Anyway, it's a moot point because religion is so tied to specific cultural contexts. For example, yes, in Europe Catholics tend to be more conservative than Protestants (but of course, the term "conservative" means something different in Europe than in the US!)
It’s always something that intrigues me. I think it often relates to whether Catholicism is the ‘state’ or majority religion, what form the opposing Protestantism is (Lutheran, Presbyterian etc) and what social status or access they have in their respective countries. In Scotland most Catholics are of Irish stock, with a number of pre 2004 wave Poles and Italians. They are economically left wing and have been since working Catholics were enfranchised and this allegiance continues even in families that have worked upwards into the middle class. Socially, Catholics have held more liberal positions on social/moral issues since recording with the SSA/BSA began in 1980. In Scotland they are the minority, discriminated through law and practice since the 1850’s until really the last twenty years or so. The opposing force has always been Presbyterianism which has always been more socially conservative.
In Northern Ireland, the Life and Times Survey asked people to place themselves on a Left Right scale (with 1 being left). While most people clustered around 5, Catholics had the most positioned between 1-4 and the least between 6-9. The nationalist parties hold very favourable positions on gay rights which is to be expected when these parties have concerned themselves with general equality issues. On the question as to whether gays should have the right to marry (asked in 2005) 47% of Catholics agreed compared to just 22% of Protestants with 59% of those with no religion agreeing. (Strongly Disagree was 12% v 33% respectively) 77% of Catholics in 2010 would accept Muslims as neighbours compared to 58% of Protestants.
Poll
