Northern Ireland – still a religious divide

by Malachi O’Doherty in The Tablet this week

The 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement have seen the steady decline of religious belief and practice in Northern Ireland – but the Churches continue to have a significant role to play in ending the blight of sectarian hatred ….

Bill Heaney, editor of The Democrat, covered The Troubles in the early 1970s. He is pictured here taking notes while talking to a soldier from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Belfast.

In The Tablet this week:

The 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement have seen the steady decline of religious belief and practice in Northern Ireland – but Malachi O’Doherty, pictured top of page, points out that religion is deeply embedded in the divisions over territory, education, sport, culture and politics “and whatever the communities choose to squabble over next”. The Churches still have a significant role to play in ending the blight of sectarian hatred. “Don’t blame religion for all of it,” he writes, “but don’t wholly absolve it.” Will the walls – red and blue – soon come tumbling down? Our lobby correspondent Julia Langdon has been taking soundings and suggests that the forthcoming local elections will show if Rishi Sunak might succeed in confounding the current expectations in Westminster that the Labour Party will form the next government. Details of the King’s coronation – code-named “Operation Golden Orb” – on 6 May are starting to emerge, and Ian Bradley expects it to look towards the future while being rooted in tradition. And writer and conservationist Mary Colwell hikes through the Meseta, one of the most austere sections of the Camino de Santiago, with nature as her only companion.