Religion and Secularization in Irish Society

Marx and Religion

Marx famously stated that religion "is the opium of the people," suggesting that Religion is a pain killer.

it obscures people's true needs and diverts their attention from exploitation towards eternal matters (Share, Corcoran, and Conway, 2012, 327). This perspective highlights how religion can legitimize inequality and distract from material realities.

Marx's primary concern was not religion itself, but the material and economic conditions that foster inequality and capitalist exploitation. He believed that the need for religion would diminish if these conditions were removed and, replaced by a Marxist socialist structure.

According to Marxist conflict theory, religion often legitimizes the elite and their ownership of property.

For example, the Vatican owns over 5000 properties worldwide, illustrating the Church's economic power. In Ireland, priests historically announced who paid parish dues at mass, giving special attention to wealthy landowners who paid more, thus reinforcing the connection between economic status and religious influence. The Catholic Church has historically been conservative towards change, opposing modernisation and viewing public healthcare as 'socialized medicine.'

Emile Durkheim: Functionalism

Durkheim, in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912), defined religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them." This definition emphasizes the unified system of beliefs and rites that distinguish the sacred from the profane.

Durkheim posited that the worship of God is essentially the worship of society itself. Societal values are projected into the concept of God, reinforcing individuals' allegiance to society through religion. This makes society more powerful than any individual. Religion, in this view, renders society's shared values and moral beliefs as sacred, strengthening moral bonds and promoting social solidarity through collective worship.

Religions serve three major functions in supporting society:

Social Cohesion: Religion binds individuals together by maintaining shared values, symbols, and norms.
Social Control: It promotes conformity by referencing religious and moral values and shared norms.
Meaning and Purpose: Religion provides comfort and strength during life's transitions and tragedies.

However, Durkheim also cautioned in Suicide (1897) about the dangers of excessive cohesion (integration) and control (regulation).

Collective Effervescence

Coined by Émile Durkheim in the early 20th century, “Collective Effervescence” describes the sense of energy and harmony people feel when they come together in a group around a shared purpose.

Durkheim observed this in tribes, as the entire tribe gathers together on rare occasions and where the collective energy of the moment is projected onto physical objects and people, rendering them “sacred”.

An example of this is in Ireland, is the Moving Statue Phenomenon in 1985.

Collective Effervescence therefore transforms the world into the sacred and the profane:

Sacred: Aspects of the world must be approached with special care and reverence, such as priests, bishops, bread, and wine at communion.
Profane: Mundane aspects of everyday life e.g. - everyone else than priests and bishops; bread and wine at a shop compared to bread and wine at communion.

The Family in Irish Society and the Decline of Religious Influence

The Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932 saw an estimated one million attendees (in a population of just under 3 million). In contrast, the Pope's Mass at the Papal Cross in Phoenix Park in 2018 drew approximately 152,000 attendees. This stark difference indicates significant changes in Irish society and a decline in religious participation.

What happened? // Why the Change? // What does that tell us about changes to Irish Society?

Secularisation

Secularisation involves a 'disenchantment' of society (Weber's term), “a process whereby the spiritual and supernatural become come to play a lesser role in people’s lives and be replaced by more rational and scientific thinking” (Share et al, 2003).

It is “the process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbols” (Berger, cited in Hornsby-Smith and Whelan, 1994, p.8).

Secularisation includes “a reduction in the public power of the churches and a decline in the status and prestige of religious figures” (Share et al, 2003).

Additionally, in terms more related to contemporary common-sense understanding of the concept, it can relate to a decline in participation in formal and informal religious activities, such as use of sacred objects, weekly church attendance or daily prayer.

To assess secularisation, one must examine multiple societal levels: Macro (whole society), Mezzo (institutions), and Micro (individuals) (Malesevic, 2010).

Macro or Whole Society Level: Irish State and Catholicism

Catholicism and Irish identity were deeply intertwined during the formation of the state, with “Irish” often equating to “Catholic”. The Catholic Church held significant authority, influencing laws on:

Divorce.
Abortion.
Family life, solidified in the Constitution of 1937.

Until 1974, Bunreacht na hEireann (the Irish Constitution) was prefaced by a Catholic preamble.

The Marriage Bar (1932-1973) defined the divisions of labour across the whole country.

The Catholic clergy maintained a “moral monopoly” (Inglis 1998), creating a Catholic Symbolic Order with symbolic domination and violence.

Catholic Symbolic Domination

John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin (1940-1972), exemplifies Catholic symbolic domination. According to Durkheim, certain individuals were elevated to a sacred status. McQuaid, also a Blackrock College dean and president, saw De Valera, who studied and taught there, send his sons to be educated under McQuaid’s tutelage. De Valera used his influence to have McQuaid appointed as archbishop (O’Toole, 2022).

Mezzo Level: Catholic Hierarchy and Institutional Control

The Catholic Hierarchy controlled institutions such as health, education, and juvenile justice. The Mother and Child Scheme (Noel Browne) in 1951 is an example of this control. Dr Noel Browne tried to introduce free healthcare for mothers and children. The Catholic Church intervened and told the State to shut it down as they felt free healthcare was associated with Communism.

Additionally they objected to sex education and Non-Catholic doctors treating Catholic Women.

This institutional dominance affects the whole of society as it shaped the culture, leading to sexual oppression and gender inequality.

The Catholic Hierarchy and Its Vast System of Coercive Confinement

Sanctions against breaches of the Catholic family order were evident in Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Laundries, and Industrial Schools and Reformatories. These institutions employed coercive confinement to control communities and families - Macro Level affecting society as a whole.

The Ryan Report detailed systematic physical and sexual abuse suffered by thousands of children in residential institutions run by religious orders between the 1930s and 1970s. This revealed a serious case of 'Institutional Corruption'.

Industrial Schools and Reformatories were for children who committed offenses (often minor). But in reality over half the children were sent due to poverty, often exacerbated due to a parent's death as single (widowed) fathers were deemed unsuitable guardians. Religion was used to control and confine a particular social class, aligning with Marx's conflict theory.

These institutions behind coercive confinement targeted working-class families, addressing their issues as a matter of moral reform aimed at punishing individuals and deterring others rather than addressing the matters as social reform aimed at establishing a functioning social welfare system.

Patriarchal Conflict Theory in Ireland

According to O’Connor (1998:7), “Patriarchy is a systematic patterning of society in such a way that men dominate, exploit, and oppress women.” Being Patriarchal is when men are in positions of dominance, i.e. male control.

Consequences of Catholic Patriarchy dominating the working class families, according to O'Toole 2021, Industrial schools were “what happened to working-class children when a parent dies, when poverty or alcoholism wrecked their home lives or when they themselves got into minor trouble with the law.”

that became the fate of working-class children facing parental death, poverty, alcoholism, or minor legal troubles

“Between 1930 and 1970, at least 42,000 children were incarcerated in reformatories and industrial schools, but the fear they generated hung over almost all working-class families” (O'Toole 2021).

Violence in these schools included physical assaults, beatings, and various forms of abuse using implements like canes, sticks, and other objects (O’Toole, 2021). Child slavery and rape were also occurring.

Institutional Corruption

The scandal highlights the dangers of unaccountable, overbearing institutions. These institutions controlled the poor, the working classes, and deviant family forms like single mothers.

It demonstrates the destruction caused when such powerful institutions are a structural force shaping the entirety of a society, it also demonstrates how such institutions can spread the impacts of their prejudices and bias across society.

The link between the depravity of the industrial Schools and Gang-based crime in Ireland:

Henry Dunne, from the Dunne Crime Family who introduced heroin into Ireland, recalled his time in the industrial school system: ‘They beat and abused us so much, they made animals of us…all we wanted to do was hit back at society…they savaged us even when we played by the rules.’

However, institutional violence also occurred in day and boarding schools;

Scoping inquiries into allegations of abuse at schools found:

2,395 allegations of sexual abuse in 308 schools.
Allegations against 884 distinct alleged abusers.

Mezzo Level: Secularisation of Social Institutions

By the 1970s, "religious personnel either owned or hard charge of 46 private hospitals, 25 nursing or convalescent homes, 32 geriatric homes"... (Inglis, 1998:62). As a result, the Church and medical establishment developed a "virtual monopoly of knowledge" of the body and sexuality.

Signs of Secularisation:

The dissolution of the institutions of coercive confinement run by the church, mother and baby homes, industrial schools; and Magdalene Laundries.

Losing control over the content of secondary schooling - state funding comes with requirements.

Mezzo Level: Secularisation of Media

The Catholic church has been against modernisation since the 1960s, condemning materialism and individualism.

However with the influence of media such as television (The Late Late Show 1962 - talking about things that were not to be spoken about, such as topics of contraception, sexuality and the sexual practices.

Lifting of the 'veil of silence' (Inglis, 1998) - challenges Catholic monopoly over sexual morality.

Relationship advice discussed - more equal partnerships.

Advertising - materialism and consumerism.

Tom Inglis - 2017 - Church and Culture in Catholic Ireland

There was a time when producers and editors made sure that little or nothing was broadcast or printed that critcised or undermined the Church and its teachings.

Now the roles are reversed and the media has become the moral watchdog of the church.

The sex scandals – 1990s comes to light – widespread abuse –100s of priests abuse 1000s of children over decades