Losing my Religion: The media's role in the decline of religion and rise of secularism in Ireland.

Scutari, Tatiana (2018) Losing my Religion: The media's role in the decline of religion and rise of secularism in Ireland. masters thesis, Griffith College Dublin.

	Text MAJMC-Tatiana Scutari (2018).pdf - Submitted Version Download (698kB)
	Other (Plain Text Bibliography) MAJMC-Tatiana Scutari (2018)Bibliography.txt - Bibliography Download (6kB)

Abstract

This research focuses on changing religious values in Ireland. It examines the rise in secularism and the rapid decrease in church participation. The role that media may have played in the decline of religious belief in Ireland is the focus of this study. In the early twentieth century, religious belief played a much greater role in Irish society than it does today. The 1901 Census showed that the majority of Irish people were professed Roman Catholics. However, the 2016 Census showed a marked decline. The percentage of the population who identified as Catholic in the Census has fallen from 84.2 % in 2011 to 78.3 % in 2016. The ‘no religion’ group rose up from 5.9 in 2011 to almost 10 per cent in 2016. This makes ‘no religion’ the second largest group in this category, behind Roman Catholics. Also noted in this research is that in Ireland, there have been numerous reports of the abuse of children by clerical perpetrators, which the media reported on regulalrly. These played a major role in undermining Roman Catholic Church authority. It tended to push people away from religious belief. The media in Ireland, by doing some documentaries and investigative reporting, had played a crucial role in raising awareness of clerical child abuse, thus putting a lot of pressure on the Irish government to take action on this issue. It changed the public’s opinion on the matter of trust and loyalty to the Catholic Church. The research shows how media played a crucial role in public perception of religion, in part by the way in which the news was framed.

Actions (login required)

View Item