In an attempt to untangle my thoughts, I will frame these reflections with some personal history.
I am a Catholic, but I don’t believe in capital ‘G’ God. This quote from Dara Ó Briain sums it up nicely (although I do the opposite on the census form):
“I’m staunchly atheist, I simply don’t believe in God, even if he believes in me. But I’m still Catholic, of course. Catholicism has a much broader reach than just the religion. I’m technically Catholic, it’s the box you have to tick on the census form: ‘Don’t believe in God, but I do still hate Rangers.’”
‘Only In Ireland’, 20 December 2008.
Catholic but not a Christian, how does that work? In ‘Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account’ (2023) Rekis posits religion as just as much a cultural identity as a set of beliefs. This is echoed in the lecture ‘Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question.)’ (2014). Appiah explores a number of famous religious atheists, leading Rabbis, the Dalai Lama, and I would like to add one more to this list from my faith background: Father Dougal.
Like Dara Ó Briain and Father Dougal, my father is Irish and so the Catholic identity holds a different history and weight to the one my mother, who is Burmese, has. The Troubles marked a period of conflict, some argue on-going, between republican and loyalist factions. The political divide correlates with a religious divide, Catholics tending to be nationalists and Protestants unionist. Segregation occurred between the two communities, with ‘Peace Walls’ erected to further separate neighbourhoods. For (some) Irish Catholics, Protestantism represented colonialist power and erosion of cultural identity. (McKittrick and McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles.)
Conflict resides in the other branches of my heritage too. My mother’s family were converted to Christianity by missionaries as part of the British colonial project. Education was used to convert, schools were set up by various churches. I won’t give you a history of Myanmar but in short: not good. In more recent years, there has been on-going genocide of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group. They are banned from politics and higher education, which reminds me of a comment made by Dr Gurnam Singh in our lecture: that education and politics are tangled.
According to UAL Equality Reports for 22/23, 29% of our students have a faith. I wonder what the data would say if we were to ask for ‘culture’ instead?
Another of the issues highlighted across our materials is stereotyping. In ‘Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom’ from Trinity University (2016), the speaker, who is Sikh, talks about being visibly religious and how he challenges assumptions head on. Visibility is again examined in ‘Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women’ (Jawad, H. 2022). In my teaching context, many of my students are what we might call ‘visibly faithful’, they wear hijabs, religious jewellery, or even speak openly and with pride in class about their faiths. Culture and faith are, like education and politics, tangled for them. I hope to always foster an environment where stereotypes are examined, challenged, and dismantled. This requires some learning on my part, as one’s cultural context can limit our understanding of what is and isn’t a false stereotype. To demonstrate, I would like to end with another clip about faith in Ireland, this time from Derry Girls:
References
Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk.
Derry Girls – Season 2 | The Difference Between Catholics And Protestants, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4O-nOI-6Qg.
Dougal Shares His Religious Doubts | Father Ted, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_WUeqlZ5eE.
Father Dougal Heaven and Hell, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgUZld4Kd_4.
Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. [Online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/
McKittrick, David, and David McVea. Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Revised edition. London: Viking, an imprint of Penguin books, 2012.
‘Only In Ireland’, 20 December 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081220215410/http://homepage.eircom.net/~odyssey/Politics/Quotes/Ireland_Society.html.
Reki, J. (2023) Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, pp779–800. Available to download from Moodle via the Readings & Resources folder.
‘The Troubles | Summary, Causes, & Facts | Britannica’, 21 May 2024. https://www.britannica.com/event/The-Troubles-Northern-Ireland-history.
Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk
You win… I want to put a father ted reference in my blog… the end
Hi Holly
Really enjoyed reading your blog and the openness you give to your own heritage.
Using your quote form UAL
According to UAL Equality Reports for 22/23, 29% of our students have a faith. I wonder what the data would say if we were to ask for ‘culture’ instead?
It was interesting to see the report figures, it really made me stop and think about this, as someone who has a faith, and practise is it in daily life. I agree that we need to update student surveys to be more inclusive at the university. We do not need to feel like we are missionaries at the university just teaching one way of life. The diverse members of staff and students gives us a wider knowledge and resources to teach.
Culture and faith are, like education and politics, tangled for them. This is so true we are lucky that we are an arts-based university where students from diverse cultures, race, gender, tribes, and neurodiverse students can have a voice and express themselves without conflict
Holly, this is such an insightful post, I thought it was a fascinating and apt connection that you made between the intersect of politics and education, and culture and religion. Indeed they are inextricably linked, and the evidence that you shared from your own background regarding conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, and in other areas of your heritage made this point more illuminating. I love that you drew on examples even from entertainment sources to make your points, too, it’s refreshing to see how you’ve made those connections with shows like Derry Girls and Father Ted!
Lastly, this part: ‘I hope to always foster an environment where stereotypes are examined, challenged, and dismantled. This requires some learning on my part, as one’s cultural context can limit our understanding of what is and isn’t a false stereotype’ resonated with me as I am also trying to apply this in my context but you’re right to acknowledge that a barrier to this can be one’s own context as it can affect our world view.
Hi Holly,
Enjoyed reading your blog. Your thoughts about being Catholic and not believing in God really resonated with me. I went to a Christian school, went to church as a kid and was even confirmed but would never consider myself Christian (at least not in a religious sense) but that doesn’t change the framework that I was brought up in and exploring my own experiences and reflecting on faith as a cultural identity has helped me understand the nuances of intersectionality and how that can be applied to others. As you’ve mentioned in your post, I’ve never had to confront the visibility of my ‘faith’ which is something that’s intertwined with many peoples identities.
“According to UAL Equality Reports for 22/23, 29% of our students have a faith. I wonder what the data would say if we were to ask for ‘culture’ instead?” – This is a really interesting point and I’d love to see the response to this as well.