Whither the southern Protestants?

[Leathuru]

There was a census held here (RoI) a few weeks back and given the rate of immigration, some estimates are suggesting that the numbers of people here from Poland will top 200,000. One way or another, it's almost certain that at some point over the next few years, the Protestant community in the south (comprised of Church of Ireland, Presbyterians, Methodists and other smaller denominations) will be outnumbered by Poles. Effectively, they will no longer be the largest ethno-religious minority in the country.

Throughout the drawn out personal morality debates in RoI over the last two and a half decades, regular references were made to the rights of Protestants as if divorce and contraception weren't something we should have had anyway. There’s also the tacit acceptance that certain hospitals have a Protestant ethos. Meanwhile, getting the Roman Catholic Church out of the schools gets a lot more complex if it means that the carefully nurtured values of Protestant institutions might also be hit in the drive for a more clearly defined line between religion and education.

All in all, over the next few decades, the Republic is going to be a more complicated place with representatives from numerous ethnic and religious groups all shouting for their rights and privileges. One wonders where the southern Protestant community feels they fit in all this; is there a fear that their voice might be drowned out? Being The Minority hasn’t been easy but at least they were number two in the pecking order.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the influx of non-nationals has shown both Catholics and Protestants just how little divides them. Certainly, some Protestant public representatives are as capable of xenophobia as their Catholic counterparts. Meanwhile, a few weeks back when the 40-50 Afghans were occupying Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, some of the gutter press mentioned how the Muslim refugees had supposedly committed acts of deconsecration of a Christian place of worship. It was all lies but the xenophobes who wrote the story clearly expected that their largely Catholic readership would be as shocked by defilement of what is a Protestant cathedral as they would have been were it Catholic.

[irishpeoplearewhingers]

You are certainly right about the upcoming cacophony of voices demanding their rights/priveleges. I think that sectional interests and identity politcs are not a good idea, and I hope that it can be all contained by offering nothing more than equality before the law. We should not countenance any special pleading a la St. Patricks cathedral. Anything else would serve only to reinforce the idea that one's ethnicity should determine the way in which one is treated, and that's not a good message.
I too wonder what will happen to our Protestants. Personally, I would advise them to swear off the oul' condoms for a while and engage in a frenzy of reproduction. Whether it works or not, I am sure they will enjoy the experience; in fact, I would volunteer my own services if I were not married to a woman who so selfishly insists on fidelity. A complimentary strategy would be to launch a Polish reformation and thus turn the trend of Polish immigration to the Protestant advantage. I reckon it would work too because those Poles have already demonstrated a work ethic that is decidedly Protestant.

[JCSkinner]

Our Protestant community is growing rapidly. It's just that they're increasingly of African origin these days.

[irishpeoplearewhingers]

Well there you are then, problem solved.

[Smashey]

The fastest growing religion in Ireland is Methodist

[Alliance]

Being from a protestant family, I've heard recently that Protestantism is on the rise in the republic for the first time since partition. According to my mother, who's very tied up in the church of ireland, many roman catholics are now converting to protestantism. The 'ol soup pellers back again?

:P

[jjcarroll]

The fastest growing religion in Ireland is Methodist

Which I understand is primarily driven by African immigrants?

[eurocrat]

Being from a protestant family, I've heard recently that Protestantism is on the rise in the republic for the first time since partition.

Thats is largely due to an influx of African Immigrants.

According to my mother, who's very tied up in the church of ireland, many roman catholics are now converting to protestantism.

Okay, I'll ignore the soup comment/attempted joke. Take it easy with using langauge like that though some people can get quite offend. While it okay for Irish people to make jokes about it, it is not always appraicted when coming from Northerns from a Protestant backround.

Now far be it from me to question such a solid scource as your mother, but have you any other evicdence to suggest Catholics are converting to Protestantism in any great numbers?

[DSCH]

In COI circles, any number greater than one counts as "many"

[Nils]

The fastest growing religion in Ireland is Methodist

Which I understand is primarily driven by African immigrants?

A fair amount of the Latvians would be Lutheran too I'd guess. And we must have significant numbers of Orthodox (Russians and Romanians) here also for the first time.