ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that those who think the conflict is fundamentally or primarily based on religion are wrong. Observers describe the groups in conflict as Catholics and Protestants, or use Catholic/Protestant and nationalist/unionist as interchangeable sets of antonyms. In South Africa and Ulster the Protestant settlers, intentionally or otherwise, forgot that Christ’s sacrifice was supposed to have transformed God’s covenant with the Jews into a universal faith to be preached to Jew and Gentile alike – a covenant between Christ and humanity. Yet significant numbers of journalists, historians and social scientists place religion at the heart of the conflict: and Brian Gable’s cartoon captures their feelings. Religious devotion is extremely high in Northern Ireland: 1,280 of 1,291 respondents to Rose’s Loyalty Survey, conducted in 1968, gave a denominational identification when asked their religion. In one ‘index of religious voting’ Northern Ireland’s score was 81 - in a possible range from 0 to 100.
