Intimate Mixing – Bridging the Gap? Catholic-Protestant Relationships in Northern Ireland Gillian Robinson, University o

2. Intimate Mixing – Bridging the Gap? Catholic-Protestant Relationships in Northern Ireland Gillian Robinson, University of Ulster Katrina Lloyd, Queen’s University Belfast

3. ‘Men and women of adult age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.’ Article 16 United Nations Convention on Human Rights

4. What is a mixed relationship? Research in Northern Ireland Method used for this study Extent of mixed relationships Findings from research Conclusions Structure

5. Clearly visible mixing eg black/white, disabled/able-bodied Mixing that is not clearly visible eg educational/cultural/intellectual/emotional/power Mixing made apparent by the external situation Kosuta (1995:32) ‘The mixing depends more on the external situation than on inner dynamics. A typical example is a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant…’ Defining mixed relationship

6. Robinson 1992 Morgan, Smyth, Robinson & Fraser 1996 Wigfall-Williams & Robinson 2001 Wigfall-Williams 2007 phD O’Leary and colleagues (RoI focus) Primarily qualitative research Research

7. Who enters mixed relationships? Social Attitudes ‘get on better with your own’ Response of Churches Where to live Children Education system Success of mixed marriage Issues

8. Would mind ‘a lot’ if relative married person of different religion

9. Aim of this seminar is to examine the characteristics and attitudes of people who have chosen to enter into mixed religion relationships in Northern Ireland. Seminar Aim

10. Northern Ireland Life and Times Annual survey, began in 1998 Descendent of Northern Ireland Social Attitudes survey (1989-1996) Monitor the attitudes and behaviour of people in Northern Ireland Pooled dataset 8 years (1998-2005) using questions asked in each year Method

11. 1989 to 2005 those responding No to question ‘Is your husband/ wife/ partner the same religion as you?’ has varied from 6% to 12% (small number of respondents) Pooled Dataset (1998-2005) gives us: 8,299 respondents in a relationship 802 (10% of total) in mixed relationship Extent of mixed relationships

12. Characteristics of respondents Age Marital status Income Educational qualifications Social Class Employment status Characteristics

13. Age group

14. Marital status

15. Age group and marital status by type of relationship

16. Income

17. Qualifications

18. Social class

19. Employment status

20. Type of contact Ever lived outside Northern Ireland for more than 6 months? Ever attended integrated or mixed religion school in Northern Ireland? Contact

21. Ever lived outside NI

22. School attended

23. Child mixed school

24. Hayes et al (2006) found that people in Northern Ireland who attended mixed religion schools: Tended to reject traditional national identities and political allegiances Was there a similar association in relation to people in mixed partnerships in Northern Ireland? Attitudes (1)

25. Support for political party Which Northern Ireland party do you support? National identity Do you think of yourself as a unionist, a nationalist or neither? Attitudes (2)

26. Party support

27. National identity

28. Future of mixed marriage in NI Donnan (1990:217) ‘mixed unions are more acceptable politically at some times rather than others, and that the number of such unions is more likely to increase in times of diminishing sectarian tension and conflict’ Increasing diversity in Northern Ireland population Increasing secularisation Devolution and possible political change Conclusions