Gareth Higgins

Gareth Higgins, a sociologist of religion, talks about the history of the Protestant and Catholic religions as they are manifested in Northern Ireland. It then gives general information about the nature and history of the Troubles, useful since he is talking to an American student audience. He then talks about a variety of ways that religions is manifested in actions of the conflict. He points out that many active in the trouble are not particularly religious even though they identities that are strongly influenced by religious categories. Higgins himself is involved in organizational efforts to create dialog across religions and to foster peace-oriented dialogs.