These fundamental issues of identity and political outlook unify Catholic churchgoers even though in other respects there is little to indicate consensus. Protestant churchgoers Protestant churchgoers, taken overall, tend to be predominantly female, over the age of 45, and to come from middle class backgrounds. These characteristics are indicative of an important trend in religious life over the past decade. Comparison with our 1983 survey indicates that churchgoing is increasingly an activity practised by the elderly and by women. Nevertheless a very wide range of attitudinal variation on moral, social and political issues is evident among Protestant churchgoers in Belfast.
Age is of greater significance than gender in conditioning response patterns.
The younger age cohort is conservative than those in older age brackets. On constitutional questions, however, there is little disagreement. We have explored this attitudinal variation through four perspectives. Ecumenical and cross-community ventures more generally are viewed more favourably by members of the three larger denominations than by their smaller counterparts. At the same time considerable differences of opinion on many matters are expressed within each of the denominational groups suggesting that other factors were significant in conditioning outlooks.