Malcolm P.A. Macourt
Honorary Research Fellow,
Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, University of Manchester
The ‘new religious landscape’ and the ‘new Irish’: the Census – a useful tool?
To what extent can or should a Census of Population provide detailed evidence on an apparently new
social phenomenon? In making Census data available to the public, where should the balance be struck
between individual privacy and the need of society to have reliable evidence through which social
policies may be addressed? Can a ‘new religious landscape’ be identified through Census data?
In the context of ‘new religious movements’ this paper addresses both the censuses in the Republic of
Ireland and in Northern Ireland, though its primary focus is on the Republic of Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland’s population increased markedly in the decade from 1996. Much of that
increase was through the inward migration of people with little or no prior connection with the state.
Not only were there significant numbers of ‘new Irish’ (as the media called them) whose places of
birth, nationality, or ethnic origin differ from the historical “Ireland, Irish and ‘White’” but also, in a
hitherto almost mono-cultural state, “Catholic” appears no longer to be the only response to the
religion question.
Analysing the results of Census questions on religion and comparing those results with responses to
questions on nationality, place of birth, ethnicity and length of stay in the Republic this paper explores
how much it is possible to glean about ‘the new Irish’ and ‘new religious movements’ from the Census
taken on Sunday 23rd April 2006. Data are taken from tables in published in Census Volumes and
elsewhere by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), from its Small Area Population Statistics and from
its Samples of Anonymised Records1.
While it is possible to identify the nature and extent of changes to the religious landscape of the
Republic of Ireland, it is only possible to provide limited detail on the arrival of religions longestablished elsewhere. The extent to which people classify themselves as non-religious or as
consciously resisting religion can only be estimated from data which does not fully address these ways
of being.
Identifying the changing religious landscape of Northern Ireland from Census data is more difficult
because (a) the most recent census was in April 20012, because (b) the different approach to the
provision of data on the religions questions taken by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research
Agency (NISRA) and because (c) the ways in which British requirements on confidentiality have been
interpreted makes detailed material difficult to assess. Nonetheless the extent of the province-wide
provision of data on religions with small numbers of adherents provides some evidence of the changing
religious landscape and offers some indication how new religious movements developed between 1991
and 2001.
________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Both jurisdictions in the island of Ireland include questions on religion in their censuses. Civil
disturbances for much of the period 1970-1995 in Northern Ireland and the, later, development of the
‘Celtic Tiger economy’ in the Republic of Ireland provide rather different contexts in which responses
to the question have been given and data published.
The population of the Republic of Ireland with inward investment, a buoyant labour market and inward
migration increased by over 600,000 between 1996 and 2006. Net inward migration accounted for
almost 60% of this increase3, fuelled partly by the widening of membership of the European Union
from 15 to 25 members.
This substantial immigration, with immigrants each bringing their own religious and cultural experience,
make the Census results for 2002 and 2006 worth examining – particularly the results of the questions
on religion, nationality, place of birth, length of stay and ethnicity for those religions with more than
10,000 adherents. [Sections 2-6]
Little is published on religions with fewer responses, and many of those responses published have been
grouped together. In Northern Ireland even less data on such responses from the religion questions in
the 2001 Census is published, however the responses appear not to be grouped. Nonetheless the
evidence on the religion questions is worth examining because it provides basic data on religions with
few responses and because it provides evidence of the fragmentation of Protestantism. [Section 7]
The benefits of examining ‘new religious movements’ through the results of the religion questions are
not extensive, however some useful information can be discerned about religions long-established
elsewhere. [Section 8]
________________________________________________________________
2. Sources of census data (Republic of Ireland) on which this paper is based
The 2002 and 2006 Census returns for the Republic relate to the de facto population and therefore
much of the published material includes visitors present on census night as well as those in residence;
usual residents temporarily absent from the area were excluded from the census count. The next
census is scheduled for April 2011.
For the 2006 Census one volume (No. 4) covered ‘Usual Residence, Migration, Birthplaces and
Nationalities’, another (No. 5) covered ‘Ethnic or Cultural Background’; a further volume which covered
‘Religion’ (No. 13)4 was published in November 2007 as the last in the numbered list of volumes
announced by the CSO. In a new departure, the CSO published in June 2008 ‘a thematic examination
of the non-Irish national population’ which contained some additional evidence on religions longestablished elsewhere.
Religion
Religion has been a key feature of the development of the Republic of Ireland. A question on religion
has featured in all decennial censuses since 1861. The question was worded: ‘State the religion,
religious denomination or body to which the person belongs’, until 20025 when the wording changed
to ‘what is your religion?’ In 2002 and 2006 respondents were asked to tick a ‘box’ – a new
innovation in 2002 – one ‘box’ was provided each for Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian,
Methodist and Islam, and one for ‘Other, write in your RELIGION’. There was also a ‘box’ for ‘no
religion’6.
The numbers reported as belonging to what might be described as ‘new religious movements’ or to
religions long-established elsewhere were not separately published until 1991 7, and then only national
totals by gender for those religion labels recording more than 200 adherents 8.
Deciphering the contents of ‘written in’ religions from the box ‘Other’, the CSO allocated some
responses to the main religions – such as ‘Church of England’ to its fellow Anglican ‘Church of Ireland’ and created separate categories for others. These other categories included three catch-alls,
‘apostolic or pentecostal’, ‘evangelical’ and ‘pantheist’; other categories on which the CSO appears to
have identified data but not published that data include Congregationalist, Seventh Day Adventist,
Christian Scientist, Sikh, Unification Church (Moonies), Spiritualist, Satanist, Taoist and New Age.
The CSO also identified particular sects within Islam (Shi’a, Sunni and Kharijite) and identified both
Hare Krishna and Hindu, but did not publish results from these four.
Separately from recording a category, the CSO published only those categories in which 200 or more
people were identified. The CSO does not appear9 to have recorded Reformed Presbyterians, Free
Presbyterians or Unitarians, each of which have several congregations in the Republic, neither did it
record responses which indicated a particular groups of ‘evangelicals’, or of those of ‘pentecostal’ or
‘apostolic’ persuasion.
The CSO programme of publication in 2002 and 2006 was extensive for those who responded in each
of nine categories: the five ‘tick-boxed’ religions, two other religions [Orthodox and ‘Christian’ 10] which
had over 10,000 adherents in the State, those who responded ‘none’ and those who made no statement.
The level of detail for each of these nine categories, including those who ticked the ‘Islam’ box or who
responded ‘Orthodox’ included total population, by gender, for each county and for each town with over
5,000 people. The CSO also published – but only for the whole Republic - a wide range of material
including economic status, employment status, occupational group, socio-economic group and social
class. It also included highest level of education completed and the age at which full-time education
ceased. For those who were resident in private households it also included the nature of their
occupancy. For males and females usually resident and present in the State, it included nationality.
Beyond these nine categories, some individual religious denominations or religions had data published
about them separately, others had none. Regional totals by gender were provided for each of sixteen
religion responses11. Twelve of these responses were religions, denominations or groupings: ‘Apostolic
or Pentecostal’, Buddhist, Hindu, Lutheran, ‘Evangelical’, Jehovah’s Witness, Baptist, Jewish, Latter
Day Saints (Mormon), Quaker (Society of Friends), Baha’i and Brethren; four responses referred to
those who made a different sort of declaration: ‘Pantheist’, Agnostic, Atheist and ‘Lapsed Roman
Catholic’. Exactly which of these categories should be included as ‘new religious movements’ and
which as ‘New Age’ is clearly a matter for some debate; others can be described as ‘religions longestablished elsewhere’.
It is extremely difficult to identify, from the Census question, those who classified themselves as
consciously resisting religion (e.g. new spiritualities, humanism etc.). The choices offered to each
of them seemed to be (a) tick the box relating to the religion in which they were brought up (e.g.
Roman Catholic), (b) ignore the question altogether, (c) respond ‘none’, (d) respond with an answer
which records their belief system (e.g. Agnostic). Basic data was published only for those responses,
or groups of responses as decided by the CSO, which attracted 200 persons.
‘Place of Birth’, ‘Nationality’ and ‘Ethnic or Cultural Background’
Place of Birth questions have a long history in the Irish Census; in 2002 and 2006 the question invited
as a response county of birth if on the island of Ireland, and country if outside Ireland. In 2006
612,629 people recorded that they were born outside the Republic, a significant increase from the
400,016 recorded in 2002, 271,177 in 1996 and 228,725 in 1991. Of those aged 25-39 in 2006, 24%
were born outside the state; this compared with less 6% of those aged 70+12.
The sole table contained in any of the published volumes which cross-classified place of birth and
religion13 concerned only those persons usually resident and present in the State on census night; that
table reported only on the nine ‘religion’ categories identified earlier. Over 63% of Muslims were born
in Africa or Asia, and less than 24% were born in the Republic; just less than 57% of those identifying
as Orthodox were born in European countries outside the (2006 boundaries) European Union and only
13% were born in the Republic. Just over 54% of those who responded ‘none’ were born in the
Republic, compared with 82% of those who did not state a religion14.
A question on nationality appeared in the Census for the first time in 2002. In 2006 multiple answers
were permitted two of which were separately identified in the published material: Irish/English
(14,512) and Irish/American (12,075). Apart from those who responded ‘Irish’, those who gave the
single answer ‘British’ were – at 110,579 – the largest group in 2006 (an increase of less than 7%
between 2002 and 2006); whereas those who gave a nationality other than Irish or British numbered
302,664, an increase of 77% in just four years.
There was also one table which cross-classified nationality and religion15; it too concerned only those
persons usually resident and present in the State on census night, and it too only reported on the nine
‘religion’ categories identified earlier. In 2006, with the arrival in the previous four years of many
people of Polish and Lithuanian nationality (for example), over 95% of Roman Catholics had Irish or
British nationality; for Church of Ireland almost 93%, over 80% for Presbyterians, almost 65% for
‘Christians’, and over 73% for those who responded ‘None’. Of those who did not state a religion and
who did provide their nationality the equivalent datum was almost 78%, however over 43% of those
who failed to state their nationality also failed to answer the question on religion.
The question on ethnic or cultural background was introduced for the first time in 200616. Responses
were encouraged in four main categories: ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘Asian’ and ‘other’. The category ‘white’ was
sub-divided into Irish, Irish Traveller, and any other white background; ‘black’ into African and any
other black background; ‘Asian’ into Chinese and any other Asian background; the ‘other’ category,
which explicitly included those of ‘mixed background’ invited respondents to write in their own
description17. Over 40,000 people failed to make a statement to both the religion and the ethnic
questions.
Almost 95% of the population stated that their ethnic or cultural background was ‘white’18; of the
remainder, one-third made no statement and two thirds (3.43% of the population) gave ‘black’, Asian or
‘other’ responses. The percentage giving ‘black’, Asian or ‘other’ responses ranged from over 6% in
Greater Dublin to less than 1% in rural areas and in villages with less than 1,500 inhabitants – with the
percentage in some towns exceeding 8%.
It is difficult to judge whether this question caused confusion to some respondents. For example
although Roman Catholics constituted 49% of ‘other including mixed background’ ethnic origin 19, they
constituted only 30% of black respondents and 26% of Asian respondents: this may be a reminder that
some respondents might have considered themselves to be of ‘mixed background’ if they shared an
Irish and an ‘other white’ origin. Of those who responded ‘Islam’, 1,886 gave a ‘white Irish’ response
and 3,597 gave an ‘other white’ response – perhaps including those from Bosnia - together these
responses accounted for over 1/6 th of all Muslims20.
Usual Residence and Length of Stay
Three questions were asked in the 2002 and 2006 Censuses on usual residence and length of stay; they
covered (current) usual residence, usual residence one year before and a question for those who had
lived outside the Republic for a year or more. Those only temporarily in the State can be identified by
the country of their usual residence as can (separately) those who moved into the State in the twelve
months before the Census. Those who had lived outside the Republic can be identified by the year of
their (most recent) move into the State and by the country in which they last resided.
The 2006 Census showed that there were 67,835 people temporarily in the State – presumably
tourists and visiting business people for the most part - of them, 10,363 were born in Republic21. Of
those residents who moved into the State in the twelve months before the 2006 Census (121,939),
98,391 had been born outside the Republic 22.
________________________________________________________________
3. Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS)
The Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS) made available following the 2006 Census contain over
1000 items of census information about each District Electoral Division (DED) and, for the five cities
and their suburbs, about each Enumeration Area23. Most questions in the Census are represented, and
the extent of data is marked. However on the questions which form the concern of this paper the
evidence ranges from that which is directly relevant to that which is only marginally useful.
Religion has appeared in the SAPS since 1981, albeit only minimally. In 2002 and 2006 only eight
pieces of evidence are available for each DED: for both genders, totals for Roman Catholic, All Other
Stated Religions, ‘none’, and ‘not stated’.
Place of Birth and Nationality are included in the SAPS. However for each, persons usually resident
in the State are divided into seven categories: Republic of Ireland, UK, Poland, Lithuania, other EU
countries/nationalities, rest of the world and not stated. Poland and Lithuania were included in the
2006 SAPS for the first time. Ethnicity has been included in the 2006 SAPS, however the only
categories included were: Irish Traveller, Black Irish, Asian Irish, Other and Not Stated.
The location of recent migrants in individual DEDs – the ‘New Irish’ – may be deduced with difficulty
by examining the Place of Birth, Nationality, Ethnicity and the All Other Stated Religions material.
Without further categories for three variables in the SAPS (religion, place of birth, nationality) little
can be deduced at the small scale. Without separating (for example) USA, Australia and Nigeria from
other places of birth or nationality, without separating the traditional Irish protestant churches from
others, little can be achieved in identifying the extent and nature of ‘new religions’ in individual parts
of the Republic.
While the inclusion of Enumeration Areas in and surrounding the five cities has made it much easier to
locate particular communities of some of the ‘New Irish’ using Census data alone, there is no direct
benefit for locating ‘new religions’.
_____________________________________________________________
4. Samples of Anonymised Records
The decision by the CSO to make available a Sample of Anonymised Records (SAR) 24 was a crucial one
for census analysts, though the benefits of such samples are very limited when studying ‘new religions’.
The CSO first made a SAR available after the 1996 Census; this was followed by a 5% SAR after the
2002 Census – in which there was a religion question – and again after a similar Census in 2006. As the
official Guide to the 2002 5% SAR has it: ‘The records relating to persons within households were
anonymised by striping off all identifiable information such as household number, person number within
household and by recoding variables where the number of categories could lead to the identification of
an individual when combined with other information on the record.’ The Guides list the variables
included and their categories. While the lowest level of geography given is the County, persons in the
sample are also coded by whether they were enumerated in an Urban Area (which includes towns and
cities with a population of 1,500 persons or more) or in a Rural Area.
The decision to include religion as one of the 29 variables in the 5% SARs for both the 2002 and 2006
was an important one; however the decision only to recognise ‘Church of Ireland’ in addition to Roman
Catholic, ‘none’, and ‘not stated’ has severely limited the use of SARs in the context of this paper.
The 5% SARs also include Place of Birth, Nationality, ‘Usual Residence one year ago’, Year taking up
residency in Ireland and Country of Previous Residence – and for 2006 Ethnicity. However, for the
purposes of these samples, place of birth for those born outside the Republic of Ireland, and country
of previous residence for those who had lived outside the Republic ‘for a period of a year or more’,
were grouped into 5 headings: Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Other EU, USA and ‘Other countries’.
The only ‘nationalities’ identified in the 5% SARs were Irish, Non-Irish and Not Stated25, the only
‘ethnicities’ identified were Irish (including Irish Traveller), ‘other stated ethnicity’ and not stated.
For ‘usual residence one year ago’, only two categories outside the Republic were identified: in
Northern Ireland and elsewhere (abroad). Those who lived outside the Republic for a period of one
year or more were asked to indicate the year of taking up residence in the Republic, the year stated
was grouped into 7 decennial categories including (for 2006) 1991-2000 and 2001-2006.
________________________________________________________________
5. Data from the 2006 Census: published Census Reports, SAPS, SARs
In the first Census taken after the creation of two jurisdictions in Ireland (taken in 1926) 92½% of
the population of the Irish Free State claimed to belong to the Roman Catholic Church; that church
was accorded special status in the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland in 1937, and for many had
extensive influence.
By 1961 the percentage of Roman Catholics had increased to over 95%, and less than ¼% failed to
claim a religion: less than 140,000 of those who did claim a religion claimed one other than the Roman
Catholic Church26. This number only increased by 10,000 in the 30 years to 1991, while in that census a
further 150,000 failed to claim a religion. By 2006 the numbers claiming a religion other than Roman
Catholic had doubled to just over 300,000, with over 250,000 failing to claim a religion.
The 1991 Census Report showed that, of those who claimed a religion, 95% claimed the Roman Catholic
Church as their church – the same as 30 years earlier. In 1991 almost 2% of the total population
claimed that they had no religion, and a further 2½% made no statement. By 2006 rather more than
double the 1991 percentage – nearly 4½% - claimed that they had no religion; the numbers who failed
to make a statement had slowly reduced since 1991, from over 83,000 to 70,000 in 2006. By 2006 of
those who did claim a religion, the percentage claiming to be Roman Catholic had reduced slightly to
92½%.
Table 1 demonstrates that the number of those who did not declare a religion has increased from just
over 150,000 in 1991 to over 250,000 in 2006. How people classify themselves as non-religious or as
consciously resisting religion can only be estimated from data which does not fully address these
ways of being.
Table 1: major responses to the
2006
4,239,848
Republic of Ireland
257,180
Absence of religion
3,681,446
Roman Catholic
121,229
Church of Ireland27
179,993
‘Other Stated
Religions’
religion
%
100.0
6.07
86.8
2.86
4.25
question, 1991, 2002, 2006 with gender ratios
f/m06 2002
%
f/m02 1991
%
1.00
3,917,203 100.0 1.01
3,525,719 100.0
0.71
5.56
0.76
4.35
217,948
153,394
1.02
1.03
3,462,606 88.4
3,228,327 91.6
1.02
2.87
1.02
2.35
112,507
82,840
0.95
3.17
0.93
1.73
124,142
61,158
f/m91
1.01
0.78
1.02
1.04
0.98
Of which: the 5 largest:
and all the rest
118,249
61,744
81,602
42,540
38,798
22,360
Table 2 demonstrates how the balance between the three ‘responses’ included in this ‘absence of
religion’ grouping has changed in 15 years, by 2006 explicitly declaring that they have no religion has
almost tripled from 66,270 to 186,318.
Table 2: disaggregation of ‘absence of religion’, 1991, 2002, 2006, with gender ratios
2006
%
f/m06 2002
%
f/m02 1991
%
f/m91
0.71 217,948 5.56
0.76 153,394 4.35
0.78
Absence of religion 257,180 6.07
None
0.68 138,264 3.53
0.68
66,270 1.88
0.65
186,318 4.39
No Statement
0.79
79,094 2.02
0.92
83,375 2.36
0.90
70,322 1.66
‘Lapsed RC’
1.27
590 0.02
1.06
3,749 0.11
0.90
540 0.01
Among those who responded ‘none’ and those who made no statement men significantly outnumbered
women. Compared with the population at large, there are less than 70% of the number of women who
responded ‘none’ and less than 80% of the number of women who made no statement. Of 67,835
tourists and visitors, 11,066 (16.3%) responded ‘none’ to the religion question and a further 3,572
(5.3%) made no statement; in each case these were less skewed toward males than the resident
population28.
Less detail was published on Islam, ‘Christian’, Presbyterian, Orthodox and Methodist than for the five
major categories given in Table 1, however – as outlined in section 2 above – rather more is published
about them than about responses with fewer respondents. Table 3 notes that three-quarters of
Muslims and Orthodox were born outside the Republic and the United Kingdom but less than 40% of
‘Christians’, Methodists and Presbyterians. In 2006 Methodists and Presbyterians contain higher
percentages of non-residents than do the other three.
Table 3: 5 largest ‘other’ religious statements, with non-residents, gender ratios and birthplace29
2006
f/m06 % NR % born 2002
f/m02 % NR % born 1991
f/m91
the 5 largest 118,249
81,602
38,798
32,539
0.68
0.63
0.61
Islam
2.3
74.3 19,147
6.1
75.8
3,875
29,206
1.12
1.12
1.02
‘Christian’
4.0
37.2 21,403
4.9
26.4 16,329
23,546
0.96
0.96
0.97
Presbyterian
8.7
20.7 20,582
9.8
13.3 13,199
20,798
0.95
0.84
0.58
Orthodox
3.9
86.2 10,437
12.3
87.8
358
12,160
1.01
1.00
1.09
Methodist
11.4
35.5 10,033
12.3
27.5
5,037
Table 3 also gives gender ratios: these demonstrate that males predominate among Muslims – there
were less than 70% of the number of females expected, perhaps because many male Muslims had made
the journey from Africa and Asia to Ireland and had settled before inviting female Muslims to join
them. The gender imbalance among Orthodox is rather less (at 95%) than in the two previous
censuses. Given that a large part of the Presbyterian population is involved in agriculture the slight
gender balance is not unexpected.
Among those who responded ‘Christian’, however, there is more than a 10% excess of females: a similar
ratio to ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’, ‘Evangelical’ and Baptist, as may be seen in Table 4 where the
national totals are given for 16 responses. Even greater gender imbalances may be found among
Lutherans, ‘Protestants’ and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Gender imbalances in the other direction is found
among Hindus – perhaps for reasons similar to those for Muslims – and among Agnostics and Atheists
though, perhaps surprisingly, not among ‘Pantheists’.
Comparing the wider area around Dublin with the rest of the Republic is instructive. As can be seen in
Table 5, for most statements a much larger proportion lived in this wider Dublin area than in the rest
of the Republic. The counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Kildare – which encompass the city, its
suburbs and its wider commuter area – comprised just less than 40% of the population of the state in
2006. For those who gave responses coded as Islam, Orthodox, ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’, Buddhist,
Hindu and Jewish the proportions are more than double – and for those who responded ‘Christian’,
Lutheran, ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Protestant’ not much less. Exceptions to this are the Presbyterians
(comparatively strong in the Border counties), Jehovah’s Witnesses, ‘Pantheists’ and Baha’is.
Table 4: other responses to the religion
2006
Religious statement
%
61,744
Total: ‘the remainder’
8,116
‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’
0.19
6,516
Buddhist
0.15
6,082
Hindu
0.14
5,279
Lutheran
0.12
5,276
‘Evangelical’
0.12
5,152
Jehovah’s Witness
0.12
4,356
‘Protestant’
0.10
3,338
Baptist
0.08
1,930
Jewish
<0.05
1,691
‘Pantheist’
1,515
Agnostic
1,237
Mormon
929
Atheist
882
Quaker
504
Baha’i
365
Brethren
Other Stated Religions
8,576
question30, 1991, 2002, 2006,
f/m06 2002
f/m02 1991
42,540
22,360
1.13
1.14
3,152
285
1.08
0.90
3,894
986
0.64
0.57
3,099
953
1.54
1.64
3,068
1,010
1.16
1.20
3,780
819
1.24
1.18
4,430
3,393
1.31
1.34
3,104
6,347
1.17
1.07
2,265
1,156
0.92
0.96
1,790
1,581
1.11
1.12
1,106
202
0.56
0.64
1,028
823
1.05
0.95
833
853
0.45
0.40
500
320
1.13
1.08
859
749
0.96
0.98
490
430
0.98
0.82
222
256
0.74
8,920
0.82
2,197
with gender ratios
f/m91
1.16
0.75
0.67
1.40
1.13
1.21
1.09
1.13
1.02
0.66
0.64
1.11
0.39
1.15
0.98
1.27
0.89
Table 5: Religion for Dublin and Mid-East (DME) Regions31 & for remainder of Republic (Rem):
2002 & 2006
Religion
DME: 2006 DME: 2002 % 06
Rem: 2006 Rem: 2002 % 06
19,323
11,314
1.16
Islam
13,216
7,833
0.51
0.92
‘Christian’
15,327
10,773
13,879
10,630
0.54
15,036
13,506
0.58
Presbyterian
8,510
7,076
0.51
0.80
Orthodox
13,297
6,842
7,501
3,595
0.29
Methodist
5,580
4,583
0.34
6,580
5,450
0.26
0.29
‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’
4,741
1,672
3,375
1,480
0.13
0.23
Buddhist
3,809
2,203
2,707
1,691
0.11
0.25
Hindu
4,131
1,941
1,951
1,168
0.08
0.16
Lutheran
2,681
1,623
2,598
1,476
0.10
0.16
‘Evangelical’
2,686
2,464
2,590
1,316
0.10
0.14
Jehovah’s Witness
1,606
1,317
0.10
3,546
3,313
0.14
‘Protestant’32
2,404
*
1,952
*
0.08
Baptist
1,646
1,081
0.10
1,692
1,184
0.07
0.08
Jewish
1,368
1,336
562
454
0.02
‘Pantheist’
701
479
0.04
990
627
0.04
Agnostic
851
589
0.05
664
439
0.02
Mormon
677
491
0.05
570
342
0.02
Atheist
518
300
0.03
411
200
0.02
Quaker
494
491
0.03
388
368
0.02
‘Lapsed RC’
299
333
0.02
241
257 <0.01
0.01
Baha’i
163
159 <0.01
341
331
Brethren
214
106
0.01
151
116 <0.01
Other stated religions
4,546
4,292
0.27
4,030
4,628
0.16
None
100,133
76,296
6.02
86,185
61,968
3.34
Not Stated
35,264
40,029
2.12
35,058
39,065
1.36
Total
1,662,536
1,535,446
2,577,312
2,381,757
________________________________________________________________
6. The Thematic Examination ‘Non-Irish Nationals living in Ireland’
The CSO broke new ground in June 2008 in publishing the thematic examination ‘Non-Irish Nationals
living in Ireland’ based on the 2006 census. It identified material which would be of particular
interest to the public and published its selection of that material separately. Unlike the Census
Volumes this thematic examination dealt (for the most part) only with those who were resident in
Ireland at the time – non-residents were excluded from the analysis.
The thematic examination stressed the heterogeneity of the non-national population by identifying the
ten nationalities which figured most frequently in the census and contrasting various indicators
relating to each group. So, for example, age pyramids demonstrated both that all of non-Irish national
population taken together contained a dramatically higher percentage of people in their 20s and 30s
than the Irish national population and that those of one nationality (the British) had characteristics
which ‘tend[ed] to be similar to those of the Irish population’. The authors of the thematic
examination were content to make general statements about some of the nationalities identified: ‘For
example, while the Polish are largely here to work, the Chinese are here to study; the UK nationals live
mainly in rural areas while the Nigerians are highly urbanised; the US nationals are concentrated in the
higher social classes while those from accession states 33 tend to be working in the manual skilled
areas.’
Much of the material published in the thematic examination was new to the public; some of it had been
published in the Census Volumes but in a form which made it difficult to identify. For some ‘migrant
workers’ faced with a census form – particularly those without current employment – deciding whether
to describe themselves as resident or simply as visitors to the Republic may have provided a particular
challenge. The thematic examination fails to address this question.
The thematic examination does contain a single table of data which relates to the focus of this paper.
For each of the ten nationalities identified, in addition to Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, ‘none’ and
‘not stated’ the table provides data on those residents who described themselves as ‘Christian’,
Presbyterian, Methodist, Islam, ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’, Orthodox, Lutheran, Jehovah’s Witness,
‘Protestant’, Buddhist, ‘Evangelical’, Baptist, Jewish, and ‘Pantheist’. Table 6, like the table in the
thematic examination from which it is abstracted, does not include data on Hindu, Mormon, Quaker,
Baha’i, Brethren, Agnostic, Atheist or ‘Lapsed Roman Catholic’.
Table 6: 2006 Persons resident by religion for nine selected nationalities 34
Nationalities
Chinese
The % 9 Polish Lithuanian Nigerian Latvian American
of
(USA)
nine
German
Filipino
French
total
‘Christian’
Church of
Ireland
‘Apostolic or
Pentecostal’
Orthodox
Islam
Lutheran
Presbyterian
Methodist
‘Protestant’
Buddhist
‘Evangelical’
Baptist
Jehovah’s
Witness
Jewish
‘Pantheist’
4,988
3,132
18
3
174
258
361
547
2,757
1,237
217
90
427
324
202
226
155
374
634
34
61
42
3,084
39
27
12
2,886
17
49
0
30
57
6
2,758
2,697
2,600
1,446
1,352
1,228
896
841
701
561
14
8
50
7
13
31
14
16
21
11
62
91
19
30
23
78
68
37
36
184
787
45
23
41
26
31
9
28
18
31
2
1,990
1
718
806
167
0
280
217
108
1,808
46
1,443
130
28
44
4
6
35
10
34
69
136
216
227
43
49
147
249
33
0
53
1
57
55
5
673
10
3
6
31
94
972
209
48
782
48
270
16
61
3
69
0
21
134
43
3
47
121
74
31
240
5
24
5
35
42
16
6
54
183
120
10
7
17
17
6
11
0
8
0
6
107
45
2
4
18
23
1
0
32
6
Other
No religion
Not stated
1,962
24,998
5,694
16
14
9
195
2,961
1,284
197
1,304
855
253
119
756
423
3,516
719
307
1,644
653
267
8,399
660
117
3,687
325
115
23
112
88
3,345
330
Table 6 demonstrates that, among some minority religions, being a national of one of these nine
nations was very important, whereas for others it was not. A very significant proportion of all
Lutherans, of those recorded as ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’ and of those responding ‘Protestant’ is
found among these nine nationalities. Persons recorded as ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’ and persons
claiming (simply) to be ‘Christian’ dominate non-Catholic Nigerians, Orthodox and Lutheran dominate
Latvians, and Lutherans and ‘Protestants’ dominate non-Catholic Germans. Whereas Buddhists
constitute the largest group among the Chinese, they form well under 10% of all Chinese.
Other references to religions in the thematic examination concerned the ten next-largest nationalities
resident in the State in 2006. These one-line references to religious statements other than to Roman
Catholic, were:
‘40 per cent [of the 8,329 Indians] identified [as] Hindu’
‘Orthodox was the main religion [of the 7,696 Romanians] (55%)’
‘A high 58 per cent [of the 5,110 Czechs] indicated they had no religion, by far the highest for any
of the eastern European countries’
‘[The 4,926 Pakistanis] were 97 per cent Muslim, by far the highest single religion of any of the
groups profiled’
‘Their [the 4,426 Russians] main religion was Orthodox.’
_____________________________________________________________
7. Northern Ireland
The only census in Northern Ireland since April 1991 was that held in April 2001. As in the Republic,
the next census is due in April 2011. Unlike for the Republic, for both the 1991 and 2001 censuses,
data was published for the usually resident population only. Questions on nationality and length of stay
did not figure in the 2001 Census; however questions on country of birth and ethnicity were included,
although available material linking either question to religion is limited.
Just as in the Republic, there has been a question on religion in each decennial census since the
jurisdiction was founded. However the two censuses have taken different directions since April 1991.
Then both censuses included the invitation to ‘state the religion, religious denomination or body to
which the person belongs’.
In 2001 government need for ‘base-line’ data to monitor the impact of equality legislation lead to
replacing the single ‘religion’ question with three questions designed to identify which ‘community’
(catholic or protestant) identified themselves. The first question was: Do you regard yourself as
belonging to any particular religion? Those who answered ‘yes’ were directed to What religion,
religious denomination or body do you belong to? This question had five boxes, one each for the
four major denominations35 and one for ‘Other, please write in’. Those who answered no were directed
to: What religion, religious denomination or body were you brought up in? The five boxes were
repeated, and a sixth one added: None. This third question, the ‘community background’ question, is
the focus of much of the publication programme of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research
Agency (NISRA).
In addition to data published on the four major denominations in Northern Ireland (Roman Catholic,
Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Methodist), some data was published about three general
categories: ‘Other Christian (including Christian related)’, ‘other religions and philosophies’ and ‘no
religion or religion not stated’. Table 7 contains a summary of those three general categories, with
comparative data for 1991. In 2001 97½% of those in ‘no religion or religion not stated’ were
described as ‘white’ and 4¼% were born outside UK and Ireland.
Table 7: responses to the religion question, 1991 & 2001 with gender ratios
f/m01 1991
f/m91
Northern Ireland
2001
1.05 1,577,836
1.05
All persons
1,685,267
1.10
Other Christian (including Christian related)
102,221
0.79
Other religions and philosophies
5,028
0.85
0.91
No religion or religion not stated
233,853
176,434
0.78
None
59,234
1.01
Not Stated
114,827
0.90
Indefinite answer
2,373
NISRA appears to have taken a different view of the component parts of ‘other Christian (including
Christian related)’ and ‘other religions and philosophies’ to that taken by the CSO. Rather than create
general catch-all categories such as ‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’, ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Pantheist’, NISRA
published a single ‘Standard Table’36 which recorded gender totals for Northern Ireland as a whole for
those labels with ten or more adherents. Consequently the difficulties in comparing results from the
two jurisdictions are considerable.
Tables 8 identifies those ‘other Christian (including Christian related)’ groups with more than 400
adherents37, with results for 1991 and with calculated gender ratios. Over 99% of the people in this
category were described as ‘white’, 3% were born outside UK and Ireland.
Table 8: ‘other Christian (including Christian related)’ 1991 and 2001, with gender ratios 38
f/m
Religion39
2001
1991
Baptist
18,974 19,484 1.14
Free Presbyterian
11,989 12,363 1.02
Brethren
8,685
14,446 1.21
‘Christian’
8,502
10,556 1.04
1.22
Elim
5,972
5,537
1.18
Congregationalist
5,701
8,176
1.23
Pentecostal
5,533
4,312
‘Protestant’
4,299
12,386 1.00
1.06
Reformed Presbyterian
2,330
3,184
1.29
Jehovah’s Witness
1,993
2,121
1.15
Independent Methodist
1,771
835
1.33
Salvation Army
1,640
1,918
1.08
Non-Subscribing Presbyterian
1,575
3,365
1.23
Mormon
1,414
1,437
1.19
Evangelical
1,266
623
1.21
Christian Fellowship Church
1,215
1,300
1.28
Church of the Nazarene
1,215
1,149
1.17
‘Non Denominational’
1,115
1,401
1.18
Church of God
990
1,910
1.22
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 749
804
1.17
Moravian
691
714
1.21
Evangelical Presbyterian
543
730
Many of the groups in Table 8 are long-established denominations in Northern Ireland. Some labels
however cause confusion, for example ‘Protestant’ or ‘Non-denominational’ may indicate a connection
with a congregation which relates to more than one of the major Protestant churches or it may simply
describe a ‘tribal’ attachment to Protestantism; ‘Christian’ may either indicate connection with a
congregation organised around evangelical or pentecostal principles or it may describe a loose religious
attachment to Christianity.
The gender ratios of the six denominations with the highest ratio all exceed 1.22 – against a Northern
Ireland ratio of 1.05. Five of these six denominations (Elim, Pentecostal, Mormon, Church of the
Nazarene and Jehovah’s Witness) owe their origin and numerical strength outside the United Kingdom
and Ireland. On the other hand the three denominations with the lowest gender ratios are
denominations with their origins in religious disputes within Northern Ireland (Free Presbyterian,
Reformed Presbyterian and Non-Subscribing Presbyterian); the other two labels with low gender ratios
are ‘Protestant’ and ‘Christian’.
Over 40 other labels were classified by NISRA as being ‘other Christian (including Christian related)’.
Many of these have a long history in Northern Ireland, however two (Orthodox and Lutheran) are
major strands of world Christianity, two more (‘Independent’ and ‘Interdenominational’) may indicate a
lack of involvement in any denomination or religion or may indicate (as may two others - Independent
Evangelist and ‘Charismatic’) connection with a congregation organised around evangelical or
Pentecostal principles.
In Table 9 (a, b & c) those groups classified by NISRA as being ‘Other religions and philosophies’ are
identified. Of the 5,028 people concerned, 1,937 were described as ‘white’ and 1,894 as ‘Asian’; 1,919
were born in Northern Ireland and 2,431 outside UK and Ireland. The six largest are well-known world
religions, all with over 200 adherents in Northern Ireland.
Table 9a ‘Other religions and
Religion
2001 1991
Muslim (Islam) 1,943 972
Hindu
825
742
Buddhist
533
270
Jewish
365
410
Baha'i
254
319
Sikh
219
157
Zoroastrian
11
10
philosophies’: religions long-established elsewhere
f/m
0.67
0.88
0.74
0.99
1.11
0.92
Large gender imbalances are evident among Muslim and Buddhist, but imbalances are less evident
among Hindu and Sikh. These imbalances may, in part, be because of the length of time that a
particular community has been established.
Four labels indicating those who were non-religious or consciously resisting religion were used by
rather fewer people in 2001 than in 1991, Agnostic (742 to 66), Atheist (470 to 106), Humanist 69 to
40 and Free Thinker (56 to less than 10); collectively these labels were used by 56 women for every
100 men. This reduction in numbers may be related to the appearance in 2001 of a box which
respondents could tick, labelled ‘none’.
Table 9b ‘Other religions and philosophies’: non-religious or consciously resisting religion?
Religion
2001 1991
Atheist
106
470
Agnostic
66
742
Free Thinker [<10] 56
Humanist
40
69
Five other labels (Pagan, ‘own belief system’, Wicca, Druidism, Satanism) appeared in the list of
published religions for the first time, with a total of 295 respondents; four other religions also
appeared for the first time: Hare Krishna, Taoist, Chinese Religions and Rastafarian, with 137
respondents. Spiritualist, a label used for many decades, was used by only 106 people in 2001,
compared with 146 in 1991. Of all these labels, perhaps unsurprisingly, Wicca had a rather different
gender profile.
Table 9c ‘Other religions and philosophies’: new ways of being?
Religion
2001
Pagan
148
Spiritualist
106
Own Belief System 65
Hare Krishna
53
Wicca
50
Taoist
41
Chinese Religions
32
Druidism
19
Satanism
13
Rastafarian
11
There are no tables which relate any detail in ‘other Christian (including Christian related)’ and ‘other
religions and philosophies’ to any other census responses – whether geography, age, country of birth or
ethnicity. This serious limitation (at least) avoids NISRA interpretation of British requirements on
confidentiality which, in other contexts, have made detailed material difficult to assess.
_____________________________________________________________
8. Discussion
The boundaries between ‘facts’, ‘beliefs’ and ‘opinions’ cause serious problems for every census office.
In the first Census in Ireland to include a question on religion – 150 years ago – it was clear that the
Irish appeared to know their ‘religious profession’ (as the question was phrased), they regarded it as a
factual question requiring no interpretation and each had an answer which could be declared openly to
a census enumerator. However by the new millennium the issue of what respondents meant when they
answered a question on religion had become a live one. An individual respondent is faced with whether
to tick the box of the relevant denomination when their only connection is that their grandparent,
when alive, put in an attendance once each year around Christmas. Are they giving a ‘cultural’ answer –
identifying with, say, ‘Church of Ireland’ rather than, say, ‘Presbyterian’ or ‘Roman Catholic’ – because
they identify, however loosely, with that church but do not believe in – or even know about - any of its
basic tenets?
How do those persons who have some involvement with a ‘new religious movement’ or who have a new
way of being respond to the religion question? Should that involvement become their response? ‘Yes’
may be too simple an answer in island with a long history of religious and ‘tribal’ identification.
Furthermore if those persons classify themselves as non-religious or as consciously resisting
religion their responses (ticking the box ‘none’) cannot be distinguished from those who simply do not
have a religion and who also tick that box.
With some difficulty religions long-established elsewhere can be recorded and the results made
available. Responses such as Islam and Hindu can be reported – though whether they are adequately
reported in either jurisdiction is open to question.
Only in the 2001 Census for Northern Ireland, with its lower limit for publication of 10 adherents for
that jurisdistion, were there found explicit examples of ‘new religious movements’ or ways of being.
Pagan, Wicca, Druidism and Satanism may have only been labels used by 230 people but the label given
to their equivalent in the Republic, Pantheist, does not express the flavour of diversity so well. The
different approach used in the Republic – of grouping responses into wider categories – has affected
the appearance of the results.
This different approach has also affected those elements of Christianity which are described as
‘Apostolic or Pentecostal’ or as ‘Evangelical’. Both of these general responses were used by over 5,000
people in 2006. For some respondents such responses reflect long-established denominations in – for
example – Nigeria, for some others the same response reflects a religion acquired in the Republic, for
most (perhaps) the grouping is a statistical artefact. Without agreement between the two census
offices (CSO and NISRA) direct cross-jurisdiction comparison is not possible.
Nonetheless the Census of Population remains an immensely useful tool. In both jurisdictions
considerable resources are put into ensuring that information is made available in forms accessible to
the general population. New issues for questions are considered carefully, and where thought to be
appropriate, are tested in informal and formal exercises, not least in the CSO Census Pilot Survey
undertaken on 19th April 2009 for the 2011 Census.
The Census remains the most reliable exercise for providing self-reported evidence on the social
condition of the population, however unless the publication programme is explicitly set up to reveal
such data, a census does not yield detailed useful information on ‘new religious movements’ or ways of
being.
Malcolm Macourt
#
macourtmpa@aol.com
1
This paper does not review other sources of evidence about ‘new religions’ or about the ‘new Irish’.
Its predecessor was held in April 1991.
3
Data taken from 2006 Census Volume 4 Table 1
4
Volumes 4 and 5 were published in July 2007, and Volume 13 in November 2007.
5
The Census was postponed from April 2001 because of fears of Foot and Mouth Disease.
6
The CSO’s ‘Detailed Look at Census Questions’ (on the CSO website) for the 2006 Census reminded
readers that the question made no assumptions concerning the basis of judgements made by
individuals: it included that it was ‘important to point out that the question does not refer to
frequency of attendance at church’.
7
Except that, as in previous censuses, in 1981 national totals were given for ‘Lutheran’, ‘Society of
Friends’ and ‘Baptist’, alongside details for Church of Ireland, limited details for Presbyterian and
Methodist, and county totals (only) for ‘Jewish’.
8
In 1991 these were: ‘Christian (unspecified)’ (16,329), ‘Protestant’ (6,347) ‘Muslim (Islamic)’ (3,875),
‘Lapsed Roman Catholic’ (3,749), ‘Jehovah’s Witness’ (3,393), and fifteen others recording more than
200 but less than 1,600.
9
From the ‘final list’ of responses, 2004, CSO.
2
10
‘Christian’ appears to be those who wrote in that (precise) response. However in one instance it
appears that ‘Christian’ is used to describe all those who entered a response which the CSO regarded
as Christian but which was not covered by any other response in the relevant list of responses. As
O’Leary has it: ‘Describing oneself as “Christian” could refer to membership of one of the very small
congregations organised around evangelical or Pentecostal Protestant churches. On the other hand, it
may be being used to describe a loose religious attachment to Christianity, perhaps by persons who by
origin were affiliated to the main Christian denominations but who have lapsed in their church
attendance’ Richard O’Leary: ‘Change in the Rate and Pattern of Religious Intermarriage in the
Republic of Ireland’ The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 30, No. 2, April, 1999, pp. 119-132.
11
As described later, ‘Protestant’ was separately identified in the thematic volume ‘Non-Irish nationals
living in Ireland’; as indicated earlier county totals continued to be given for ‘Jewish’.
12
4¾% of those aged 25-39 were born in Africa or Asia as were ¼% of those aged 70+.
13
Table 15 Vol. 13, 2006 and Table 14 Vol. 12, 2002
14
In 2006 just under 90% of Roman Catholics were born in the Republic as were 69% of the Church of
Ireland, 54% of ‘Christians’ and 55% of Presbyterians. It appears that a place of birth was obtained
from all respondents.
15
Table 16 Vol. 13, 2006 and Table 15 Vol. 12, 2002
16
‘…coupled with information from other questions on the form, the responses [to the ethnicity
question] will facilitate a comparison of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the
different ethnic and cultural groups living in Ireland’ from ‘Detailed look at census questions’ op. cit.
17
It appears that those who regarded themselves as being (for example) of both White Irish and
White British ‘ethnic’ origins were permitted to record themselves as being of ‘mixed’ origin.
18
However see the previous footnote.
19
Table 7 Vol. 5, 2006 concerned only those persons usually resident and present in the State on
census night, and it only reported on nine ‘religion’ categories identified earlier.
20
If it were possible to establish the ages of ‘white Irish’ Muslims from the published material some
measure of the extent of any confusion over the question could be established.
21
58,708 people temporarily in the State in 2002 of whom 10,245 were born in the Republic; in 1996
29,544 and 9,991; and 1991 23,315 and 8,744.
22
Table 9 Volume 4. 50,525 in 2002. 23,548 people born in the Republic moved back in the twelve
months before the 2006 Census, 25,579 before 2002.
23
An Enumeration Area is ‘the area assigned to each enumerator for the purpose of census
enumeration. It is a logical contiguous area of a manageable size and usually contains about 350
dwellings’. District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) have been known as Electoral Divisions since 1996.
Where data contained for each DED is mentioned it may be assumed that this applies also to
Enumeration Areas in and surrounding cities.
24
A copy of the SARs datasets has been lodged with the Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA).
ISSDA may authorise users who are bona fide students, staff or research personnel to have access to
the data for the purposes of economic and social research. Use of the data and/or any results
obtained from use of the data for any other purposes is prohibited without the express permission of
the CSO. Further details of each SAR is available the SAR User Guide for each census, each available
on the Central Statistics Office website www.cso.ie/census/default.htm
25
Those who had ‘joint Irish and another nationality’ were identified as Irish, and those with no
nationality were included with those who did not state their nationality.
26
Of these 138,136, 104,016 – 75% - were Church of Ireland.
27
Whereas in the published Census Religion volume ‘Protestants’ are included - for unexplained reasons
- in ‘Church of Ireland including Protestant’, here they are recorded separately and included with
‘Other Stated Religions’. The author is grateful to the CSO for providing some additional data on
‘Protestants’ for 2002 and 2006.
28
There were 800 females for every 1,000 males among those tourists and visitors who responded
‘none’ (675 for residents), and 886 females for every 1,000 males who made no statement (781 for
residents).
29
‘% born’ refers to the percentage of those who were resident in the Republic and who were born
outside the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
30
Of the responses listed in Table 4, Baptist and Jewish have been separately identified in each
census since 186130. National totals (only) have been published for Lutherans and Quakers since the
Second World War: there were 401 Lutherans in 1961 and 830 in 1981, 727 Quakers in 1961 and 642 in
1981, 481 Baptists in 1961 and 924 in 1981, and 3,255 Jews in 1961 and 2,127 in 1981. It is possible
that the term ‘Protestant’ was still being used even in 1991 by some people – perhaps in some rural
areas – who might more recently have described themselves as ‘Church of Ireland’; in 2002 and 2006
rather less than 10% of those who used this term were born in the Republic.
31
Regional Authority Areas as defined under the Local Government Act, 1991, Regional Authorities
Establishment Order, 1993. Dublin: Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, South Dublin; MidEast: Kildare, Meath, Wicklow.
32
Data for ‘Protestant’ for individual regions has not been made available for 2002 when the State
total was 3,104.
33
Those ten states which joined the European Union in 2004: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
34
Taken from Table A7 in Non-Irish Nationals living in Ireland [data for the British (UK) not
included].
Nationalities
Roman
Catholic
Total
35
nine
Polish
Lithuanian
Nigerian
Latvian
110,808
% of
total
3
Chinese
German
Filipino
French
4,777
American
(USA)
7,716
57,715
20,297
3,995
544
3,029
8,057
4,678
170,049
4
63,276
24,629
16,300
13,319
12,475
11,167
10,289
9,548
9,046
Boxes were provided for each of: Roman Catholic, Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Church of Ireland
and Methodist Church in Ireland. The ‘Other’ box carried with it a rubric ‘please write in’.
36
Standard Table S308, Religion by Sex
37
There are no groups with between 305 and 542 adherents.
38
Calculated by taking 1991 and 2001 data together: Females/Males.
39
This author has merged the following: Elim includes Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle and
Metropolitan Church; ‘Protestant’ includes ‘Protestant (Mixed)’; Reformed Presbyterian includes
Reformed; Non-Subscribing Presbyterian includes Unitarian; Evangelical includes Fellowship of
Independent Evangelical Churches; ‘Non Denominational’ in 2001, ‘Undenominational’ or ‘Unsectarian’ in
1991; Christian Fellowship Church includes Christian Fellowship and Fellowship Church; Church of God
includes Churches of God; Orthodox includes Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox.