Political, Cultural, or Religious: How Do People Construe Religious Identity in Post-Conflict Societies?

Abstract

This study investigates the understudied aspect of the multi-faceted nature of religious identity and its implications for intergroup outcomes vital to (post-)conflict settings. Three studies were conducted in Northern Ireland to address this gap using a mixed-method approach. Study 1 involved 519 Catholic and Protestant participants who provided open-ended responses regarding religious identity construals as religious, cultural, or political. Qualitative content analysis yielded 17 items related to Catholic/Protestant identity construals. Study 2 included 276 participants who rated these 17 items, and factor analyses identified a subset of 14 items representing the three identity construals. Finally, Study 3 (N = 300) validated the newly-developed scale and examined how different combinations of religious, cultural, and political identities related to forgiveness, collective action, and allyship. The results indicate the reliable measurement of religious identity construals across the three dimensions and contribute to understanding religious identity and its implications for conflict and peace.