Introduction

Abstract

This book examines ‘sectarianism’ in modern Scotland. Relating to division or conflict between Catholics and Protestants, Scotland’s sectarianism is viewed with unease, evidence that the country is unworthy of, or not yet ready for, modern nationhood. Sectarianism, rather myopically, is seen as a peculiarity exclusive to Scotland and Ireland, something other modern nations have outgrown. This question has had particular resonance in recent times given the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament, and a publicly aired debate over the meaning and nature of both Scotland and Scottishness. It has strong implications for those living in, but not born in, Scotland given that the dominant theme of sectarianism has been held to be hostility on the part of ‘native’, Protestant Scots towards Catholic, and particularly Irish Catholic, migrants. For some, sectarianism reveals that Scotland ‘has no capacity for tolerance … Scotland is a divisive, bigoted society’.¹ Sectarianism represents a dark underbelly to the forward-looking, self-confident, apparently inclusive civic nationalism of contemporary Scotland; no ghost from the past but a cancer behind the civic facade.