Vernacular religion, not institutional belief, drives post-conflict sectarian division.

Evidence

But the relentless reciprocity of mutual antagonism at the locality level has a wider provenance also: It is deeply embedded in the history of settler colonialism, imperialism, and different forms of nationalism. While the links between institutionalized religion and the national state are now less contentious, “religion” conceived as a set of lived experiences and practices drives the politics of memory, violence, and place and remains a political resource for nationalist conflicts over the state. While churches may have radically declining congregations, they remain repositories of collective (communal) memory that is materialized in the enduring sectarian geography of a city with major symbolic significance for Irish and British forms of nationalism. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 2302

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Secularization in Belfast privatized institutions but not popular religion’s territorial marking. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 2305; Religion and secular nationalism sustain violence only when mutually reinforcing, not inherently. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 2303; Intercivilization conflict divides into micro-level religious fault lines and a macro-level West-versus-rest division — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 487 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Religious participation, not belief, drives support for intergroup conflict #corroborates (0.90)
• The question is which religious part causes conflict, not whether religion does #corroborates (0.82) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 516
• Religion drives intergroup conflict through three mutable pathways, not belief alone #corroborates (0.80)
• Religion in settler conflict operates as a differential marker, not as doctrine #corroborates (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 2064
• Intercivilization conflict divides into micro-level religious fault lines and a macro-level West-versus-rest division #qualifies (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 487
• Religious unity across ethnic lines rests on rituals and language generating obligated interdependence #complicates (0.72)