During 1992–93 I acted as one of the seven commissioners of the Opsahl Commission: an independent enquiry into ways forward in Northern Ireland, which produced its report in June 1993. The Commission was a novel exercise in democracy, which sought to involve the people of Northern Ireland in the debate about its future. It received submissions from some 3,000 people and held public meetings and oral hearings throughout the region. The report made a number of recommendations which were subsequently endorsed in public opinion polls in Northern Ireland, Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Most of these recommendations stemmed from the people's sense of frustration and helplessness after a quarter of a century of violence and deadlock and their desire to have more control over their own future. To do so, they recognized, would also involve their taking responsibility for the situation, past and present. This recognition – that the source of the conflict lies inside rather than outside the province, with the people themselves – was the uncomfortable conclusion of most of those addressing the Commission. There is no ‘quick fix’ to Northern Ireland. This is why the Opsahl Commission recommended a series of ‘building blocks’ to help the different communities build up trust and experience of working together before they could arrive at some common ground on Northern Ireland's long-term future.

The exercise showed that opinion had shifted considerably since the onset of the Troubles in 1969. But it also highlighted a continuing gulf of understanding between Protestant and Catholic, however anxious the individual to reach accommodation. There is still a sense that the other community is a different people and ignorance is preventing any overall sense of a shared culture. Basic ignorance about what the other faiths teach is rampant. Thus cocooned within their respective communities and traditions, most people in Northern Ireland have had little experience of the other community outside their workplace. There is an almost total lack of neutral venues where their differences can be explored in safety. Northern Ireland is not a zone of conflicting polarities, as many believe. There are too many shades of grey, too many people who ‘pick and mix’ from a range of identities, for that. But there are certain fundamentals to the mainstream religions which their adherents rarely lose even when they cease to be practising members. It is these core differences which this paper seeks to analyse.