Since the Cold War ended, ethnic conflict has broken out in many parts of the world. Attention has focused on the `threat' posed to western secular values by religious fundamentalists involved in many of these struggles. But does this give us a fair picture? Is western-style mainstream religion immune from involvement in such conflicts?Fawcett argues that it is not and presents a comparative case-study of two situations in which mainstream Protestant churches have been involved in ethnic struggle. One denomination is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The other is the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. Fawcett demonstrates the interdependent nature of the relationship between the religious and secular spheres during a period of rapid change in both territories. The book also investigates the powerful symbolism of civil religion, which encompasses the Protestant Orange Order and the Voortrekker imagery of Afrikaner nationalism.