Religion, Civil Society, and Peace in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This study is written by three ‘insiders’ to church peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, who are also sociologists and bring to their analysis a wealth of experience and analytic insight, based on four years of qualitative interviewing amongst church leaders and rank‐and‐file members of political parties, prime ministers, paramilitary organizations, community development, and civil society groups, as well as government politicians and advisors. It seeks to correct various misapprehensions about the role of the churches by pointing to their major achievements in both the social and political dimensions of the peace process, by small-scale, lesser‐known religious peacebuilders as well as major players. The book is replete with hard sociological realism; it does not treat the churches lightly or sentimentally but highlights major weaknesses in their contribution. It challenges the view that ecumenism was the main religious driver of the peace process; focusing instead on the role of evangelicals, it warns against romanticizing civil society, pointing to its regressive aspects and counter‐productive activities, and queries the relevance of the idea of ‘spiritual capital’ to understanding the role of the churches in post-conflict reconstruction, which the churches largely ignore. The study develops a conceptual framework to understand religious peacebuilding in a comparative perspective, allowing the Northern Irish case study to speak to other conflicts where religion is thought to be problematic.