An Island of Faith?

An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence Once considered an 'island of faith,' Ireland is experiencing profound religious change. An Island of Faith? is the first major study of religion across the island in more than a decade, offering new insights based on extensive research carried out between 2020 and 2026. Set against wider Western trends of secularization and the disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, this book challenges simple narratives of religious decline or revival. Instead, it introduces the concept of 'secularization with intensification,' which captures two processes happening at the same time: an acceleration not only of secularization itself, but also a new intensity of belief and practice among significant minorities. Exploring shifts in church-state relations, the rise of digital religion, and changing patterns of religious participation, Gladys Ganiel and Caoimhe Ní Dhónaill show how the pandemic both accelerated institutional decline and fostered new forms of religious engagement. The book also examines the surprising growth of evangelical Catholicism and the lived experiences of Muslims and Humanists. In addition, it highlights a widening divide between a more devout Northern Ireland and a rapidly secularising Republic. An Island of Faith? argues that Ireland can no longer be understood as a single 'island of faith,' but rather as an 'archipelago of religion'--a patchwork of diverse, vibrant communities of belief in an increasingly secular society.