I was really hoping that this thread wouldn't descend straight into sectarianism but this is Ulster we're talking about after all. What did it take? Two or three posts?
Do catholics and protestants get on together now?
Depends on what you mean by protestants and catholics. If you mean "protestants" like the UDA, UVF and other paramilitary gangsters, then they generally hate Catholics, as do quite a few general "loyalists" who aren't involved in the paramilitary gangs. If by "catholics" you mean Republican paramilitary groups, they have traditionally - in theory - been non-sectarian even though of course sectarianism became a big part of it, even though the 1916 Proclamation and the general theories of Irish Republicanism have been non-sectarian, the PIRA in particular were guilty of sectarian attacks, as were the INLA at one point via an off-shoot some members made up to defend a blatant attack on Catholics (the INLA were Marxist-Leninists though and wanted to bridge religious gaps and focus on the class situation and the question of national liberation. They had a prominent Protestant member, Ronnie Bunting, who was the son of a high-ranking member of the British armed forces - can't remember the rank. Seamus Costello, founder of the INLA, said "I owe my allegiance to the working class". He was murdered by other republicans during a feud... Nothing more Irish than a feud and the loyalists are always feuding too - maybe they are more Irish than they care to admit haha. The loyalists fell into pieces and started feuding with each other after the Good Friday Agreement - they had all these guns and didn't know who to shoot anymore so they started shooting each other.).
Wikipedia will give you a breakdown of the deaths that occurred as a result of The Troubles: victims of loyalist attacks were overwhelmingly innocent catholics whereas the victims of the Republican paramilitaries tended to be police, the armed forces and loyalist paramilitaries. They killed a lot of innocent people too but nowhere near as many as loyalists. The (P)IRA's attacks were much more widely reported though given that the loyalists were on the side of the Brits - there has always been a bias in reporting. Lots of things are coming out now about collusion which has always been known about: for example, loyalist paramilitaries were given lists by special branch or MI5 to take out "republicans", many of whom were innocent - these would be considered extra-judicial killing I believe by The Hague. The Brits used the loyalists to do dirty work that they could not due (plausible deniability).
But the IRA was heavily infiltrated also by MI5 and others - look at Scappaticci, head of the IRA's unit for interrogating and murdering touts (grasses, snitches). Scappaticci, codename "Stakeknife", was an MI5 asset and this is a huge scandal at the moment. As is usually the case with these types, he was likely compromised for being a nonce. A shit loads of loyalists and unionist politicians were compromised in similar ways - take a look at the Kincora Boys Home scandal. It will make your blood boil. The Brits don't want a lot coming out, nor do most of the old PIRA/Sinn Fein leadership. It truly was "the dirty war" (read Martin Dillon's book of the same name. I can recommend other books too, including one that looks into Kincora but others too).
The "religious divide" however designed by the Brits with the usual divide and conquer tactics, to draw public opinion away from the actual objectives of Republicans but the best of the Republicans wanted a United Ireland and didn't "hate" protestants, they saw the Brits as their enemy and the "protestant" paramilitaries saw themselves as British and defenders of the "United Kingdom". Read James Connelly for good history on this, going back to the Ulster Plantations.
Everyday people try and get along and the majority aren't even particularly religious, in the newer generations. People from catholic stock may go through confirmation, occasionally go to mass to please their auld grandparents, but would be more "culturally catholic" than actual true believers. As for "protestants" as in the pro-Brit paramilitary types, the "loyalists" and the estates they rule over, I don't think that many of them are religious either and protestantism is less ritualistic than catholicism anyway.
The Orange Order hate Catholics of course and some of the UDA, UVF types and "loyalists" generally are members. I've met many as they run a lot of criminal enterprises that I have been close to (of course many Republicans have been involved in organised crime too and have been for a long time - I have known a couple of serious Republican crooks). One guy I know and who liked me a lot showed me some of the Orange Order handshakes and weirdly enough, even though I hate what they stand for, I've gotten along with the Orange Types I've known, pretty much always through drugs.
It is "complicated" but also "not complicated", but everyday people for the most part just get on with it - this does depend on where they live though.
Here's a wee joke for you about the North of Ireland:
A man with brown skin was walking down a dark alley just off the Shankill where he was confronted by some scary looking white men.
The biggest of the white men asked the man, 'are ye a catholic or a protestant?'
to which the brown skinned man replied, 'I am a muslim,'
the large white man replied, 'aye, but are ye a catholic muslim or a protestant muslim?'
You can imagine what happens next.
Lots more to say.
jk's hahaha 
