Divided Scotland

Why has inter-communal strife involving the use (and many would say mis-use) of religious and national symbols enjoyed such an extended life in Scotland? Why does it still manage to persist despite changes in Scottish society which would appear to remove the oxygen enabling sectarianism to breathe?This book is the first full-length study of Scotland’s ethno-religious discord to have appeared in the devolution era. It explores the origins and staying power of sectarian conflict and analyses the new tensions that have erupted since 2010, and the response of the state, the media, churches, the soccer world, and a range of civic groups.Among many thought-provoking and challenging arguments Gallagher advances the notion that while Scotland has ceased to be overtly Protestant, anti-Catholicism remains an option that is acquiring respectability of the kind that it never had for almost a century. The Catholic Church’s defence of traditional social values has placed it on a collision course with secular interests who have filled the power vacuum in Scotland that opened up following the crumbling of a once-dominant Protestant order. Ironically, some of Catholicism’s staunchest allies are now to be found in the depleted ranks of Protestant Scotland.Protestant reaction to the 2013 crisis in the Catholic Church in Scotland has usually been one of sorrow rather than satisfaction.So Scotland may be slowly overcoming one kind of sectarianism only to be embroiled in a new kind of war over faith and culture familiar to continental European countries like France and Spain in the last two hundred years. Already battle-lines are being drawn over the role of religion in Scotland’s state schools.Arguably, Scots who despise their religious or ideological foes are growing in number, not diminishing. They might ponder what happens when clashes of societal values, along with religious differences, are pushed to outright division.Tom Gallagher is recently retired from the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University where he taught for 31 years. Ten single authored books explore the interplay of religion and nationalism in modern Europe. He lives in Edinburgh.