Perhaps the most passionately debated, but quite overestimated, issue in the Irish identity crisis centers on religious affiliation. In spite of the historical importance of religion in the Catholic and Protestant struggles in Northern Ireland, contemporary authors agree that it would be a gross oversimplification to explain the current debate over the Irish nation-state as an issue of religion. First, it is indeed true that Northern Ireland has historically contained a large Protestant majority and that the Catholic population of the Republic has reached levels of over ninety percent (Cleary and Connoly 2004, 63). In addition, the political and socio-economic oppression of Irish Catholics—both active and passive—was real, and it has prompted several important uprisings of the Irish people. However, one gains more accuracy in their argument by taking into account the economic, cultural, and technological changes that have taken place since the partition of Ireland in 1921. For instance, just as religion had come to dominate the Irish and Northern Irish societies of the early twentieth century, so too have capitalist social relations managed to penetrate into “every aspect of everyday life” over the past fifty years (Cleary and Connolly 2004, 74). These capitalist relations have accomplished much in the process of bringing peace to the country, for peace within such a small island country as Ireland is fundamental to its growing global economy. As the influence of the secular global economy continues to grow, the power of institutional religion on the island decreases, and younger generations are far less likely to practice or even claim a religion. Thus, although public religious identity in Northern Ireland still might affect social relations and the attainment of various forms of capital—in the way that skin color might affect U.S. relations—, religion has generally lost its position as one of the most important markers of Irish identity. At the same time, it is important to remember that the spirituality or religiousness of the Irish people has not changed significantly despite the drop in religious institutional power, and this will help to explain U2’s great success both at home and abroad later in the discussion (see Cleary and Connolly 2004 for general overview of religion and modern Irish society).