Religion And The Scottish Temper

The Border Reivers were nominally Catholic - most Scots were still Catholic in the 16th century - but notoriously irreligious. That soon changed. Once the Borderers were banished to Ulster, they embraced the Presbyterianism of John Knox. They brought their fierce religiosity to America, where they applied it to the Methodist and the Baptist faiths as well. The Scots-Irish of America helped lead two Great Awakenings within three generations. Back home in Scotland, some Presbyterians transformed themselves into militant extremists known as Covenanters, and 17th century Scotland roiled with the conflict between them and the established church. The Jacobites recruited Gaelic Highlanders, who were mostly Catholic, into wars against the Protestant Lowlanders and Sassenachs, culminating in the invasion of England in 1745. Friction between Ulster Scots and Gaelic Catholics still troubles the most Scottish parts of Ireland to this day. Scots indeed worship God, but never quietly.