How religion and ethno-nationalism influence attitudes towards amnesty in Northern Ireland

[rug]

The Good Friday Agreement gave political resonance to concepts like amnesty, forgiveness and mercy – all of them familiar from the lexicon of religion. John D Brewer and Bernadette C Hayes found that religious and ethno-national identity in Northern Ireland both influence public attitudes towards amnesty. In particular, belief in the Bible as the literal word of God is a significant predictor of people’s support for retribution.



Mural in Belfast, 2011.

24/11/2016
John D Brewer is Professor of Post-Conflict Studies at Queen’s University Belfast.
Professor Bernadette C. Hayes is Chair in Sociology at Aberdeen University.

Much of the language of transitional justice studies is quasi-religious, using terms like mercy, amnesty, forgiveness, justice, atonement and apology. This is in part because the field is interdisciplinary and many theologians have contributed toward its theorisation. But it is also the case that transitional justice deals with timeless ideas that are redolent in the three Abrahamic faiths, giving them a doctrinal dimension. This is what animates the growing literature on religious contributions to transitional justice, and explains why faith-based organisations and practitioners are heavily involved in conflict transformation and humanitarian interventions.

Religion also features in this discourse because it often acts as a surrogate for ethno-national conflict. Traditionally, studies of ethno-nationalist conflict have paid scant attention to religion, pointing to a range of other influences, such as economic deprivation or the political organisations of minority groups and their desire for self-determination. Research over the last few decades, however, stresses the emergence of religion as a global political force, seeing it as a primary source of conflict based on ethno-nationalist disputes. In fact, some scholars argue that religiously motivated violence has now become an ubiquitous element of modern conflicts and the most common justification for terrorism in the world today. More recent research, however, calls into question the singularity of both these approaches – pointing instead to the intersection, or combined effect, of both religion and national identity as a key factor in accounting for intrastate conflicts based on ethnic differences.

While a growing body of research has focused on the relationship between religion and ethnic conflict, the relationship between religion, ethnicity, and transitional-justice mechanisms has remained largely unexplored. This is particularly the case when we consider the influence of ethno-nationalism and religious conviction on attitudes towards amnesty. It is with this omission in mind that we examined the net influence of religion and ethno-nationalism on attitudes towards amnesty in Northern Ireland.

A key focus of our investigation was to assess empirically the degree to which both ethnicity and religion may be considered a key determinant of views. The use of Northern Ireland as a case study may be considered particularly appropriate for the following three reasons. First, the Northern Ireland peace accord is now considered an exemplar of conflict resolution throughout the world. Second, amongst the various measures introduced to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s violent past, amnesty proved to be one of the most unpalatable elements in the Agreement. Finally, Northern Ireland is a place where religion and ethno-national identity elide, enabling us to examine the net effect of both religion and ethno-national identity on public attitudes towards amnesty.

http://www.democraticaudit.com/2016/11/24/the-quality-of-mercy-how-religion-and-ethno-nationalism-influence-attitudes-towards-amnesty-in-northern-ireland/

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537113.2016.1239444?journalCode=fnep20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Agreement

[Jim__]

1. I'm curious as to how amnesty affects people based on ethnic and religious backgrounds in ...

... Northern Ireland.

First, religious identification is a key distinguishing predictor of opinions concerning amnesty. Even when a range of background control variables are included in the analysis, Protestants are significantly more oppositional in their views than Catholics.

Secondly, when the impact of both religion and ethno-nationalism within the two communities is considered separately, both religion and ethno-nationalism are significant net predictors of attitudes. Of these various religious measures, however, it is one’s belief in and about God which emerges as the key distinguisher of views. As in previous research on attitudes towards a range of moral attitudes, including the death penalty, while both religious rigidity, or holding a definite belief is God, and a view that the Bible is the literal word of God, are significant positive predictors of expressing a retributive, or oppositional stance, regarding amnesty, perceptions of an engaged God is a significant negative predictor of such views.

If Catholics benefit more from amnesty in this situation, and Catholics are more in favor of amnesty, religion may not have a whole lot to do with it. It may be pure self-interest. Without knowing a whole lot about the details of the situation, my guess would be that Catholics would benefit more from the amnesty as, in general, Catholics are opposed to the current situation and so probably acted against the government more than the Protestants did.

[rug]

2. In this case, the ethno-nationalist factors are concomitant with the religious factor.

I don't think there is any causal relationship though. It woud be a rare Irishman to be a Catholic Unionist or a Protestant to be a Sinn Fein member.

Here's a little more about the amnesty for prisoners:

https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/prisoner-release-northern-ireland-good-friday-agreement

[guillaumeb]

3. And consider this as it applies to the current climate in the US:

Religion also features in this discourse because it often acts as a surrogate for ethno-national conflict. Traditionally, studies of ethno-nationalist conflict have paid scant attention to religion, pointing to a range of other influences, such as economic deprivation or the political organisations of minority groups and their desire for self-determination. Research over the last few decades, however, stresses the emergence of religion as a global political force, seeing it as a primary source of conflict based on ethno-nationalist disputes

Much has been said at DU that derides Trump supporters for their assumed racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and other prejudices. And there are undoubtedly some among Trump supporters who do fit in one or more of these descriptions.

But religion also plays a big role in determining who supports Trump. The so-called "war on religion" is just one meme that the Democrats often ignore, but it plays a role in framing the political conflict as a clash of values.