Irish Prefer Pub to Church, Survey Says

Reuters | 3-19-02 | n/a

[Temple Owl]

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Going to the pub is a more important part of life in Ireland than attending church, the authors of a survey on social attitudes said Tuesday.

Only 22 percent of people in the Irish Republic view regular church-going as important, compared with 35 percent who said going to the pub at least once a week was a priority, the survey by Mintel Ireland said.

It also indicated that those with the most money to spend were more likely to hand it over for a pint of beer than put it in a church collection plate.

"As you become wealthier, your likelihood of being a regular church-goer decreases," said Mark O'Connell, managing director of Mintel Ireland.

"It seems the higher up the ladder you go, the more difficult it gets to pass through the eye of the needle."

People questioned in British-ruled Northern Ireland were more abstemious, with only 20 percent listing pubs as a priority -- although the number of regular church-goers was not much higher at 23 percent.

The authors of the survey, "Irish Lifestyles: The Rise of the Immoral Majority," said it showed the rapid advance of consumerism in both the Republic -- which witnessed an unprecedented economic boom in the latter half of the 1990s -- and Northern Ireland.

"Owning a flash car and a mobile phone, being a member of a private health club and having a home computer are the new symbols of Irish success on both sides of the border," the report said.

Older people living in rural areas were more likely to attend church than young citydwellers.

"Traditional values of a successful marriage, children, financial security and regular attendance at Sunday worship have all taken a back seat in many households."

The report was based on recent interviews with more than 2,000 people in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

[Slainte]

Eminently sensible, IMO. I myself gave up Lent for Guinness.

[Slainte]

The Irish get the bad press, but the English are just as bad.

Oh no, worse, much worse.

[wideawake]

Hmmm . . . so much ignorance . . .

Two fun facts:

(1) Alcoholism is worse in Protestant Scotland and Orthodox Russia than it is in Catholic Ireland.

(2) The Catholic Church was the only institution in Irish society that allowed the Irish people to maintain their dignity during seven centuries of cruel occupation. It fed the starving, educated the poor and resisted the tyrant.

If it were up to the British ascendancy, the literacy rate of Catholics in Ireland at the time of independence would have been 0%, not 89%. The Irish owe their nationhood to the Church.

[dead]

What always struck me as weird about Ireland is that all the other countries of northern Europe became protestant

You should sue your ancestors for giving you the “stupid gene”.

Your understanding of religion, geography, and genetics all suffered for it.

[wideawake]

Thanks, I forgot to mention that our friend is apparently laboring under the assumption that Lithuania is in southern Europe.

[Bounceback]

William Blake, the poet, said it best in his poem, The Little Vagabond:

"Dear mother, dear mother, the church is cold,
But the ale-house is healthy and pleasant and warm;
Besides I can tell where I am used well,
Such usage in Heaven will never do well.

"But if at the church they would give us some ale,
And a pleasant fire our souls to regale,
We'd sing and we'd pray all the live-long day,
Nor ever once wish from the church to stray.

"Then the parson might preach, and drink, and sing,
And we'd be as happy as birds in the spring;
And modest Dame Lurch, who is always at church,
Would not have bandy children, nor fasting, nor birch.

"And God, like a father rejoicing to see
His children as pleasant and happy as he,
Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the barrel,
But kiss him, and give him both drink and apparel."

William Blake (1757-1827)