ABSTRACT
While relatively small in both geography and population, Ireland has played an important role in the most prominent sociological theory of religion: secularization. The basic premise of secularization theory is that modernization will reduce religiosity as people, organizations and cultures will rely less and less on religion to provide explanations for natural phenomena and succour in times of need (Cragun and Lawson 2010; Dobbelaere 2002; Gorski 2000; Wilson 2000). While the basic idea of secularization is quite broad, secularization is now a very nuanced theory (Bruce 2013). One of those nuances is that religiosity may not decline as a country or culture modernizes if religion is or suddenly becomes an instrumental or important part of identity in that culture. For example, when the importance of religion is heightened because of a conflict that involves religion, secularization may be delayed in that culture until the prominence of the conflict has waned and the salience of religion as part of one’s identity declines.
