My talk is titled ‘Surveying Religion’s Public Role: Perspectives on Diversity, Reconciliation and Ecumenism.’ It will draw on some of the research conducted for my School’s Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism research project.

The seminar is a joint venture of Dublintellectual and the Hugh Lane, and the purpose is to explore representations of conflict and post conflict in art and culture. The event is in conjunction with the Rita Donagh & Richard Hamilton Civil Rights etc. and Willie Doherty: DISTURBANCE exhibition running to Jan 15th 2011.

This is the programme line-up:

WELCOME ADDRESS
Jessica O’Donnell & Barbara Dawson, Hugh Lane
Dr. Marisa Ronan, Director, Dublintellectual
SPEAKERS
Dr. Declan Long, NCAD, “Spectres of the Political: Art and Aftermath in Northern Ireland.”
Dr. Eamonn Hughes, Queens University, “Conflict & Popular Culture.”
Dr. Gladys Ganiel, Trinity, “Surveying Religion’s Public Role: Perspectives on Diversity, Reconciliation and Ecumenism.”
Prof. Liam Kennedy, UCD, “Historicising Photography & Conflict”
Wine Reception 9:00-9:30

Please book in advance at: www.hughlane.ie/education

This project, while focusing primarily on Christianity, has also included some research into the experiences of what we are calling ‘Faith Minorities.’ The results of this research were the subject of my presentation (you can download the powerpoint here).

During the question and response session, several participants commented that they were pleased with the ‘Faith Minorities’ terminology that I used throughout the talk.

I had explained that the research team had found terms commonly used on this island to describe religions other than Christianity problematic. For instance, ‘Other Religions,’ could seem to imply that Christianity should enjoy a privileged place in society, with different religions relegated to problematic ‘others.’

Another popular term, ‘non Christian’ religions, could be understood to mean that, again, Christianity is the normative religion against which others are judged. One needs to think only of the South African apartheid regime’s characterisation of other races as ‘non white’ to see what I am getting at here.

When writing up a draft report of the research, I initially used the term ‘Minority Faiths.’ My rationale was that people of various expressions of the Christian faith are a numerical majority on this island. So, perhaps a more sensitive way to characterize ‘other’ or ‘non Christian’ religions on this island would be to refer to them as minorities.

In consultation with Fred Vincent, the member of the research team who carried out interviews with people from these various faiths, I changed the terminology to ‘Faith Minorities.’

Fred thought it more appropriate to emphasise people’s faith before their status as a numerical minority, and I could see where he was coming from.

A few days prior to my presentation for the Inter Faith Forum, the research team met privately in Dublin to discuss the data from the Faith Minorities and another case study. One of our Ph.D. candidates, Celia Kenny, pointed out that she thought the language of ‘minority’ was especially significant and perhaps could and should serve as a wake-up call to the Christian majority on this island to engage with different perspectives.

What I took as Celia’s main point is that numerical minorities occupy certain spaces in society that the majority is simply blinded to.

If people in the majority engage with minorities and really listen to them, we are open to all kinds of new perspectives – particularly when it comes to ways in which our social structures, religious systems, and political systems cause people who are part of those minorities to feel oppressed or dominated.

So I expect when we get to the stage where more of this research is ready for publication in journals and books, Faith Minorities will be the term employed.

One person present at Wednesday’s talk asked me to describe the process by which the research team had settled on the more sensitive ‘Faith Minorities’ term. I answered by relating much of what I have written here about our awareness of the problematic nature of terms like ‘other’ and ‘non Christian’ religions, particularly my discussion with Fred Vincent.

I also said that the Irish School of Ecumenics’long engagement with the various aspects of the conflict on this island had most likely heightened our awareness of the difficulties surrounding language.

For instance, in their 2000 book Moving Beyond Sectarianism, then-Irish School of Ecumenics researchers Joseph Leichty and Cecelia Clegg spent a great deal of time analysing sectarianism. Relevant to this blog post, they described how polarising and divisive language plays its part in maintaining Northern Ireland’s sectarianism system. That’s a point I reiterated in a recent blog post on Slugger O’Toole.

On Wednesday, it felt good to think that at least for those present, our chosen terminology had been welcomed and appreciated. A few well-thought out words can go a long way.

The talk is not limited to members of the Northern Ireland Inter Faith Forum – all are welcome.

I’ll be presenting data from our 2009 surveys of faith on the island of Ireland. These surveys threw up the rather interesting finding that laypeople of all faiths seem more likely than clergy/faith leaders to include ‘non Christian’ (I am uncomfortable with this term) religions in conceptions of ecumenism.

I’ll also be discussing data from in-depth interviews with people from what we are calling ‘faith minorities’ (rather than ‘non Christian religions). These interviews were conducted last year by research team member Fred Vincent and include people of Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faith. They range from Irish and Northern Irish-born people from Christian backgrounds to immigrants from India and Turkey.

The interviews covered multiple themes, including people’s experiences of committing to a new faith (particularly for Irish and Northern Irish born Christians who now practice a different faith), experiences of acceptance, experiences of rejection/prejudice, lack of recognition, the meaning and practice of ‘everyday religion’, and ‘ecumenical visions.’

Dr Marion Bowman will launch the book with a talk on ‘Contemporary Celticity’ on Wednesday 30 March at 6.30 pm in the Gutter Bookshop, Cow’s Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. The event will also mark the launch of an Irish research network on alternative spiritualities, the New Age and new religious movements (contact: olivia.cosgrove AT ul.ie).

Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. For more information on the event, please contact Ciara at 086 3678501.

Dr Bowman is Senior Lecturer and Head of Dept. of Religious Studies at the Open University and a leading researcher on contemporary paganism, Celtic spirituality, the New Age, folk religion, place and tradition.

The book is a product of an interdisciplinary academic conference on ‘Alternative Spiritualities, the New Age and New Religious Movements in Ireland,’ held in October 2009 in Maynooth.

It features 18 chapters, from the editors’ general overview of Ireland’s contemporary religious landscape, to chapters on Celtic Buddhism, the religion of Irish Travellers, evangelicalism in the Republic of Ireland, the Fellowship of Isis, and Islam as a migrant religion, amongst others. The editors’ introduction is available online.

The book looks set to become a landmark publication, as there are no other volumes that provide the breadth and depth of analysis offered here.

As the editors point out in the introduction, for an island often known for its religion, scholarly analysis of religion in Ireland has been somewhat limited. Apart from Tom Inglis’ seminal book Moral Monopoly: The Rise and Fall of the Catholic Church in Modern Ireland, there have been few systematic studies of religion on this island.

There has been, of course, significant research on the role of religion in Northern Ireland’s Troubles (a debate to which I have contributed). But this work has been framed largely in terms of the conflict.

The editors are keen to emphasise that religious diversity is not just a by-product of immigration and the Celtic Tiger; rather, it has a long history in Ireland (p. 6-9). That said, the main concern of the book is contemporary religious diversity, the demographics of which are ably detailed by Malcolm Macourt in his chapter, ‘Mapping the “New Religious Landscape” and the “New Irish”: Uses and Limitations of the Census.’ It’s here that we have confirmed oft-repeated phrases such as: there are now more Muslims than Presbyterians in the Republic of Ireland.

But beyond its scholarly contribution, what makes the book enjoyable (and of interest to a more popular audience) are the chapters which provide detail and description about what lies at the heart of these various expressions of religion.

One of the exemplary chapters in this regard was Jenny Butler’s ‘Irish Neo-Paganism: World-View and Identity,’ a richly illustrated contribution that provided plenty of space for the practitioners to speak for themselves about what their religion means to them.

I was also fascinated by two chapters on what might be considered ‘fringe’ aspects of Irish Catholicism:

• Attracta Brownlee’s chapter on ‘Irish Travellers and “Powerful” Priests: An Alternative Response to New Age Healing Techniques.’ It provided insight into how Travellers ‘select’ priests – usually considered marginal within the Institutional church – as healers and counsellors.
• And Peter Mulholland’s chapter on ‘Marian Apparitions, the New Age and the FÁS Prophet.’ It contextualised and analysed the contemporary career of Joe Coleman, latterly known for predicting Marian apparitions at Knock, who in 2001 trained as a spiritual healer with the Irish government’s National Training and Employment Authority, FÁS.

Finally, as a researcher who specialises in evangelicalism, I appreciated the inclusion of a chapter by Ruth Jackson Noble on ‘The Changing Face of Irish Christianity: The Evangelical Christian Movement in the Republic.’

Research on evangelicalism on this island has been dominated by work on Northern Ireland, and Jackson ably demonstrates how distinctive southern Irish evangelicalism is from its northern cousin. Jackson also proposes ‘four underlying values of Evangelicalism,’ enhanced by the words and websites of Irish evangelicals.

These values – experience, security, community and democracy – not only help the reader to grasp what’s important to evangelicals, but also to understand what it is like to be an evangelical.

The book also provides a substantial, integrated bibliography, which should serve as a useful resource for scholars from many disciplines. However, I was dismayed to find that some sources cited in the chapters were missing from the bibliography.

To give just one example, Jackson cites Pete Rawlings (2009) on page 138. I suspected that this was the Irish emerging church thinker Peter Rollins, but when I checked the bibliography, neither Rawlings or Rollins was there.

I am not sure how widespread this problem is, as I only checked bibliographical references that were of interest to me. But even with my very un-systematic checks, I am sad to report that it happened on several occasions in other chapters.

But putting that aside, I’m excited about this book because I think it will become an essential resource, and a starting point for further conversations, about religious diversity in Ireland.

The May/June 2010 issue of Doctrine and Life (Vol. 60, No. 5) has published an article by me titled, ‘Visioning 21^st Century Ecumenism: The View from the Pulpits, the View from the Pews.’ This article outlines the major findings from our surveys of faith leaders and laypeople. These are organised under the following headings:

• Diversity and Immigration – A Lot Done, A Lot More to Do?
• Reconciliation – It’s All About Me?
• Ecumenism
• The Individualisation (Protestantisation?) of Irish Catholic Faith
• The Great Divides: Evangelicals, Gender, Dissenters
• The Marginalisation of Atheists?

Last week, the Church of Ireland Gazette ran a cover story about our recent workshop on the survey findings, headlined ‘All-Ireland survey prompts call for new approaches to ecumenism.’

The writer, David Masters, reported that,

A significant minority of Christians saw ecumenism as either boring, a waste of time, or associated with compromise. One survey respondent branded it “religious political correctness”, while another referred to it as “a departure from the truth of the Gospel.”

… The survey found that Christians continued to think about ecumenism in terms of Roman Catholic-Protestant relations, but Dr Ganiel suggested that ecumenism should be redefined in wider terms. A new definition should incorporate a wider Christian concern for diversity and would have a more practical application in the public sphere, she suggested.

The latest issue of the Community Relations Council journal Shared Space has published an article, ‘Surveying Religion’s Public Role: Perspectives on Reconciliation, Diversity and Ecumenism in Northern Ireland,’ (now available online) which analyses the results of the survey returns from Northern Ireland.

And finally, the British Religion in Numbers website yesterday published a blog post about the research project, ‘Reflections on Surveying Religion Online: Perils and Promise.’

(Photo of Ballydesmond, Co. Cork, sourced on flickr photo-sharing by Kman999)

I opened the seminar with a powerpoint presentation of the major findings of our surveys of faith leaders and laypeople. These have been in the public domain for some time, having been launched last October with a two-day workshop. As often happens in such seminars, it is the discussion that follows that pushes thinking further, or in new directions altogether.

This was again the case, as those in attendance raised important points about the relevance and value of the research in a context in which the influence of traditional church institutions seems to be waning by the day.

For example, one participant who works with a faith-based organisation in a ‘peace line’ area of Belfast said that his experience is that people on either side of the walls are not really that interested in reconciliation, especially from a Christian perspective.

There are a reliable few, mostly older people, who attend events and work tirelessly for this cause, but he said he struggled to find a vision that inspired people.

He’s not alone. Others joined in with comments that young people, in particular, were turned off by faith-based efforts to encourage good relations between people of different religions or ethnic groups.

I think this is related to a general disillusionment with church institutions and church leaders on the island of Ireland, which is more pronounced in some denominations than in others.

Indeed, one of the most striking findings of the layperson survey is that Catholics are more likely than other denominations to say that the influence of their clergy on their spiritual/religious lives is minimal. Catholics also are more likely than people from the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches to say that personal reflection is important for their faith.

To me, this sounds like some people are maintaining their faith, outside of or despite their church institutions.

At this stage of the research project, we are conducting two case studies of what one might call religious communities or expressions of faith. These are the Fermanagh Churches Forum and the Holy Cross Monastery in Rostrevor. The case studies involve interviews with people who participate in these groups’ activities. In the case of the monastery, this includes laypeople who do not live at the monastery.

From what people have told me so far, it seems that the churches forum and the monastery both provide examples of how people are gaining meaning, spiritual sustenance, and inspiration from religious sources outside of traditional church structures such as congregations, parishes or denominational bodies.

Could such extra-institutional groups be providing spaces where people can find inspiration or articulate the visions that the peace line worker says we so desperately need?

To see the powerpoint presentation, click here

The next major event in the research project is a conference in Trinity College Dublin featuring many internationally-respected theologians: From World Mission to Interreligious Witness.

The  project will proceed to the end of 2011 with theological research and six further case studies of expressions of faith on the island of Ireland.

Gribben is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Print Culture at Trinity College Dublin. His talk is aimed at an audience of American seminarians from the Reformed tradition, and his purpose is to provide them both with a general perspective on the lie of the land on Christianity in Ireland, and a particular view of evangelicalism in the Republic.

Gribben’s message opens with a brief history of religion in Ireland. He starts talking more specifically about evangelicalism about 18 minutes in on the recording. Here, he offers up some interesting statistics on the growth of evangelicalism in the Republic.

• In 1980 there were 10,000 evangelicals in the Republic
• In 2000 there were 30,000 evangelicals in the Republic
• There are about 450 evangelical churches in the Republic today
• 60% of those churches have existed for less than 10 years

Slow Motion Revival

Gribben calls this a ‘revival in slow motion.’ He tells the story of Kilkenny Presbyterian Church, saying that for years a dozen people prayed for revival and a minister who would preach the gospel. He says that today Kilkenny Presbyterian is a thriving congregation.

Gribben also speaks of his own experience as a member of Laois Bible Church, which has grown from a handful of believers nine years ago to a community of more than 100 people which includes Rotimi Adebari, the first immigrant from Africa to become a mayor of an Irish town.

Gribben senses that his audience will be excited by these developments, which he characterises as ‘good news from a far land.’ But he also notes a lack of ‘indigenous’ Irish leadership in these churches, and worries that new EU restrictions on the travel and immigration of religious leaders will deprive Irish evangelicalism of more pastors, ministers, and missionaries who could help keep the revival alive.

Faction Fighting?

In his post, Mitchel focuses on Gribben’s comment that ‘all is not well in the citadel of Irish evangelicalism’ and that the existence of Aontas and Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) represents

“that painful process of differentiating ourselves from each other according to our various theological perspectives”

Mitchel questions Gibben’s claim that the conservative/Reformed Aontas is larger and more influential than the ‘more socially and theologically progressive’ EAI, writing:

One … impression given in the talk of Irish evangelicalism is that [it is] a predominantly conservative reformed network. Maybe this was the case in the past, I just don’t think this is accurate of the present. Crawford does not give due weight to significant fact of recent immigration – mostly of African Pentecostals. Nor does he really mention a network like Assemblies of God Ireland, the Plumbline group of churches and many other charismatic churches like Trinity Church Network and others.

I would add that among many ‘indigenous’ Irish evangelicals there has been a deliberate distancing from conservative and reformed expressions of evangelicalism. These Irish evangelicals see the conservative and reformed brand of evangelicalism as too much associated with Northern Ireland, sectarianism and conflict.

Though coming from different perspectives, both Mitchel and Gribben seem to find the divisions within evangelicalism troubling. Mitchel makes a passionate case from his experience in the Bible institute that diversity can be mutually enriching,

But more than just living with difference, student after student says it is this difference which has enriched and deepened their faith as they not only think through what they believe and why, but also recognise that sincere, passionate followers of Jesus don’t believe the same things on every point of detail.

I agree that difference can be enriching, and the experience should be expanded beyond evangelicalism in the Republic. A recent Church of Ireland Gazette editorial noted with approval the willingness of leaders of the four historic churches and the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland to work together.

I wonder if there is a similar willingness or desire on the part of evangelical organisations in the Republic not just to get on better together within evangelicalism, but to participate in wider ecumenical conversations?

I suspect that there is much that all faith communities can learn from Irish evangelicalism’s ‘slow motion revival.’

(Image from the Irish Bible Institute webpage)

The title of the seminar is ‘Faith and Community Relations: Perspectives on Diversity, Reconciliation and Ecumenism.’ I’ll outline key findings from recent the surveys of faith leaders and laypeople, as well as insights from the on-going case studies of faith communities.

Currently we are conducting case studies of the Fermanagh Churches Forum and the Holy Cross Monastery in Rostrevor. By the end of the project we plan to conduct eight case studies of faith communities all over the island.

This event marks Community Relations Week.

Some of the findings of the surveys were discussed in a workshop at October, the proceedings of which are available here. You can also read the full survey reports here.

This latest seminar will draw out some results that have not be published previously, such as differences between the way men and women, and evangelicals and non-evangelicals, think about reconciliation.

We also will have available copies of the latest edition of the Community Relations Council journal Shared Space, in which I’ve published an article on the research called, ‘Surveying Religion’s Public Role: Perspectives on Reconciliation, Diversity and Ecumenism in Northern Ireland.’

Please RSVP to Caroline Clarke on reconsec@tcd.ie. Please note that parking on-site is limited, so you may need to park on side streets.

The April 9 edition of the Church of Ireland Gazette features Clarke’s election on its front page. It reports that Clarke says there are ‘three major tasks facing Irish ecumenism today’:

1. increasing and forwarding cooperation among the different Christian traditions, and in particular ‘making connections’ between the long-established traditions and those which have come to Ireland more recently
2. advancing the cause of the ecumenical movement towards the fuller and more visible unity of the Church, warning that any concept of ‘unity in diversity’ should not let the Churches ‘relax their efforts’ towards such unity
3. reaching out to the world beyond the borders of the different denominations with a ‘vision’ of the whole Church as the body of Christ, calling the churches to turn from any ‘tendency to divisiveness.’

Clarke replaces Rev. Tony Davidson, a Presbyterian minister from Armagh. The newly elected Vice President is Fr Godfrey O’Donnell of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Davidson will stay on as a Vice President and another Vice President will be elected, with preference for a female candidate.

An accompanying editorial in the Gazette notes with approval a recent meeting of the two Archbishops of Armagh, the Methodist President, the Presbyterian Moderator, the ICC President and the National Director of the Evangelical Alliance (NI) with the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland, saying that,

‘One hopes that this more inclusive model of ecumenical leadership will replace the rather restricted ‘Four Church Leaders (Ireland)’ group, also allowing the Church leaders to relate more directly to the formally appointed, and accountable, ecumenical bodies.’

This meeting, as well as a representative from the Romanian Orthodox Church serving as Vice President, seem to be evidence of progress towards Clarke’s third point.

Further, the ICC has recently posted a document on its website: ‘Ecumenical affirmations on Migration, Diversity and Interculturalism,’ and invited responses to this from their member churches in 2010. This follows on from the resource published by the ICC, ‘Unity in Diversity in Our Churches: A Resource to Assist Local Congregations with the Integration of New Residents in their Faith Communities on this Island.’ These initiatives reflect a focus on Clarke’s first and second points.

It’s important that the ICC is raising these issues. These issues are also of central concern to my School’s ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism’ research project, which is exploring how faith communities on the island are approaching diversity, reconciliation and ecumenism.

As the surveys we have conducted have shown, there hasn’t been an overwhelming uptake of resources such as those published by the ICC.

Nevertheless, the Gazette notes a stirring within Irish ecumenism. The editorial says it is especially important that the ICC is reaching out beyond the ‘Big Four.’

Can the numerically smaller churches and yes, even communities of other faiths, help revitalise Irish ecumenism? The editorial concludes,

‘Sometimes it is said that ecumenical life is in the doldrums, blighted by stagnation. However, the mood and witness provided by the ICC and IICM together is surely not only hopeful for the ecumenical future but also inspiring for the younger generation.’

(Image from flickr photo sharing, by mortommy)

About 2,000 displaced Zimbabweans sleep in the church every night. Everyone seems to agree that this stretches the capacities of the church and its resources to a breaking point. South African authorities have claimed that the church has become a health and sanitation hazard, and there are rumours that some children have been sexually abused in the church.

The Methodist Church gives as the official reason for Verryn’s suspension:

He has been charged with transgressing the Laws and Discipline (L&D) of the Church – essentially the constitution of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.

The church’s specific gripe with Verryn seems to be that ‘Verryn applied to the high court last year in a bid to get a curator appointed for unaccompanied minors living at the church.’

Verryn acted without the permission of the Methodist Church in doing this.

From afar, this seems like a trifling technicality – just another example of out-of-touch church authorities interfering with someone who is ‘being Jesus’ to the poor. But when the surface of the controversy is scratched, other issues emerge. The Mail & Guardian reports that,

Last October, the Gauteng legislature’s health and social development portfolio committee called for the closure of the church.

Following a visit to the building, chairperson Molebatsi Bopape said at the time: "Children are being exposed to abuse, babies are sleeping on the floor … the place is so filthy that we couldn’t even breathe."

The controversy has also stirred up rumours that Verryn himself has been involved with abuse, although this remains unproven.

Further, there does not seem to be any other place for the refugees to go and many refuse to leave the church, where they have received shelter and skills training.

The Mail and Guardian also quotes Jonathan Whittall of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), who ‘said he believes the attack on Verryn and the church is another form of intimidation of the Zimbabwean refugee population.’

“Government is not responding to the needs of Zimbabweans seeking ­refuge in South Africa … and the [Central Methodist Mission] church is a very visible place where those failures are being exposed.”

People outside of southern Africa – especially football fans – should be bothered by this because there are accusations that the authorities are trying to ‘hide’ the poor and the refugees from visitors coming to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

The churches in South Africa have had a history of not only speaking with a ‘prophetic’ voice about injustice, but of trying to do something about it.

Verryn’s suspension highlights some of the difficulties and complexities of that calling, and raises questions not just for Christians in South Africa but further afield.

• How do the churches – whether it’s in South Africa or on this island – treat the immigrants and refugees who arrive on their doorsteps?
• How can the churches not only contribute to meeting the immediate needs of immigrants and refugees, but also influence government policy in a direction that is more just? (In this, churches on this island don’t have to take the same sort of risks that Verryn seems to have had to take with his own denomination and the governmental authorities.)
• What should Christians do when their resources have reached the absolute limit and yet desperate need remains?

The Verryn case remains unresolved, but it calls all Christians to reflect on the cost, controversy and complexity of a prophetic faith.

(Photo, Verryn blessing Zimbabwean refugees in the Central Methodist Church, Johannesburg. Photo sourced from the Central Methodists Church and Bishop Paul Verryn Facebook fan page.)