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This simple equation has been one of the clichés of
western journalism for most of my lifetime. If anyone wanted proof
that religion in general, and Christianity in particular, was
socially divisive and a source of violence, look there, to the six
counties of Ireland's north-east.
Although we in Ireland have always known that politics was a more
potent source of Irish violence, there has always been even here a
certain pandering to the secular myth that religion and violence are
bedfellows. We will point to Ian Paisley as the exemplar of the
violent bigot who, while steering personally clear of activities
that would have landed him in the H Blocs, steered others in that
direction. And we will say things like: sure isn't republicanism a
kind of religion too.
Never mind that virtually all the men of violence clearly had an
entirely secular axe to grind: republicans in their belief that the
Pearsite tradition had forever made sacred the ideal of a thirty-two
county state; loyalists in their addiction to Protestant domination
as a political cause. No-one has ever argued, in my recollection,
that the secular myths that sustained Irish violence raised serious
questions about the beneficence of secularism per se. Via Irish
secularist intellectuals like Eamonn McCann, secularism became the
holy cause that would bring peace everywhere, especially in this
"priest ridden"country.
It is time we looked with far more jaundiced eyes at the non-violent
claims of secularism. The arms race, and the arms industry, were,
and are, entirely secular activities. So is politics, the source of
virtually all twentieth century wars. The violence of the Soviet
Union, of communist China, and of fascist Italy and Germany, stemmed
entirely from secular ideologies, and made a target of the
spiritualities that underlay the greatest opponents of violence -
the churches.
It is time especially to do this in Ireland, where the churches are
still being targeted by secular ideologues as the major obstacle to
peace. Isn't the Orange Order, a religious organisation, at the root
of the Drumcree conflict? And isn't it the Catholic desire for a
separatist educational system, and the reactionary Protestant
bigotry that results, at the root of the Holy Cross scandal?
It takes only the slightest element of religiosity in any Irish
conflict to get the secularists going about the baneful influence of
religion - but no-one ever points to the violence inherent in all
secular utopian dreams. Or to the obvious fact that the drive for
power in human affairs - an entirely secular preoccupation - lies at
the root of virtually all violence.
This summer in Northern Ireland my wife and I took a holiday in
County Fermanagh. My wife Patricia has wanted for many years to
visit the Marble Arch caves in South Fermanagh, close to the border
with Monaghan.
On our route from Coleraine lies Omagh, and specifically the
Ulster-American folk park lying just south of that city. For many
years this complex has been a splendid resource for all those
seriously grappling with the problem of educating young people in
the North to the importance of mutual respect for differing
traditions.
It divides the young person's experience into Old World and New
World. The old world is the nineteenth century peasant world of the
region - Protestant and Catholic. A Presbyterian meeting house lies
close to a Catholic primary school - and the visiting pupil will
experience both as part of a single Old World order in Ireland - as
well as the atmosphere of a forge, where the farmers of both
traditions would have met and mingled.
The New World is the world of the American homesteader, of the log
cabin, the Conestoga Wagon, the snake fence, the long rifle and the
general store. The latter is fully fitted with all of the stock in
trade of the store in, say, the movie Shane.
In between lies the experience of the emigrant ship - and all
children must pass through this to reach the New World. There is no
way in which a Protestant child could fail to associate much Irish
emigration with famine and despoliation - while Catholic children
will learn about the kinship ties that often bound Ulster and New
England non-conformists.
We history teachers are worried these times about the failure of
experiences of this kind to make much impact upon children from
interface areas who have been schooled in tribal loyalties, and in
the historiography that goes with them. We cannot measure their
impact upon thousands of other children making up their own minds on
such issues, and looking for consolidation of their inclinations
towards peace. It is the home that has first, and longest, impact
upon all children - but all NI schools in my experience have tried
hard - especially in the history classroom - to gain some kind of
purchase upon the bigotry that would otherwise have overwhelmed
them.
As a consequence, NI schools generally remained oases of calm in the
most violent times, even in interface areas - and this has been
acknowledged by psychiatrists treating the child victims of
violence. The Holy Cross nightmare was terrifying precisely because
it was the first of its kind - and it remains a unique reminder of
what might have happened elsewhere if schools, and the churches that
support them, had pitched into the conflict in the way the myth of
religious violence suggests they should.
This summer, the Ulster-American Folk park in Omagh was host to
families from all backgrounds in Northern Ireland. We found them
there, sampling Ulster drop scones and wheaten bread along with New
England candle-making.
We found them also in Enniskillen, visiting the pre-reformation
Christian remains on White island and Devenish island. Tired of the
endless tendency of politicians to claim their allegiance to tired
secular myths, many in Ulster are looking for the historical truth,
and making excellent use of the resources available to them.
And they are doing this in the context of a miraculous calm. This
summer there was no serious violence accompanying Orange
celebrations. It seems that the shame of Drumcree has had its impact
now - and the Holy Cross issue no longer dominates urban headlines.
Suddenly Limerick and Tallaght are more dangerous places to be than
Derry or Belfast. Will the secularists notice this, or will they
look for religious influences over Limerick stabbings or Dublin
shootings. It is time they woke up and realised that it is the
supposed peacefulness of secularism that is the greater myth.
What might southerners do to consolidate this new peace in the
north? Realise what an exciting place it is just now - especially
for a holiday. Please come north now, you southern Christians and
tell us what we need to hear - the simple truth. All of Ireland is
free at last - and nationalist and unionist as well.
It is fitting that this message should come from the churches -
because they have performed unacknowledged marvels of restraint to
bring it about.
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