Religion, Reaction, and Revolt in Northern Ireland: The Impact of Paisleyism in Ulster

Abstract

The conflict in Northern Ireland and Ulster, essentially one between two rival nationalisms, has strongly religious overtones. Supporters of a united Ireland or advocates of union with Britain are drawn from two distinct and rival religious communities. Since the beginning of the 1970s, an underground army of insurgent Roman Catholic republicans has been trying to destroy the state of North ern Ireland which, for most of its existence, has largely been in the control of the majority Protestant community. Unionist politicians who are Catholics or Protestant members of the Provisional Irish