Religion In The Republic Of Ireland
The predominant religion in Ireland is Christianity, with the largest church being the Roman Catholic Church. Ireland's constitution states that the state may not endorse any particular religion and guarantees freedom of religion. In 2011, 84.2% of the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 2.6% less than 5 years earlier, although the number of Catholics increased by 179,889.
Other significant Protestant denominations are the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, followed by the Methodist Church in Ireland. The second largest Christian denomination, the Church of Ireland (Anglican), declined in membership for most of the twentieth century, but has more recently experienced an increase, as have other small Christian denominations. The country's Hindu and Muslim populations have experienced significant growth in recent years, due chiefly to immigration. In the 2011 census, 269,811 people (5.9%) had no religion, with 3,905 and 3,521 people describing themselves as "atheist" and "agnostic" respectively. Those who did not state a religion numbered 72,914 (1.6%). Researchers debate the relative significance of secularisation as a general feature of Irish society, the interpretation of census results and the extent to which religious syncretism is becoming more widespread.
Read more about Religion In The Republic Of Ireland: Politics, Education, Christianity, No Religion, See Also, External Links
Famous quotes containing the words religion, republic and/or ireland:
“A man has no religion who has not slowly and painfully gathered one together, adding to it, shaping it; and one’s religion is never complete and final, it seems, but must always be undergoing modification.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“I date the end of the old republic and the birth of the empire to the invention, in the late thirties, of air conditioning. Before air conditioning, Washington was deserted from mid-June to September.... But after air conditioning and the Second World War arrived, more or less at the same time, Congress sits and sits while the presidents—or at least their staffs—never stop making mischief.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)