From:  (Nigel B. Mitchell)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
Subject: Re: A couple of questions for atheists.
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 03:24:39 GMT

On Mon, 24 Aug 1998 03:32:15 GMT,  (Rod Pinna) 
wrote:

>Conincidently, the topic came up over dinner. As far as I can 
>make out, the Catholic minority in Nothern Ireland were, in times 
>past, fairly badly discriminated against by the Church of England 
>majority. Some of them feel it necessary to carry over these 
>grievances to the present day. Similarly, certain C of E people 
>feel it necessary to hold their grudges to this day, for he 
>injustices they feel have been done against them.
>
>IIRC, it goes back to the William of Orange events. More than 
>that, you'll probably need to contact a reputable history book. 

At the risk of adding further ignorance, I think that you are
forgetting the role of Presbyterian and  independent protestant
churches in NI. My (admittedly inadequate) understanding of the
situation is that the 'gentry' in Northern Ireland are mostly
Church of England (now Church of Ireland), and that the small
farmers and working classes are made up of Irish Catholics and
the protestant descendants of Scottish Presbyterian immigrants
some 2-300 years ago. Most of the sectarian hatred and violence
has been between the Protestant and Irish working class people,
and whilst the Church of England/Ireland gentry may have largely
been sympathetic to the protestants, they have not generally been
large- scale participants in, or victims of, the troubles.

I do not think that anyone emerges covered in glory from the
Northern Ireland situation. Further, I think that when any
Christian person or group moves so far away from the teachings of
Jesus that they imagine that violence (terrorist or state-
sanctioned) to be in accordance with God's will, then situations
like Northern Ireland are inevitable.

Cheers

N+

Nigel B. Mitchell