The hidden faiths of Northern Ireland

This year marks the centenary of Northern Ireland. This small state of one and a half million people, mostly Christians, is located on the island of Ireland, but is part of the UK. Since its inception it’s been divided between those who want to be Irish, who are mostly Catholic, and those who want to remain British, who are mostly Protestant. But what about the people of faith outside the sectarian divide – or those of no faith? For this Heart and Soul, reporter Julia Paul meets three people from Northern Ireland’s ‘other’ communities, to hear what it’s like living in a place that for a century has been fighting over the definition of its own identity. Joseph Nawaz lives in Belfast, is in his 40s and is creating a stage show about his remarkable life. His father was a Muslim from Pakistan; his mother a white Catholic from Northern Ireland. His parents were married in the 1970s, at a time when most NI churches wouldn’t even marry a Catholic and Protestant. He was born in Northern Ireland and is now a father himself. We meet Joseph and his family and hear about his journey to embrace his mixed heritage and to explore the two very different religions in his childhood. Esther Chong was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents who moved there for a better life. Now she and her husband Frank, who’s also Chinese Malay, are bringing up their two children in Northern Ireland. They came on a two-year visa to work and visit Esther’s sister. But the day after she arrived she attended a service at the Chinese Christian Church in Belfast and she says God began to show her her path forward in Northern Ireland. Both her children are autistic and she now runs supports groups at her church for other Chinese families, especially those who struggle with the language barrier. Dr Satyavir Singhal is a consultant at the Royal Hospital in Belfast and a Hindu. He moved to Northern Ireland from India with his family in 2000. He says that due to changes in India his generation lost out on the teaching of Hinduism – but the more people in No