How Dangerous is Ireland for a Protestant?
I am a devout Non-Denominational Christian, and a practicing Christian as well. I know in the last few decades Ireland has become more and more liberal and de-catholicized in terms of Catholic & Government. But, I am planning on visiting, and I was wondering if anyone who lives in Ireland, or has visited Ireland could let me know the general attitude towards protestantism and protestants?
If you are talking about the Republic, there are many Protestants living here, Irish as well as immigrants from the UK and elsewhere. Around 200,000 out of a population of 4.5 million according to the last census. Most towns and villages have a Protestant Church (Church of Ireland)
In the five years I have lived here no one has ever asked me what my religion is, and when I have volunteered the information that I am not a catholic it has never caused a problem. I have never come across any prejudice either in my personal or business life and as a non Catholic or a Brit and if the Irish have reason to be prejudiced against anyone it is us Brits but they do not.
I doubt- unless you are preaching on street corners and passing out literature to advertise your faith — that anyone will either notice or care.
Go in Peace…..
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World Traveler
ho w man y guinness beer s does he bayou?
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and they say1/16 don’t even count
believe me no one cares we are not exactly proud of catholism at the moment sex abuse etc, in the church and the influx of people fromall over the world as long as u dont wear the sash and preach atus youll be fine
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paddy
Unless you are wearing a big sign saying I am a Protestant no one will bat an eyelid.
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I have family in Belfast and i visit regularly it’s a wonderful city , as long as you don’t shout it from the rooftops you will be fine. Enjoy your visit.
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Nobody in the Republic of Ireland is going to ask your religion, so there is no element of danger whatsoever. We won’t even know unless you tell us or start trying to convert us. In that case you will probably find total disinterest, with almost nobody stopping to listen.
There are Protestants all over the country who never knew it was Dangerous to live in Ireland. We have to read it on Yahoo Answers to learn this!! It’s time you came and found out for yourself.
I am still smiling at your lack of knowledge about us.
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Its fine.. Its not dangerous.
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You will be fine their are plenty of protestants and many other religions living across ireland. You will not be victimised.
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Well I’m 22, born and raised in Ireland to a Protestant family.
I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been attacked for being Protestant. The reason I can’t count them is because it has never happened. There is no hostility here between the Catholic and Protestant. I’ve had a few ignorant questions asked but they were exactly that, ignorant not spiteful.
My brother did once get beaten up and said somebody did it because he was Protestant but knowing my brother I’d say it is far more likely that he was just being a gobby lads lad.
In fact I think the last instance of anyone in my family being harassed because of such trivial things was actually my great grandfather. Many of the heroes of Irish nationalism (most notably Wolfe Tone himself) were Protestant.
Furthermore nobody is even going to know you’re Protestant unless you walk up to people saying "My name is _______ and I’m Protestant." It’s a non issue.
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Keep your religious views to yourself and nobody will give a toss what religion you are.
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Unless you’re planning to rub your belief into people’s faces, then you should have no problem, majority of people don’t really care.
Besides it’s not often a thing that comes up in conversation.
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There are plenty of protestants living here. How will anybody even know what religion you are, if it was dangerous? Most towns in Ireland have a protestant and a catholic church, the town I grew up in was small but it had both. I don’t mean to be rude but it is more of a British thing to care about religion, from my experience. I was on holiday two years ago and met some English people, when I said I was Irish the first thing they asked me was if I was Catholic or Protestant. To this day I wish I said Buddhist. It’s not like you’re going to be attacked on the street. I’ve grown up with many people who were born in the U.K that I know for years, and to this day I don’t know what religion they are. And I don’t want to.
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What a strange question.
Not dangerous at all. Religion should be a private matter, I doubt anyone will notice or care what your beliefs are.
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People from the republic of Ireland don’t care if your a protestant. That’s only up in Northern Ireland.
People down here just don’t give a crap about religious views.
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You’d be in exactly the same danger as a muslim, catholic or jew in Ireland. In Northern Ireland you might be at risk if you were to walk into some areas, but generally not because of your religion, but because you aren’t known.
99% of people could care less – and unless you walk about with an orange sash on, a tee-shirt of the queen and spouting off some dribble about how protesant you are – people wont know anyway. And even if you did I doubt most people would care.
It is quite safe
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Theres nothing like that anymore. Anyone is welcome, nobody has anything against any religon
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Nobody cares, especially not in the Republic of Ireland – no one would dream of even caring about it in ROI.
Northern Ireland is slightly different – ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’ are pigeonholes that the people of Northern Ireland are forced to categorise themselves into – even though most of us are not religious.
Generally most people couldn’t care less what ‘side of the community’ you come from – and anyway, as the guys have said above, no one will even know unless you tell them.
One point would be, that I would advise you not to try to ‘spread the word of God’ to anyone over here. But I guess that would be the same as in any country – you wouldn’t be in any danger from doing so – but people just simply do not want to hear it.
We all did Religious Education in school, so we all know the ‘Good News’ – so if any of us are not practising it, it is because we choose not to.
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Not many people care about religion in Ireland anymore so you will be grand.
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My son in law is from Ireland and he is from a catholic family and my daughter is protestant family. His mother sent a message before their wedding she was glad that her son had met a fine young lady in America. She knew she was protestant. We have been invited to visit them in Ireland. and will this summer. I do not feel threaten
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I recommend you look up Erskine Hamilton Childers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erskine_Hamilton_Childers 4th President of Irish Republic who was a protestant.
Or the founder of Irish Republicanism, Theobald Wolfe Tone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobald_Wolfe_Tone who was also a protestant.
Theobald Wolfe Tone in his own words "To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country–these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in the place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter–these were my means."
Hell there’s even a song about protestants who fought for Irish independence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmPbC1rYYOA
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You’ll be fine. It’s safe. And the most hospititibal country
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ahh it doesn’t matter to us
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O_o
Okayyyy…
The very fact that you had to ask this question is mind boggling to me. It’s a non issue, no one cares.
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If you are talking about the Republic, there are many Protestants living here, Irish as well as immigrants from the UK and elsewhere. Around 200,000 out of a population of 4.5 million according to the last census. Most towns and villages have a Protestant Church (Church of Ireland)
In the five years I have lived here no one has ever asked me what my religion is, and when I have volunteered the information that I am not a catholic it has never caused a problem. I have never come across any prejudice either in my personal or business life and as a non Catholic or a Brit and if the Irish have reason to be prejudiced against anyone it is us Brits but they do not.
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