Religious Identification, Switching, and Apostasy Among Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland: Individual and Cohort Dynamics Between Two Censuses 2001–2011

Abstract

Religious identification has historically been salient in Northern Ireland as an ethnic‐national identity marker. Thirteen years after the Good Friday Agreement that marked the start of the peace process in the country, the question arises whether religious affiliation in Northern Ireland has become less of an ethnonational identity marker and more of a personal choice. This article analyzes religious switching and apostasy between 2001 and 2011, using data from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study, a representative sample of approximately 28 percent of the population, linked to the 2001 and 2011 censuses. We found that the vast majority retained their self‐reported religious affiliation, a tiny minority switched between Protestantism and Catholicism, and a significant minority, particularly among the young, switched to “none/not stated” or between Protestant denominations. Religious switching is associated with young age, higher education, and also socioeconomic deprivation. Experiences of social frustration appear to drive many to leave their faith.

Declines in Religiousness Dimensions across Adolescence as Predictors of Religious Deidentification in Young Adulthood

“…This involves discrete shifts in religious identification. Of greatest interest to the field are three types of shifts categorized as conversion (going from not being religious to being religious; for a review, see Paloutzian, 2014), deconversion (going from being religious to not being religious; for a review, see Streib, 2014), and switching (changing from one religion to another; e.g., Doebler & Shuttleworth, 2018). The focus of the present study is on deconversion, or what we specifically will term “religious deidentification.” In line with Van Tongeren and DeWall (2021), we define religious deidentification as a discrete shift from identifying as religious to identifying as nonreligious.…”

Congregational Switching in an Age of Great Expectations

“…Consistent with this claim, educational mobility continues to influence religious switching, especially to mainline Protestantism (Schwadel 2011). Recent work, however, finds that educational attainment is less determinative of religious switching in recent cohorts (Scheitle and Smith 2012), though increasing intergenerational mobility of conservative Protestants may drive religious switching (Everton 2005) and cross-national variation in the relation of socioeconomic status and switching must be considered (Alcaino and Mackenna 2017; Doebler and Shuttleworth 2018; Haskell, Burgoyne and Flatt 2016).…”

The Zeal of the Convert Revisited

“…There are reasons to suggest that converts may not be more religious than cradle members, depending on the motive for their transformation. Conversion is not always a consequence of any kind of religious epiphany; it may originate in much more mundane concerns (Doebler and Shuttleworth 2018; Hout and Fischer 2014). Social ties are among the most significant precipitants of conversion (Lofland and Stark 1965; Stark and Finke 2000).…”

“…Social ties are among the most significant precipitants of conversion (Lofland and Stark 1965; Stark and Finke 2000). Political ideology (Djupe, Neiheisel, and Sokhey 2018; Hout and Fischer 2014), socioeconomic status (Stark and Glock 1968), and residential move (Doebler and Shuttleworth 2018; Stark and Finke 2000) are all well‐known determinants of conversion. However, somewhat surprisingly, there does not appear to be a link between motivation for religious change and religious commitment (Carrothers 2010; Hoge, Johnson, and Luidens 1995).…”