Religion in the Republic of Ireland
The predominant religion in the Republic of Ireland is Christianity, with the largest church being the Roman Catholic Church. The Irish constitution says that the state may not endorse any particular religion and guarantees freedom of religion.
Christianity in Ireland
More specifically religious anti-Protestantism in Ireland was evidenced by the acceptance of the Ne Temere decrees in the early 20th century, whereby the Catholic Church decreed that all children born into mixed Catholic-Protestant marriages had to be brought up as Catholics. Protestants in Northern Ireland had long held that their religious liberty would be threatened under a 32-county Republic of Ireland, due to that country's Constitutional support of a "special place" in government for the Catholic Church. This was amended in the Republic of Ireland in 1970 however.