Trinity College Dublin Living Religion in Northern Ireland: Experiences of People of Faith Minorities in a Christian Majority Landscape. By Dr Gladys Ganiel

Trinity College Dublin Part of the IRCHSS-funded research project To be completed over three years ( ) Marks Centenary of 1910 Missionary Conference Surveys, sociological case studies, theological reflection

Trinity College Dublin Tonight’s Talk Focus on data related to ‘Faith Minorities’ Data from 2009 Surveys Data from 2010 Case Study

Trinity College Dublin Purpose of Surveys To audit religious diversity on the island – Ethnic diversity within Christian congregations/parishes; and ‘other’ religions – Perceptions of reconciliation (what is reconciliation & who should be reconciled?) – Perceptions of ecumenism (what is ecumenism & does it matter today?) – Perspectives of both faith leaders & laypeople

Trinity College Dublin Surveys of Faith Leaders Clergy, Pastors, Ministers, Faith Leaders More than 4,000 direct or postal requests April-July 2009 Response rate 18% Evangelicals over- represented Highest response rate among Methodist & Church of Ireland

Trinity College Dublin Surveys of Laypeople On-line Exploratory Survey More than 900 respondents April-July 2009 on Atheists & evangelicals over-represented Provide useful points of comparison for survey of faith leaders and provide directions for future research

Trinity College Dublin ‘Minority’ respondents Only 14 of 710 respondents on faith leaders survey 9 from Republic, 5 from Northern Ireland Response rate 24% Baha’i, Buddhist, Hare Krishna, Hindu, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim Nothing substantial can be claimed from this data, due to small sample size BUT …

Trinity College Dublin Interesting Findings Leaders from Other Religions were most likely to say they had been provided with adequate training or resources for promoting reconciliation (89%) Other Religions (89%) reported the most positive conceptions of ecumenism. On ecumenism, Christians prioritized options including ‘Catholics and Protestants’

Trinity College Dublin ‘Lay’ Minority Respondents 910 total respondents, 29 from Faith Minorities (23 from Republic, 4 from NI, 2 did not indicate location) Includes Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Humanist, Jewish Orthodox, pagan, Soto Zen Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhist Again, nothing substantial can be claimed from this data, due to small sample size BUT …

Trinity College Dublin Interesting Findings The laypeople who responded to our survey were more likely to indicate that good civic relations and dialogue with Other Religions is part of ecumenism, than were the faith leaders who responded 25% of laypeople on the island as a whole reported accessing resources on reconciliation between people of different religions 28% of laypeople on the island as a whole had accessed general resources on reconciliation (25% in the Republic and 38% in Northern Ireland). The most likely to have done so were people from Other Religions (47%) and Other Christians (38%).

Trinity College Dublin Faith Minorities Case Study 2010 Context of seven other case studies – Fermanagh Churches Forum – Holy Cross Benedictine Monastery, Co. Down – Sli Eile (Jesuit youth organisation) – Abundant Life Assemblies of God church, Limerick – St Patrick’s United Church, Waterford – Jesus Centre, Dublin – Ballyboden Catholic lay parish council, Dublin

Trinity College Dublin Faith Minorities Case Study (2010) Our purpose? To provide in-depth perspectives on what it is like to live as a member of a faith minority community on this island Interviewees are not ‘representative’ Semi-structured interviews provide room for depth and more nuanced understanding Participants sourced through ISE contacts and 2009 surveys

Trinity College Dublin Interviewee Demographics Age RangeBirthplaceReligious backgroundCurrent ReligionCurrent residenceGender 40-60Northern IrelandChurch of IrelandBaha’iNIM 40-60TurkeyMuslim (Sunni) NIM 40-60IndiaHindu NIM 18-25TurkeyMuslim NIF 40-60IndiaSikh IrelandM 40-60IrelandJewish IrelandF 26-40Northern IrelandCatholicBuddhistIrelandM 40-60IrelandCatholicBuddhistIrelandF 65+IrelandChurch of IrelandBaha’iIrelandF 65+IrelandCatholicBuddhistNIM (LGBT)

Trinity College Dublin Irish or Northern Irish born interviewees Dissatisfaction or disappointment with previous religion But always several factors Committing to a new faith

Trinity College Dublin Experiences of Acceptance With family With society around them I can easily say this is one of the relaxed and good countries, where you can live your faith and don’t have any problem. … As long as you don’t go to very sensitive areas of the country where nationalism is very high. - Afandee, Turkish Muslim in N. Ireland

Trinity College Dublin Present in all narratives In social interactions In public policies, politics, educational system, etc. Experiences of Rejection/Prejudice & Lack of Recognition

Trinity College Dublin Meaning & Practice of ‘Everyday’ Religion Prayer, meditation, social work – religions give meaning to people’s everyday lives All say their religions are not about converting others Many emphasise that their religions are non- violent

Trinity College Dublin Ecumenism All say ‘other religions’ should be included This may be related to desire for recognition or acknowledgement But, one had not heard of ecumenism, two were unsure, and another had checked its meaning in the dictionary Is ecumenism the same as inter faith dialogue?

Trinity College Dublin Points to Ponder Acceptance is hard to come by Ordinariness of everyday religious life When little recognition, who should reach out? Relationship between inter-faith dialogue & ecumenism