Religion

There are two main sources for the religious conflict within urban Scotland. The first is the large extent of Irish immigration, particularly in Glasgow, which has given rise to a large Catholic community (three-quarters of Scotland's Catholics live in or around Glasgow 24). The second stems from the different character of the Reformation in Scotland, and the adherence to Calvinism. Whilst the first factor is purely an Urban phenomenon, the second may be extended to rural Scotland. However, it is the effect of religion on urban identity that I am concerned with here. The American historian Wallace Notestein felt that religion is the most important factor in explaining Scottish character 25. Presbyterianism (the Scottish protestant tradition) is fiercely opposed to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, and this conflict has resulted in a sectarian policy of separate schools for Catholics and Protestants in urban areas. Separate schooling has led to separate histories, and although this has been somewhat eradicated by moves towards a national curriculum, Scotland's divided education system has contributed to the lasting Protestant-Catholic conflict.

The original reason behind the regal union at the start of the seventeenth century was to ensure Protestant ascendency to the Crown, both north and south of the border 26. It is ironic then, given the rise of political nationalism in Scotland in the twentieth century, that Scottish Catholics have been wary of independence lest it lead to a biased Protestant state 27, and it is even more ironic when considering this is the reverse of the situation in Northern Ireland, where the Protestants fear state-Catholicism. Institutional Presbyterianism already exists in Scotland, not only with this perception of the SNP (which actually has a significant Catholic membership, and also promises freedom of religion 28), but also in newspapers such as the Sunday Post 29 and the Scottish Daily Express 30. The establishment in Scotland has long been Protestant, even to the extent that the Church of Scotland has been accused of ‘attempting to be a spokesman for Scottish national opinion' 31, and Tom Nairn once suggested that ‘Scotland would only be free when the last Presbyterian minister was strangled with the last Sunday Post' 32. Protestants and Catholics do live in relative harmony in urban Scotland and, unlike Northern Ireland, not only live next door to each other, but often work and socialise together. Despite the existence of the religion-oriented gangs of the 1930s-60s, it must be stated clearly that any religious violence in urban Scotland has never escalated to the levels of that in Northern Ireland.