After Ethnic Conflict: Religion and Peace-building in West Belfast

Abstract

In societies undergoing a process of conflict transformation, empirically detailed case studies that focus not just on the part played by religion, but more specifically on the actual experiences of clergy, are scant. As a consequence, theory has been developed at the expense of contextual insight. This article attempts to fill a gap in the literature by contributing to an empirical understanding of the difficulties that surround religious peacemaking and inter-community reconciliation. The article explores the experience of clergy in the notoriously militant area of the Shankill in Protestant West Belfast. Although political violence has ended in Northern Ireland, there remains much work to be done reconciling Protestant and Catholic. A prolonged experience of inter-community violence has left its mark on the Shankill community. Communal fear and uncertainty continue to encourage sectarian attitudes despite the Good Friday Agreement. The research findings identify the problems confronting religious peace-building as a consequence of the fragmented nature of the Shankill's religious institutions (a Protestant phenomenon). It also accounts for the existential challenges clergy often have to address as a result of, on the one hand, a sense of ethnic belonging and duty to their community, and on the other, their commitment to Christian-based reconciliation.