The profile of Protestant sixth-form religion in Northern Ireland 1968-2011 : the Greer legacy

The aim of the present study was to build on John Greer’s systematic set of studies concerned with teenage beliefs and values conducted among samples of sixth-form students attending County and Protestant voluntary schools in Northern Ireland in 1968, 1978, 1988 and 1998. The present study replicated the earlier surveys for a further time in 2011. The results of the first four surveys provided a unique snapshot of the gradual decline of religious affiliation, belief and practice across the latter part of the twentieth century in a nation which had continued to resist the secularisation process so eroding the place of religion in the neighbouring nations of England, Wales, and Scotland. The results of the fifth survey conducted in 2011, however, demonstrated a clear drift away from the churches toward a more secular future