Diasporic religion: The Irish and Northern Irish in England

Abstract

The current research assesses the religious orientations of Irish and Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant migrants in England related to the suggestion that immigration to a comparatively irreligious society increases religious awareness. Participants were 391 opportunity- and snowball-sampled individuals, where 171 were members of the Northern Irish Diaspora, 54 were members of the Republic of Ireland Diaspora and 166 were members of the English Control Group. Findings suggest that the Irish and Northern Irish migrant groups showed significantly higher levels of religious commitment than their English counterparts, although these diasporic groups did not differ from each other in terms of their levels of commitment. Findings are discussed with reference to the impact of religion on migration, Catholic and Protestant religious practices, and the impact of church activities on religious commitment.

Keywords:

• religion
• diaspora
• migrant
• Northern Ireland

Notes

1. Religiosity scales were selected for use to provide continuity with previous studies focusing on the Irish and Northern Irish Diaspora (see Binks & Ferguson, 2002; Roe et al., 2002).

2. MANOVA was used in line with the requirements for testing multiple-dependent variables. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were tested separately. In testing Hypothesis 1, the IV was Diasporic Status (with three levels: Northenr Irish Diaspora, Republic of Ireland Diaspora and English Control Group), and the DVs were intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity and religious orthodoxy. In testing Hypothesis 2, the IV was Diasporic Status (with three levels: Northern Irish Catholic Diaspora, Northern Irish Protestant Diaspora and English Control Group) and the DVs were intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity and religious orthodoxy. Although there were discrepancies in terms of the sizes of the groups being compared, Levene's Tests were non-significant (p>0.05), therefore supporting the use of the parametirc MANOVA analysis.