Sociology

Discuss the extent to which Davie’s (1994) concept of ‘believing without belonging’ is applicable to the Irish context.

In Grace Davie’s 1994 work ‘Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging’, she discusses the correlation of religious beliefs and values professed by people and the practice of religion, through churchgoing or otherwise. As it is seen as a historically religious state, it is interesting to apply this concept to Ireland, in particular in a time such as now where relations between church and state are dynamic and exposure to different religions is increasing dramatically. This complex concept may be analysed from many aspects of religion in Ireland.

In his 2007 article ‘Catholic Identity in Contemporary Ireland: Belief and Belonging to Tradition’1, Tom Inglis discusses the changes in Catholic identity in Ireland. Inglis cites the 2002 census as showing that 90% of the population identified themselves as being Catholic, while the most recent census in 2011 showed a drop to 84.2% of the population identifying themselves as Catholics2. While these figures show that religious identity remains strong in Ireland, they also indicate a changing religious structure in the country. In relation to Davie’s concept of ‘believing without belonging’, it can be seen that the aspect of ‘believing’ remains strong, while ‘belonging’ has undergone a more drastic change, as only 18% of Catholics are reported to regularly attend mass3 (IrishCentral Staff Writers, 2013). There are many speculations as to the cause of this decline in attendance, as Davie states ‘Why relatively high levels of belief and low levels of practice should be considered normal is far from clear’ (Davie, 1994:5)4.

It is difficult to define why exactly such a large difference exists in Ireland between both sides of this concept. Religious services, in particular in rural areas, are described by Voas and Crockett (2005) as a ‘social pursuit’5. However, with Ireland becoming...