Minority Religions and Immigration in Ireland

Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents an overview of minority religions on the island of Ireland which include religious communities of immigrants and ethnic minority groups. Although religious minorities have been part of Ireland’s religious landscape for centuries, large-scale immigration since the mid 1990s has contributed considerably to an increase and diversification of minority religions. The first part of the chapter provides an overview of common patterns of immigrant and minority religious communities, including the demographic, sociological, and religious characteristics. The second part maps minority and immigrant groups’ religious communities, including: (a) Catholic immigrant congregations; (b) Orthodox churches; (c) Protestant, Pentecostal, and evangelical immigrant communities; (d) Muslim communities; and (e) Jewish, Hindu, and Sikh communities.