanges? Are there any practices that have remained the same? 14. Prayers at home, 1920s Audio clipSource: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH125 (female, born in 1929) http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandINT:Was there a lot of religion in the house?RESP: Oh there was, father would say the rosary* every night and all had to be down on their knees.INT:Was this before or after the ramblers** were in?RESP: It would be after the ramblers.INT:So nobody got to bed until after the ramblers had gone.RESP: No but of course they didnt delay that long you know, I suppose they came about half [past] ten or thatyou know, theyd be in early. But the rosary had to be said and was said [unclear]. He was a great manfor the rosary and mass every Sunday, walked to mass. My brother used to say to him, daddy youshould have been a priest! [laughs]INT:How was that received?RESP: He didnt say yes or no.*rosary:A form of Roman Catholic devotional prayer in whichfifteen decades of prayers are repeated**ramblers: people going from house to house to socialize in theevenings 15. 4. Ideological Control 16. 4. Ideological Control*I+deological controlwas ... reinforced by the churches control of institutions such as education, health and social welfare and the generation of expert knowledge (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007, p.413)"A political discourse that focused on national identitybased on difference from Protestant England ...helped to solidify the ideological control ofCatholicism [in Ireland during the TwentiethCentury]" (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, pg. 413) 17. The phenomenal power of the Catholic Church inIreland during the 20th Century is captured by FintanOTooles cradle to grave explanation of the welfaresystem that was established post-independence...Image courtesy of The National Library of Ireland 18. 4. Ideological Control An Irish person was and is likely tobe born in a Catholic hospital, educated at Catholic schools, married in a Catholic church,have children named by a priest,be counselled by Catholic marriage advisors if the marriage runs into trouble,be dried out in Catholic clinicsfor the treatment of alcoholismif he or she develops a drink problem,be operated on in Catholic Hospitals,and be buried by Catholic rites(OToole cited in Share, Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 414).Image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland 19. 4. Ideological ControlThe modern institutional church and the modern Irish nationstate developed simultaneously and gestated in mutualinterdependence during most of the nineteenth century andinto the twentieth. (Nic Ghiolla Phadraig cited in Share,Tovey & Corcoran, 2007 pg. 415)On the formation of the Irish Free State, the Catholic Churchbecame the effective arbiter of social legislation, having aban on divorce inserted into the Constitution, encouragingthe introduction of draconian censorship of books and films,delaying the legalisation of artificial contraception until 1979,retaining largely unquestioned control over schools andhospitals funded by the taxpayer, resisting the slowdevelopment of a welfare state. (OToole cited in Share,Tovey & Corcoran, 2007, pg. 404) 20. Think about... Read the newspaper excerpt on the next slide andthink about the following questions Context: Excerpt from a letter sent by the Bishop of Ferns to the Taoiseach, on the 10th of October 1950, expressing the objection of the Catholic hierarchy to the proposed Motherand Child health care scheme. The Scheme was dually withdrawn by the Government in1951, and on the 12th of April 1951, as a result of this controversial clash between his officeand the Church, Minister for Health, Dr. Noel Browne resigned from his ministerial post. On the morning of his resignation Dr. Browne released to the Irish Times the correspondence between the Government and the Catholic hierarchy over the proposed scheme.Q1. What aspects of the Mother and Child Scheme were of particularconcern to the Church, as detailed in the exerpt?Q2. Considering the outcome of the proposed scheme, how did thisincident reveal the power of the Catholic hierarchy to resist* + theslow development of a welfare state (OToole cited in Share, Tovey& Corcoran, 2007, pg. 404)? 21. [Letter from] Bishop of Ferns to Taoiseach10th October, 1950Experience has shown that physical or health education isclosely interwoven with important moral questions on whichthe Catholic Church has definite teaching.Education in regard to motherhood includes instruction in regardto sex relations, chastity and marriage. The State has nocompetence to give instruction in such maters. We regard withthe greatest apprehension the proposal to give to local medicalofficers the right to tell Catholic girls and women how theyshould behave in regard to this sphere of conduct at once sodelicate and sacred. (Excerpt from letter from the Bishop ofFerns to the Taoiseach on 10th October 1950, published in theIrish Times, April 12th, 1951). 22. 5. Segregation andsectarianism 23. 5. Segregation and sectarianismSectarianism *is+the process ... whereby religious differences arenoted through picking up cues from names,accent, school attended, sports played thenevaluated and sometimes acted upon in a waythat is discriminatory (Share, Tovey andCorcoran, 2007, pg. 408) 24. 5. Segregation and sectarianismHistorically religion became a key signifierbetween *Protestant English+ settler and*Catholic Irish+ native (Share, Tovey andCorcoran, 2007, pg. 408)Otherness was, and is created and re-createdthrough practices like endogamous marriage ...and segregated or denominational education(Share, Tovey and Corcoran, pg. 409) 25. Think about... Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slide and think about the following questions.Q1. What evidence is there that the two groups in this community,Catholic and Protestant, were integrated with one another?And what evidence is there that they were segregated?Q2. The participant says that the woman was afraid thatsomeone would say to the priest that [she] went inside therailings of a Protestant church. How did the physicalseparation of the two groups foster a sense of differencebetween Catholics and Protestants living in the samecommunity? 26. Protestantism and Catholicism in Ireland, 1960sAudio clip Source: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH218 (male, born between 1945 and 1954) http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandINT: And were your grandparents from outside were they religious at all? RESP: Everybody was religious then. You had no choice, I dont know. I dont know because there was a lot of superstition and there was no way that you would not dream of going to the church. There was no way, I mean you had to be one or the other. I mean I can remember going, our local shopkeeper, I lived over beside the Five Lamps and our local shopkeeper was a Protestant and when his daughter was to be married. Now to us, I realise now he wasnt very wealthy, but to us he would have because he owned a shop and he had a car. And when his daughter was being married in St. Barnabus church, which is now knocked down, I can remember all the people from the corporation flats going down to see her and they couldnt go inside the railing into the church. And one woman broke ranks, she ran up and looked in the door, she wanted to see the girl actually being married rather than coming out in her dress and going in with her dress and she turned round to the other auld ones, auld ones is a loving term that we use, its not meant in a rude way, and she turned round, Dont fucking one of yous, fucking tell on me or Ill fucking kill yis. She was afraid that someone would say to the priest that so and so went in, inside the railings of a Protestant church and she would have been called down, so I dont think you had much choice but to be religious. 27. 6. SecularismSecularisation is defined asthe process by which sectors of society and culture areremoved from the domination of religious institutions andsymbols (Berger cited in Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007,pg. 417)Fahey et al. suggest that the conflicts over church doctrine[for example, on contraception, divorce and other questionsof sexual morality], as well as the impact of church scandalshave contributed to a longer term decline in confidence inthe church (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007, pg. 420) 28. 6. Secularism and modernity*Secularism+ suggests a disenchantment ofsociety (Webers evocative term): a processwhereby the spiritual and the supernaturalcome to play a lesser role in peoples lives andmay be replaced by more mundane, rationaland scientific modes of thinking andexpression (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007,pg. 417) 29. 6. Secularism in Ireland:2011 CensusNo religion[According to the 2011 Census of Ireland]between 2006 and 2011 the number ofpeople with no religion grew by 83,500 to269,800.The majority of this group were Irish nationalsaccounting for 176,180 of the total andincreasing by 64.4 per cent since 2006.The majority of those with no religion wasconcentrated in the age group 20 to 49 years.(CSO, 2012, emphasis added) 30. 6. Secularism in IrelandData source: WIN-GallupInternationalIreland has the second greatest drop GLOBAL INDEX OF RELIGIOSITY ANDATHEISM - 2012 globally, in those claiming to be religious since 2005 (Red C, 2012) 80%69% 70% 60% 50%47%44% 40% 2005 30%25%2011 20%13%10% 10%2% 0% 0% A religious person Not a religious A convinced atheist Dont know/refused personRed C Opinion Poll (2012) 31. 6. Secularism in IrelandA number of recent survey into religiousattitudes in the Republic of Ireland haverevealed that attendance atchurch, considered a fundamental part ofreligious commitment, has been in declineover the past twenty years. 32. 6. Secularism in Ireland:Religious Practice (McGreil)Weekly religious worship in the Republic of Ireland has fallen from79% in 1988-89to 42% in 2007-08Monthly religious worship in the Republic of Ireland has fallen from85% in 1988-89to 54% in 2007-08 (MacGreil, 2009) 33. 6. Secularism in Ireland: Religious Practice (McGreil)The findings [of this survey] also reveal that thepredominant reason given by those who didnot attend weekly worship was: Just dontbother (65%) (MacGreil, 2009, emphasis added)Discussion point: Return to the church during times of uncertainty?A 2009 telephone survey* found that weekly church attendance increased to 46%, and monthly attendance to65% ... [the increase has been associated by with the downturn in the Irish economy ] ... McGarry quotes DavidQuinn, director of the Iona Institute, who states that this is anecdotal evidence that church attendance hasbeen increasing since the recession began (McGarry, 2009.)*Red C poll conducted between October 19th and 21st 2009, for the Catholic Iona Institute and based on telephone interviews with a randomsample of 1,000 adults aged 18 and over. 34. 6. Secularism in Ireland: Religious Practice (EVA)Data source: European Values Study 4th waveQ: Apart fromOnce a month, 16%weddings, funerals andchristenings, about how oftendo you attend religiousservices these days?(Base: Catholics in R of Once a week, 36%Ireland)Only on special holy days, 11%Once a year, 9% Less often, 11%More than once a week, 9% Never, practically never, 8%OMahony (2010) 35. Think about...Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slideand think about the following questions.Q1. The interview participant describes not attending mass as, thebig rebellion. How was non-attendance at mass a rebelliousbehaviour?Q2. Religious control is seen to have lessened within family life andthe community in the last two decades. We were sixteen wewere allowed go on our own - how does this description ofprayer time and structured worship compare to the descriptionin the first excerpt?Q3. Is the decline of traditional religion in the community a natural progression in a global society? Can you think of specific events that have lead to the recent decline of traditional religious practices, such as attending mass, in Irish society? 36. Young people and traditional religion in the late 1980sAudio clip Source: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH315 (male, born in 1970) http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandINT:And what sort of values would you say your parents instilled in you, like what were the things that they wanted[yous]?RESP: [They] wanted us to go to mass every Sunday and we didnt. I think that was the big rebellionINT:That was a big change in Ireland as well?RESP: Yeah, mmINT:And did you go to mass every Sunday?RESP: We kind of switched, when Saturday night mass came along we kind of switched and went down to Saturdaynight mass, looked in, seen who it was and then got an hour free. You didnt have to come home till nine oclock totwenty to nine whatever it wasINT:So they didnt go with you?RESP: No cos we were sixteen we were allowed go on our own and they trusted us and we just looked in said,"ah its father whoever it was" and then were goneINT:You knew how long hed take [laughs]RESP: Yeah, youd see the crowd coming out of mass and youd go "right five minutes" and wed have to goINT:But when you were younger, say growing up as a young child, would they have brought you every Sunday to mass?RESP: Oh yeahINT:They were religious people?RESP: Yes, yeah every SundayINT:And are they still religious people?RESP: Yes, yeah my mum lights candles and she goes to mass everyday during Lent and all that stuff, soINT:What religion do you mind me asking?RESP: Roman Catholic. The usual 37. 6. Secularism in Ireland:However, measuring religiosity in terms of attendance at churchservices has its limitations.*W+e see an increasing number of adherents for many churchesin Ireland; and matters of religion still occupy an importantplace in public discourse (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007, pg. 417)Ireland remains the overwhelmingly Catholic country of the English-speaking world, according to results of the April 2011 census, published [on the 29th March 2012]. Over 84 per cent of people in the Republic, or 3.86 million, described themselves as Roman Catholic in that census. (McGarry, 2012) 38. 6. Secularism in Ireland:2011 Census Figure 35 Population classified by religion 2006 and 2011 Ireland remains a predominantly Not statedCatholic country despite the large increases in other religions seen in No religion recent years. No other religion comesOtherclose in importance with over 84 per cent declaring themselves RomanApostolic or Pentacostal Catholic. The graph below shows that while the number of Catholics overallOrthodox increased by 179,889, or 4.9 per Presbyteriancent, since 2006 much of this increase came from the non-Irish (mostly Christian European) national community. (CSO, 2012) Muslim (Islamic)Church of Ireland2011Roman Catholic 2006 0.00 500.00 1,000.00 1,500.00 2,000.00 2,500.00 3,000.00 3,500.00 4,000.00 4,500.00 (Thousands)Data source:This is Ireland Highlights from Census 2011, Part 1 39. 7. Ireland and new religions 40. 7. Ireland and new religionsCritics of the secularisation thesis have argued (Aldridge, 2000, pg. 103-106) that it is liberal capitalist societies such as the United States that are most open to the growth of new religious forms ... [than] European societies, where the state is far more closely aligned with established religions ... it will be interesting to see whether future religious change in Ireland takes us in the direction of Boston or Berlin (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007, pg. 427). *T+he fastest growing religions between 2006 and 2011 in percentage terms were Orthodox, Apostolic or Pentecostal and Muslim Evangelical and Methodist showed the largest decline compared with 2006. (CSO, 2012) 41. 8. Disenchantment? 42. 8. Disenchantment?The typical end point of decline in religious adherence is not totalrejection and indifference towards religion but a shift fromstrong and highly institutionalised attachment towards moreintermittent and lukewarm adherence and towards variousforms of privatised belief and commitment (Fahey et al. Citedin Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007, pg. 423)The practice of personal prayer is still relatively strong and itsdecline has been less severe than the drop in formal worshipand sacramental participation (MacGreil, 2009) 72% pray weekly or more often (MacGreil, 2009, emphasis added) 43. 8. Disenchantment? Belief in... Base: Catholics in R of Ireland; source: European Values Survey100% 10.10%90%23.40%24.70% 28.40%80%49.80%70%70.10%60% No50%Yes 89.90%40%76.60%75.30% 71.60%30%50.20%20%29.90%10% 0%Belief in... God Life after deathHell HeavenSin Re-incarnation Data source: European Values Study 4th wave (OMahony, 2010) 44. 8. Disenchantment?Irish people are still very comfortable with the central spiritual claims of the Christian church, but are less likely to agree with its direction in other areas of life (Share, Tovey and Corcoran, 2007 , pg. 420). 86% of the total sample admitting they felt a degree of closeness (to God)(MacGreil, 2009, emphasis added) 45. ReferencesCentral Statistics Office (March 2012) This is Ireland Highlights from Census 2011, Part 1. StationeryOffice, Dublin, Ireland.Mac Greil, M. (2009) Summary of report The Challenge of Indifference from Cardinal LaunchesMcGreil Survey, 16th June 2009. Accessed at:http://www.amdg.ie/2009/06/16/cardinal-launches-macgreil-survey/McGarry, Patsy Mass attendance in Ireland is up in The Irish Times , 2nd November 2009. Accessed at:http://search.proquest.com/docview/521520817/fulltextPDF/139686A658572E0AAEC/1?accountid=12309McGarry, Patsy Ireland remains overwhelmingly Catholic in The Irish Times, 30th March 2012.Accessed at:http://search.proquest.com/docview/958728232/13968645A6D67EF4720/151?accountid=12309OMahony, E. (2010) Religious Practice and Values in Ireland. A summary of European Values Study 4thwave data. Maynooth: Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.Red C Opinion Poll.(2012) Global index of religion and atheism. Press release. Accessed at:http://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/RED-C-press-release-Religion-and-Atheism-25-7-12.pdfShare, P., Tovey, H. and Corcoran, M.P. (2007) A Sociology of Ireland, third edition. Dublin: Gill &Macmillan.The Irish Times Bishop of Ferns to Taoiseach, 12th of April 1951. Accessed at:http://search.proquest.com.jproxy.nuim.ie/docview/524197283/13992B7D44D4F9FA19D/11?accountid=12309 46. Note on this teaching resourceIQDA Teaching Resources by Irish Qualitative Data Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th- century-ireland.Life Histories and Social Change was funded by the Irish Research Council (IRCHSS).Images on slides 2, 11, 12, 17 and 18 courtesy of The National Library of Ireland. Reproduction of this images is with the written consent of The National Library of Ireland only.This teaching resource was prepared by Ruth Geraghty. IQDA would like to acknowledge LindaOKeefe and Aileen OCarroll for their work on this teaching resource.Preparation of this teaching resource was assisted by an NDLR Learning and Innovation Projectgrant from the NUI Maynooth Centre for Teaching and Learning.Irish Qualitative Data Archive, 2012