Religion and Politics in Contemporary Scotland

Abstract

Religious affiliation plays a significant role in predicting voting behaviour in Scotland, although it is by no means unusual in this respect. This chapter investigates whether Protestants, Catholics, and the irreligious differ in their attitudes towards defining questions in contemporary Scottish politics. These issues comprise: Conservative decline; the rise of the Scottish National Party (SNP); increasing Scottish ‘national sentiment’; and the Constitutional Question. These issues have been at the heart of Scottish politics since the late 1960s, and are likely to be so for the fore-seeable future. To what extent has religious affiliation impacted on these issues? In particular, can we substantiate claims that Scotland’s Catholics have remained cool towards Constitutional change, the SNP, and a sense of their Scottishness?