By setting the Irish religious conflict in a wide comparative perspective, this book offers fresh insights into the causes of religious conflicts, and potential means of resolving them. The collection mounts a challenge to views of 'Irish exceptionalism' and points to significant historical and contemporary commonalities across the Western world.

Introduction: Analysing Religious Conflict; John Wolffe PART I: IRELAND 1. 'A Solid and United Phalanx'? Protestant Churches and the Ulster Covenant, 1912-2012; Nicola Morris and David Tombs 2. Social Structure and Religious Division: Comparing the Form of Religious Distinction in the Two Irish States; Jennifer Todd 3. Can Churches Contribute to Post-Violence Reconciliation and Reconstruction? Insights and Applications from Northern Ireland; Gladys Ganiel 4. Alternative Ulster: Punk Rock as a Means of Overcoming the Religious Divide in Northern Ireland; Francis Stewart PART II: EUROPEAN COMPARISONS 5. The Case against Northern Ireland Exceptionalism: The 'Academy', Religion and Politics; Brian M. Walker 6. Churches and Communal Violence in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: A Comparison of Ireland and Scotland; Stewart J. Brown 7. Protestant-Catholic Conflict and Nationalism in German and Irish Historical Narratives; Shane Nagle 8. Comparing Protestant-Catholic Conflict in France and Ireland: The Significance of the Ethnic and Colonial Dimension; Joseph Ruane PART III: ANTI-CATHOLICISM, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMOPHOBIA 9. The Multiculturalism Backlash and the Mainstreaming of Islamophobia Post-9/11; Humayun Ansari 10. Muslims in Britain: Researching and Addressing Conflict in a Post-Secular City; Philip Lewis 11. Religion, Detraditionalization and Backlashes against Multiculturalism in Northern Europe: A Comparison of Dutch, Northern Irish and English Cases (2001-2011); David Herbert 12. New Variation, Old Theme: Parallels between Islamophobia and Anti-Catholicism in the United States; Katy Scrogin Conclusion: Overcoming 'Religious' Conflict: History and Practice; John Wolffe