JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

74 SAOTHAR 13traditional in many of Ulster' s rural counties. While before 1830 religious riots in the town were stillrare, in the succeeding decades clashes became more frequent. 61 But sectarian animosities, importantthough they were in shaping Belfast's development, and in creating a strong sense of religious identityin both Protestant and Catholic communities, were not the only outlet for religious energy. This aspecttends to overshadow the rich diversity of religious! experience, both formal and informal, which wasan integral aspect of everyday society.The records of the Belfast Town Mission - 'a moral engine for the benefit of the poor, the untaughtand neglected population of our town' - offer valuable insights into popular urban religious attitudesin the fIrst half of the nineteenth century.62 Despite the strenuous efforts of local clergy, limited byinadequate funds in their attempts to increase church provision, church attendance does not seem tohave been a major priority of the lower classes. 63 There may well have been practical reasons for this.Pride and tradition required potential churchgoers to invest in at least a decent suit of clothes, and itseems that many of those who neglected public worship did so partly because poverty rendered themunable to meet the social demands of the occasion. 64 It seems likely that those who did atttend thechurches were already endeavouring to lift themselves to a stable social level, and availing themselvesof every opportunity to do so. This suggestion is supported by clerical comments on the social and moralimprovement consequent upon regular church attendance. 65 For a majority of sluni dwellers, however,social distinctions, seating patterns and the cultural assumptions of those in control of the content ofpublic worship reinforced a sense of alienation.It was these 'outcasts' whom the Belfast Town Mission endeavoured to reach. The society operateda system of domestic visitation which was strictly religious in purpose. Agents were instructed to visit,converse on religious matters, to read tracts or scripture portions and issue invitations to churches orSunday schools. Although their efforts often met with opposition or hostility, they were frequentlymade welcome, and their conversations with the 'rough' working class often revealed a variety ofreligious experience, no less potent because of its informal nature. 66 Many people who had been in thehabit of attending religious venues in their youth now, either because of migration, lack of facilities,or simply as a natural result of the ageing process, neglected even the most basic' religious duties.Nonetheless, it was evident that religion could retain its emotional hold while losing its institutionalframework, with Bible reading and religious conversations offering nostalgia, diversion and comfortin the midst of bleak poverty. The mission agents had some success in persuading backsliders to attendthe local 'stations' which organised religious services outside the rigid social pressures of the church.However, many of those who retained a grasp of what they considered the 'essentials' of religion,displayed no interest whatsoever in.doctrinal orthodoxy. Their vague belief ihat a generally wellintentioned life, lived free of the worst debaucheries, would be rewarded, was more prevalent than openscepticism or unbelief - and more difficult for the churches to counteract. 67 And while clergy perceivedtheir role to be that of organisers of social and cultural cohesion, religion - particularly of the aggressive,evangelical variety - could also be a di visi ve force, both in the family and the community. Rifts betweenparents and children, husbands and wives, over the expression of their belief were common, and piousattitudes undoubtedly alienated a significant section of the working class community. 68 In wider socialterms, the emotive rhetoric of popular open air preachers could play on tradi tional sectarian fears. Thiswas particularly true in times of socio-economic competition and political vulnerability, when a newurgency was given to religious commitment, and a more emotional type of religious activity was bothencouraged and promoted. The border counties of Ulster in the late eighteenth century, and Belfast inthe late 1850s, were particularly susceptible, both to enthusiastic religious endeavours and to thecommunity friction which all too often followed. 69 .For many Ulster Protestants, Belfast's industrial expansion and relative prosperity was viewed asa direct consequence of its religious and ethnic base. 70 To what extent religion played a day-to-day rolein the workplace is, however, particularly difficult to determine in this period. For many employers,whatever the depth of their personal religious conviction, evangelicalism supplied an ethic, based onscriptural principles, with which to deal with the economic realities of life. The New Testament