The Modes of Contemporary Anti-Catholicism

Abstract

This chapter will address the three modes of active anti-Catholicism, since they constitute the forms and nature of contemporary anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland. However, each mode can itself be sociologically unpacked, and this chapter identifies the character of each mode, focusing on four themes which define their nature: their foundational ideas, the form of rhetoric deployed, the content of the articulation, and their primary constituency. The chapter also addresses the implications of each mode for Protestant-Catholic relations, and identifies the main challenges that can be made to its foundational ideas. The covenantal mode is considered first, followed by the secular and Pharisaic modes. The latter has no implications at the social structural level and is not used as a resource in social stratification and social closure, but it none the less constitutes an important type of active anti-Catholicism.